Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

Now we're just waiting on poydras and the season can start.


:cool:

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

There seems to be varying degrees to the interpretation of "under the radar". Reggie / Katrina / Bountygate / 1/2 dozen other things not 'how good we are' related has had us in discussions for a while.

As far as for the 'how good we are' radar, those days are gone. With our success in 2009 the words caints and aints were cremated and ashed spread. Before 2009 we were consistently inconsistent, having to go back 17 years to find a record better than 10-7 and we were never anyones gimme in the playoffs. So there really wasn't much to talk about from a National Media stand point, we were pretty meeeaahh..

I am excluding 2012 for a lot of reasons.

Since 2009 we won a SB, haven't missed the playoffs, 11-5 was our worst record, Brees has authored an NFL record book, Graham is making the league rethink the TE position, etc... No way on earth one could expect to fly under the radar with those accomplishments.

That said, you seem to be in a pickle. In order for us to be under any radar we would have to revert to mediocrity and that would send a lot of fans into a downward spiral. If we so much as look flat in a practice the worry engines auto engage.

The reason we were picked against so much in 2009 wasn't because we were not on anyone's radar. We were damned good and everyone knew it, they picked against the Saints because we had a long history of falling on our faces eventually and the odds were in the favor of that happening again just as soon as we started getting picked. They were gun shy. We do it here, every season... History has taught us that we are going to give up a game to a team that is inferior at least once a season and it will bite us in the arse come playoff time. We know we have a 14-2 team but we predict 12-4 because we get clumsy a couple games a season. :bng:

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

I am a pessimistic optimist. :bng:

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

I'm confident as the next man but Mid October to late November could be brutal. Either we play a really good offense or a really good defense during that stretch. I could easily see us winning the division though at 11-5. The panthers will have a strong defense again this year but their offense will be highly suspect. Atlanta still appears to be soft to me and not much better on defense. Tampa bay has a pretty poor line and their defense isn't that scary once you get past their d-line.

At the very least, we need to get off to a good start as I believe it will be important if we have some late season slip-ups

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

Well, remember this -- by all accounts the team looked pretty terrible, practicing in the rain up in Virginia. File that one away for later....

Then again, they looked pretty much unbeatable on the road up in Indy this weekend, in a quiet half empty indoor stadium. They looked scary good.

I am pumped up for this team, but I sincerely hope they can bring the intensity and fire on the road in bad weather and into hostile environments, because they have 4 outdoor games against tough teams in hostile stadiums on the schedule again this year. And they have 6-7 games at home that I'd consider "tough" or at least worrisome, based on the teams they're facing....

That's not much room for futzing around, or for surprises, or Rip Van Winkle acts where they go to sleep and go scoreless for whole quarters or halves of games... there's not much leeway for a "tough day at the office" scenario this year, where the Saints come out flat and shoot themselves in the foot against a really inferior team.

The Saints look good, but I think the rest of the division has actually gotten tighter, and closer together. The eyeball test says that the Saints ON THE ROAD last year were a completely different-looking animal -- they were tight, nervous and struggling hard against the Bucs, Falcs, Panthers, Patriots, and looked completely lost against the Seahawks.

But if the Saints go losing 5 games on the road again THIS year, in this tougher division, with tougher games at home, then I fear they will be outside looking in, maybe even no playoffs AT ALL. There is not a lot of room for dithering this year. Last year they were a good team at home, but on the road they kinda played "we'll fix the problems and get it put together soon", until there wasn't any room left in the season.

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

But there's only 2 possible bad weather games, @Pittsburgh on November 30 and @ Chicago on December 15. Neither of those teams are even close to Seattle.

By the way, I'm officially considering the New England game a win, since we were F'd by the officials.

Lets not lose sight of the fact that we are one of the very best teams in the NFL on the road over the last several years.

And judging by the way we played in Philly in the playoffs, I don't expect another Jets game.

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

I totally expect a Jets-type game this year considering we have a pretty dang good team, and then we all have a nuclear meltdown on this site when it happens.

Even good-to-great teams lay at least one 'Road Turd' per season. It happens...we'll have one of our worst games while that home team plays out-of-its-head. Luckily we have a great HC and a great DC and one of the best QBs to ever play this game to help us rebound.

My 2014 Road Turd prediction? @ Cleveland. They have a below average QB with a pretty dang good all-around defense plus their Special Teams are pretty good, too. Our Special Teams will be the chili fries & malt liquor that causes us to crap ourselves in our sole 2014 Road Turd.

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

It certainly is the exact type of team we overlook and get our asses whooped.

That was also my pick for our "lay an egg" game, that or Dallas.

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

I thought Dallas at first, but Payton seems to have Dallas' number of late & DAL's defense is a big bowl of incompetence and dysfunction. I picked a road turd @ CLE considering CLE's good D and CLE's good kick return coverage & kick return game. It doesn't help that @ CLE follows that HUGE road game with the team from Georgia to open the season, either.

Re: Im optomistic about this years team but...
 

I have a different logic for 2014, lets hope it pans out.

We have injected enough new and or different blood on both sides of the ball that we will not take a siesta one Sunday. Perhaps Byrd and Bailey can seed some cold weather tolerance into our defensive backs. This is Cooks and the rest of our draft picks first year so nothing is a "home game" until next year. Cooks also played in Oregon and should be accustomed..

The cold hurts old athletes, getting younger may help that.