hitta

I think having no preseason hurt this team a lot. One thing our team has consistently done in the years under Payton is really find diamonds in the rough to make the roster very cohesive and complete. Our roster tends to always have several key changes whether it be substitutions or role players. Having Michael Thomas out has been a very but thing, BUT I've seen some good things from Tre'Quan Smith and Emmanuel Sanders and I believe that MTs return will just open up things more for them. Brees doesn't look like he's in decline to me. Maybe a tad bit rusty, but he still seems like he's in control back there. I think one of the key things that got screwed up coming out without a preseason is play calling. While many think the preseason is a time for players to get ready to play or guys trying to make the roster, it's also a time where coaches tweak their playbooks and try to figure out what is working for what they have and what isn't. It's also a time to find a rhythm in play calling. I told my dad a few weeks ago that I wouldn't be surprised if we lose to both LV and GB(I didn't expect to lose to TB because they have too many new things going on). We're going to eventually get things together and turn on the burners and roll off several wins in a row. It still wouldn't surprise me at all if we ended up at 13-3 or 12-4(or maybe even 14-2).

Tl;dr version: I'm not worried at all right now. I wish we still had Bell instead of Malcolm Jenkins. To me, that was a huge downgrade. We still have a lot of talent on the defense and the offense. We're going to get our **** together.