I feel like some people are acting like this year was some kind of strange new thing or a freak deviation for the Saints.... But if you honestly look at 2012 to now? Other than a brief win streak in early 2013 where the Saints got hot for a handful of games, this club has been playing .500-ish ball straight through from 2012 right to now. The only difference between 2014 and the abysmal year of 2012, was that this year you didn't have the lack of Sean Payton on the sidelines to be the excuse for it. (Which turned out to maybe not be as much of a difference maker as we all thought? But that's probably a topic for another thread.)

But from the eyeball test, hey, it's basically the same exact team, folks, that sucked in 2012 and then struggled and dropped a bunch of games later in 2013 after the bye; it's all the same as this year, too. Other than that short win streak in early 2012 when Payton was hot, and a very good game in Philly in the playoffs last year, it all looks exactly the same to me. More often than not, during the past three years the Saints are playing .500 ball, on a typical normal day at the office.