Are they underestimating the Saints ? (Power rankings) (1 Viewer)

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DrewBrees1993

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I have been taking a look at power rankings that were made post-draft and post (recent)-free agency and most of them have the Saints in the early or late 20s.

Seeing the moves we made in the draft and in free agency, I think that in my humble opinion we should be way higher than that. Last season was plagued by injuries but we still managed to do a decent job nonetheless. Now this season we come as a stronger team with some key additions but still they rank us very low.

I am missing something here ? Do they just think the loss of Sean Payton is going the be that hard to recover from ? Do they think Jameis Winston is not good enough ? Or are they just underestimating us and can't see the potential we have ?
 
DrewBrees1993 said:
I have been taking a look at power rankings that were made post-draft and post (recent)-free agency and most of them have the Saints in the early or late 20s.

Seeing the moves we made in the draft and in free agency, I think that in my humble opinion we should be way higher than that. Last season was plagued by injuries but we still managed to do a decent job nonetheless. Now this season we come as a stronger team with some key additions but still they rank us very low.

I am missing something here ? Do they just think the loss of Sean Payton is going the be that hard to recover from ? Do they think Jameis Winston is not good enough ? Or are they just underestimating us and can't see the potential we have ?
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I'll try to be devil's advocate. Don't get me wrong I have money on the over (the first time ever betted on sports). So I think they are grossly underrated nationally, but I also tried my best to see why.

Before I start let me be clear briefly, this is a very talented roster. Defensively it's top notch, my only concern there (besides the obvious injury concerns that always exist) is how long everything takes to mesh with the new safeties. Now we also have offensive weapons that should be able to produce for that defense.

Now to the skeptical part.
- Losing a HoF caliber head coach. Replaced with a re-hash that failed in the past. Obviously, we Saints fans have a deeper understanding of the situation. But on the surface that's what it is, and that doesn't have a good historical track record.
- A QB that failed with his last team and we still haven't seen put it together here. We all hope we can get the best of both worlds from Jameis (volume and efficiency). You do hear some positive things about him nationally sometimes, but for the most part, you aren't going to see him ranked highly anywhere because there has always been a fatal flaw that has held him back.
- An unknown offensive plan. Sure Carmicheal will be there to carry things over but how much will losing Sean change things. That won't be seen positively nationally.
- Defense doesn't tend to carry over. We are a defensive team right now. Defensive teams tend to be a splash in the pan. When things are going right they can be Superbowl caliber, but they are fragile. Year to year stability comes from an offense and QB. Which is a question mark for us, especially nationally.
- The offense did add weapons but everything is a question mark. Will Thomas just pick up where he left off? Was Jarvis' last year just a low point? Was Olave worth it? Will the offensive line be stable with a rookie LT replacing one of its anchors? Is Kamara going to miss time? Will Taysom be relevant anymore?

I for one am skeptical of question marks on the team every year. The way they make me feel good about question marks is to just keep attacking it. You may not have the "answer" but something has to break right (right?). I think they've done that. A lot can go wrong but I can still see this offense being average. On defense, a lot can go wrong and they can still be above average. To me that means unless we get another unmitigated disaster like last year, this should at least be an above-average team overall. The change in leadership just has to steady the ship.

I don't know if nationally there is much faith in the change of leadership and too many unknowns on offense.
 
Last edited:
DrewBrees1993 said:
I have been taking a look at power rankings that were made post-draft and post (recent)-free agency and most of them have the Saints in the early or late 20s.

Seeing the moves we made in the draft and in free agency, I think that in my humble opinion we should be way higher than that. Last season was plagued by injuries but we still managed to do a decent job nonetheless. Now this season we come as a stronger team with some key additions but still they rank us very low.

I am missing something here ? Do they just think the loss of Sean Payton is going the be that hard to recover from ? Do they think Jameis Winston is not good enough ? Or are they just underestimating us and can't see the potential we have ?
Click to expand...
It makes no sense for the media to assume that the Saints will pick up where they left off until they see how the new staff will run things. I’ve seen several NFL teams in past years who had stacked rosters only to watch the coaching fail miserably.

Obviously we are judging our team by more than just the quality of the players we have now and the coaching experience to make everything run smoothly. We are also thinking with our heart. The media chooses instead to wait and see how all the new faces will come together to perform on the field. Personally I’m glad that few people are singing the Saints praises. When the Saints start winning games and prove that we have a great recipe, I’m sure that everyone will be pulling up to the table claiming that they knew all along how good the ’new’ Saints would be.
 
I think the “sexy” rosters are predominantly in the AFC and that could be a sticking point with their assessments. The only caveat is that these AFC teams are going to beat each other up and someone has to lose in those matchups. In a watered down NFC, there’s no reason why we can’t dominate. I like our roster/coaches just as much as some of those AFC teams, even with our “unknowns” heading into the season. WHO DAT⚜️⚜️⚜️
 
The three most important roles on a team are GM, HC, and starting QB. We have question marks at two of the three. Add in that we weren’t a playoff team last year and it’s as simple as that.

Granted, I think there is some room for optimism but I think that there is some room for skepticism as well. Lots to prove.
 
bigdaddysaints said:
Yea, this isn't college football, rankings mean nothing. The only thing that matters is W-L columns at the end of the season.
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I don’t know…if we can get in the top 10, it really increases our chances to make the Poulan Weedeater Bowl!
 
Stalwart385 said:
I'll try to be devil's advocate. Don't get me wrong I have money on the over (the first time ever betted on sports). So I think they are grossly underrated nationally, but I also tried my best to see why.

Before I start let me be clear briefly, this is a very talented roster. Defensively it's top notch, my only concern there (besides the obvious injury concerns that always exist) is how long everything takes to mesh with the new safeties. Now we also have offensive weapons that should be able to produce for that defense.

Now to the skeptical part.
- Losing a HoF caliber head coach. Replaced with a re-hash that failed in the past. Obviously, we Saints fans have a deeper understanding of the situation. But on the surface that's what it is, and that doesn't have a good historical track record.
- A QB that failed with his last team and we still haven't seen put it together here. We all hope we can get the best of both worlds from Jameis (volume and efficiency). You do hear some positive things about him nationally sometimes, but for the most part, you aren't going to see him ranked highly anywhere because there has always been a fatal flaw that has held him back.
- An unknown offensive plan. Sure Carmicheal will be there to carry things over but how much will losing Sean change things. That won't be seen positively nationally.
- Defense doesn't tend to carry over. We are a defensive team right now. Defensive teams tend to be a splash in the pan. When things are going right they can be Superbowl caliber, but they are fragile. Year to year stability comes from an offense and QB. Which is a question mark for us, especially nationally.
- The offense did add weapons but everything is a question mark. Will Thomas just pick up where he left off? Was Jarvis' last year just a low point? Was Olave worth it? Will the offensive line be stable with a rookie LT replacing one of its anchors? Is Kamara going to miss time? Will Taysom be relevant anymore?

I for one am skeptical of question marks on the team every year. The way they make me feel good about question marks is to just keep attacking it. You may not have the "answer" but something has to break right (right?). I think they've done that. A lot can go wrong but I can still see this offense being average. On defense, a lot can go wrong and they can still be above average. To me that means unless we get another unmitigated disaster like last year, this should at least be an above-average team overall. The change in leadership just has to steady the ship.

I don't know if nationally there is much faith in the change of leadership and too many unknowns on offense.
Click to expand...
Excelllent post.
 

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