New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Grantland picks Saints over Bucs

One of my favorite blogs. Interesting take.

SAINTS (-10) over Buccaneers
Unluckiest Team of the Year: New Orleans

It would be enough to say that the Saints, who are renowned as a team that greatly enjoys playing at home, were forced to play three of their first four games on the road. The Saints are 45-21 (.681) at home during the Drew Brees era and 36-31 (.537) on the road, which includes their 0-3 start on the road this season. But only one of those losses — the ugly defeat in Dallas on Sunday night — was a loss by any comfortable margin. Their losses to start the year in Atlanta and Cleveland each required the intervention of the opposing kicker at the end of regulation to wipe a Saints win off the board.

That’s where New Orleans’s bad luck really stands out. No, not losing to last-second field goals. Opposing kickers have gotten off to a hot start against the Saints, going 9-for-9 including 3-for-3 on field goals of 50-plus yards. In all, the Saints have been the third-unluckiest team in football in terms of uncontrollable special teams play from the opposition, including field goal percentage and kickoff distance.

Turnovers also haven’t gone Sean Payton’s way. There have been eight fumbles in Saints games and New Orleans has recovered just two of them. Sure, one of them was a super-valuable Jairus Byrd strip of Julio Jones in the red zone, but two out of eight is unlucky. It also seems unlikely that a team that added Byrd in the offseason will go all year without a single interception. Mike Glennon should help get them on the board at home this week.