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Some optimism (for a change)

I admit it. After the devastating last minute loss to the Raiders last week I wasn't looking forward to this week against the Giants. I thought...0-2...man that's a rough way to start the season so many of us had higher hopes for.

In fact, I was contemplating whether or not I should even be optimistic about the upcoming game at all. There's questions all over the defense. Reports were that the defensive line had no "push" for the majority of the game. The Saints allowed the Raiders to come back in the 4th quarter and thwart an unbelievable (if not heroic) day by Drew Brees and the offense.

After a few days of reading the understandably negative (and deserved) posts here at B&G.com, I decided to start to look at some other sites and do some studying of my own on the Giants and how the current Saints defense and offense will do against them.

Here's what I found:

Defense -

1. First off I've been reading that the Saints pass rush (or lack thereof) in the Raiders game was game planned. The defense used a 3 man defensive line for a lot of the game to keep eyes on Carr because of the fact that he is capable of running out of the pocket. Seems there were a lot of defensive plays that were meant to "contain" Carr and keep him in the pocket. So there was few plays that lineman really pinned their ears back to get after him.

I believe that we are going to see a different look this week against Manning, who is a pocket passer and isn't known to hurt defenses with his legs. I think the pass rush will be better this week and we'll see more blitzes and stunts to get after him and disrupt his ability to throw.

2. Because the defense will have some young and inexperienced cornerbacks playing against some talented WR's this week, I think there's going to be a lot of safety help over the top. Odell Beckham is going to get his, but I think they're going to try to limit his big plays by using double coverage and safety help.

3. The Saints defense played decent for 3 quarters last week. Then dropped it completely. There's going to be some growing pains, but lets not say the Giants offense is terrifying. Their two starting offensive tackles are fair to average at best, as is the rest of their offensive line. I think the Saints have enough talent on the defensive line to get through and hit Manning (and we all know how bad the Manning's are when they get hit a lot). Look for Cam Jordon and Paul Kruger to have some fun this week.

4. The Giants played a Cowboys defense that was without 3 starting players and only managed 1 TD and 4 FG's. The Saints offense, as seen last week, is much more frightening. Guess who the Giants best LB is? Jonathan Casillas. That right. The former Saint. That's why I believe TE Fleener is going to have a big game. He's big and can run routes. Jason Witten caught 9 passes last week against the G-Men. Fleener stands to see some action this week, lets just hope he hangs on to the ball.

Offense -

1. I don't even need to go into much detail here. The Saints offense is capable of great things. There's weapons everywhere. Do you really think a defense that allowed a Cowboys team led by a rookie quarterback to score 19 points with 227 passing yards and 60% completion percentage is capable of stopping Drew Brees and this offense? The Raider's defense is much better than the Giants. And the only reason they're (Raiders) ranked lower is because the Saints sliced through them like a hot knife through warm butter. The Giants will be the 32nd ranked defense after this week.

2. Guess how many sacks the Giants have so far. 0. That's right. The same as the Saints. If the offensive line can play like they did against the Raiders, which I believe they will, the Saints are going to win this.

3. I think there's going to be more of a balanced attack this week. Mostly due to weather. Drew's not going put 400 yards up in the air this week, although 250 to 300 yards isn't incomprehensible. There will be an increased amount of touches for the RB's as well as swing passes out of the backfield to RB's and short passes to TE's. This will test the Giant's linebackers early and often. And once the safety comes down to help, Drew's gonna start the play action passes and the bombing will start.

So that's it. I just wanted to shine a little light on the forum here. Maybe get people to have a little optimism and/or faith this week by giving my analogy of the game.

Saints 31 Giants 24

That's my prediction. Believe it or not. Like it or think its crazy. See you all in the forums.