OTL: on goodell this morning

To me this looks more & more that the Saints fate was decided at a much higher level than Goodell's level. Goodell is not so bright, which makes me believe that an owner, possibly more than one owner was behind Goodell to discipline the Saints. Their main objective was to separate Brees from Sean Payton, so the Saints won't have the coach and QB together for the year. They succeeded, and the result was a 7&9 season.

Things will never be the same from hereon out. I don't know if the chemistry will be the same. I think the Saints will still be a good team, but not a championship caliber team. They will be struggling to retain good players, they must be watching over their shoulders from now on to not being labeled or called dirty, and that will have its own adverse effect. If we look at the defense alone, they are the ones who felt the brunt of the suspensions, so they might as well start a total reconstruction. The good thing is, the Saints FO has already started the rebuilding process, when Sean Payton decided to change scheme, and slowly start parting ways with the veterans on the team. I fully expect W Smith, Vilma and Harper to be cut this year.....Greer will probably should also be cut.

And with all that, the brunt of the Saints SB defense is terminated. New players, new DC, and probably the only 2 holdovers on D will be Joe Vitt, and B Johnson. Keeping these veterans around will linger into the future, and it will be a detriment to the defense on some level.