Power Rankings ESPN (merged)

We shouldn't be in the top 10. Realistically, we're a 18-25 team. We have a defense that is poor at stopping the run and not that much better at stopping the pass. It is still an improved defense from last year but I don't know if that's saying much. On the offensive side of the ball we're in better shape but the line isn't very good at run-blocking--they could be worse but they're still not very good. Bush, even though a rookie, is making poor decisions and frankly, because of the high expectations, has been disappointing. He is picking the wrong holes. I was jealous when watching Laurence Maroney last night...he's a beast and so far has been significantly more effective than Bush. Thank God we have Deuce but because he's still recovering from his knee injury, he's only a north and south runner. A banged up Bush plus a debilitated Deuce equals a weak rushing attack IMHO. Personally, I think Bush will sit out this week even though he says he expects to play. Until I hear it from the coach's mouth, he'll be sitting the bench at least one week. Colston has been a wonderful surprise and I think if the season ended this week, he should be rookie of the year. Joe is playing pretty good but we don't have hardly any other options in our passing attack. We have no TE and only 2 1/2 receivers--Horn, Colston and Bush being that 1/2 receiver.

I'm in the process of lowering my expectations. I was warned in the beginning of the season that this could easily turn out to be a roller coaster season. We'll know more after the Tampa game...I just want to return to how I was feeling at the end of the preseason when i was simply appreciating the fact that we have a NFL team in New Orleans. The 5-1 start unfortunately raised my expectations...the Ravens brought them back down to earth.