Is this the year for a late season run? (1 Viewer)

Brennan77

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I know it's not likely given past results. But let's allow ourselves the indulgence of hopeful thinking for a moment.

We've had a few different types of seasons under Payton. We've had the 13-3, dominating campaigns on two occasions. We've had the early win streak to allow a mid range team to overachieve into the playoffs type seasons.. And we've had the legitimately mediocre 7-9 to 8-8 type seasons. Thankfully we have never had a completely terrible 3-13 type of team. And I don't think that happens this year.

But there's another type of season that we have not had that I've always thought would come under the Brees/Payton era. And that's the slow start followed by catching fire and improbably making the playoffs type of season. If ever there were a time to believe it, I think it is now. The offense is particularly awesome this year and will only get better once we get a couple of lineman back in rotation. The defense has been decimated by injury. But we've got some very key positions that should be getting healthy.

I'm not saying it's going to happen. But there is reasonable cause for hope. LRB may play this weekend, which could alone have a noticeable effect against a struggling Seahawks offense. The following week could see the return of both Breaux and Rankins. That's 3 starters (arguably) back against another questionable offense. If we somehow manage to get to .500 in the next two weeks, game on!
 
Never happened in Brees/Payton era. This season is following directly in the path of prior bad seasons. They don't get the benefit of the doubt any more.

Last in the league in defense - does not win championships.

Saints had the path wide open last week, and couldn't pull it together.
 
Never happened in Brees/Payton era. This season is following directly in the path of prior bad seasons. They don't get the benefit of the doubt any more.

Last in the league in defense - does not win championships.

Saints had the path wide open last week, and couldn't pull it together.

This is very accurate. Sadly.

Year, Record (6 games), (8 games), Final Record

2007 2-4, 4-4, 7-9
2008 3-3, 4-4, 8-8
2012 2-4, 4-4, 7-9
2014 2-4, 4-4, 7-9
2015 2-4, 4-4, 7-9


History doesn't paint a very positive picture of things.
 
So no one is actually going to discuss the possibility of improvement on the defense to go along with the awesome play of the offense? I openly admit the unlikeliness of the scenario and the history of slow starts for this team. That's not what this thread was intended to be about. I'd like to discuss the possibility of the improbable to go along with improvement corresponding to a healthier team.

There's plenty of threads and posts about facing the reality of where this team and the difficulty of adjusting our expectations. I specifically requested we allow ourselves the indulgence of hope for the sake of discussion, and perhaps sanity. We are fans of a football team. Let's have a little fun for a moment.

What say you? Is it not possible that getting 3 starters back on defense might turn this into a different team?
 
Absolutely. We're on the road to 12-4. It's going to be an exciting ride. Guys are getting healthy, and they will make an immediate impact.
 
Yes it is very possible and I hope it happens . And like stated in a previous post hopefully kikaha can come back for our playoff run
 
So no one is actually going to discuss the possibility of improvement on the defense to go along with the awesome play of the offense? I openly admit the unlikeliness of the scenario and the history of slow starts for this team. That's not what this thread was intended to be about. I'd like to discuss the possibility of the improbable to go along with improvement corresponding to a healthier team.

There's plenty of threads and posts about facing the reality of where this team and the difficulty of adjusting our expectations. I specifically requested we allow ourselves the indulgence of hope for the sake of discussion, and perhaps sanity. We are fans of a football team. Let's have a little fun for a moment.

What say you? Is it not possible that getting 3 starters back on defense might turn this into a different team?

Not that we'll ever be confused for Seattle's defense, but it did work for Seattle last year to a point.. getting healthy as the season went on defensively.. got on a nice run.
 
Unlike those past years, we do have people coming back that are main contributors to the defense and could change the effectiveness of that unit.

I will say this, if either Rankins or Breaux have a set back and wind up on IR that will probably spell another lost season.

The only hope is that we can get through this game with a W and get on a run with players coming back that will help the worst parts of our defense, the d-line and pass defense.
 
Of course! Anything is possible. I agree that getting healthy starters back on defense could be a key to a first-ever comeback to finish strong season under Payton.

I think it's important to acknowledge that this is a different team than past teams. I believe there's more than meets the eye test because the young guys are learning as they go and the veterans like BW Webb and Sterling Moore are new to the team so they are also learning.

My point is that history has no bearing on how this team will fare because there are also intangibles that come into play.

For the first time since the Saints lost the core of their veteran defense players, you have guys like Vacarro and Harper who are coaching the other players up and rightly calling out sub par play on the field. It starts with attitude and mindset. It continues and improves with self evaluation and holding oneself and others to a higher standard than what they've seen of this team over the last couple of seasons.

I didn't become a Saints fan in 1982 because they were winning. I admit I tend to relate to being an underdog but I fell in love with the Saints because I saw a pluckiness and grit that attracted me like a magnet. I see glimmers of those qualities in players on this team and that gives me hope for the future.

In my experience some of the best things happen when you just stay the course and keep putting your best foot forward in front of the other, fully taking ownership of your actions and giving the best effort you can each and every day with the goal of improving with each new opportunity.

Tim Hightower exemplifies this to me. If everyone played like him they couldn't help but win.
 
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Of course! Anything is possible. I agree that getting healthy starters back on defense could be a key to a first-ever comeback to finish strong season under Payton.

I think it's important to acknowledge that this is a different team than past teams. I believe there's more than meets the eye test because the young guys are learning as they go and the veterans like BW Webb and Sterling Moore are new to the team so they are also learning.

My point is that history has no bearing on how this team will fare because there are also intangibles that come into play.

For the first time since the Saints lost the core of their veteran defense players, you have guys like Vacarro and Harper who are coaching the other players up and rightly calling out sub par play on the field. It starts with attitude and mindset. It continues and improves with self evaluation and holding oneself and others to a higher standard than what they've seen of this team over the last couple of seasons.

I didn't become a Saints fan in 1982 because they were winning. I admit I tend to relate to being an underdog but I fell in love with the Saints because I saw a pluckiness and grit that attracted me like a magnet. I see glimmers of those qualities in players on this team and that gives me hope for the future.

In my experience some of the best things happen when you just stay the course and keep putting your best foot forward in front of the other, fully taking ownership of your actions and giving the best effort you can each and every day with the goal of improving with each new opportunity.

Tim Hightower exemplifies this to me. If everyone played like him they couldn't help but win.

I can't "Green Thumb" you enough for this post. Bang on!!!
 
I think it's possible to make a late season run, but I believe we absolutely have to take one of the games against Seattle and Denver, preferably Seattle because they're an NFC opponent, and we have to beat SF. Find a way to beat the Seahawks and then take care of business against SF on the road, and you're at .500 with confidence. I think losing 2 of the next 3 will be too much to overcome, sitting at 3-6.
 
Of course! Anything is possible. I agree that getting healthy starters back on defense could be a key to a first-ever comeback to finish strong season under Payton.

I think it's important to acknowledge that this is a different team than past teams. I believe there's more than meets the eye test because the young guys are learning as they go and the veterans like BW Webb and Sterling Moore are new to the team so they are also learning.

My point is that history has no bearing on how this team will fare because there are also intangibles that come into play.

For the first time since the Saints lost the core of their veteran defense players, you have guys like Vacarro and Harper who are coaching the other players up and rightly calling out sub par play on the field. It starts with attitude and mindset. It continues and improves with self evaluation and holding oneself and others to a higher standard than what they've seen of this team over the last couple of seasons.

I didn't become a Saints fan in 1982 because they were winning. I admit I tend to relate to being an underdog but I fell in love with the Saints because I saw a pluckiness and grit that attracted me like a magnet. I see glimmers of those qualities in players on this team and that gives me hope for the future.

In my experience some of the best things happen when you just stay the course and keep putting your best foot forward in front of the other, fully taking ownership of your actions and giving the best effort you can each and every day with the goal of improving with each new opportunity.

Tim Hightower exemplifies this to me. If everyone played like him they couldn't help but win.
Great post. Another thought is that 3 out of 4 losses were terribly close games. 2 or 3 defensive starters can absolutely be the difference between a 3 point loss or a 3 point victory. We are really close to winning those games.

Regardless, I'm super encouraged by the thought of next year.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
So no one is actually going to discuss the possibility of improvement on the defense to go along with the awesome play of the offense? I openly admit the unlikeliness of the scenario and the history of slow starts for this team. That's not what this thread was intended to be about. I'd like to discuss the possibility of the improbable to go along with improvement corresponding to a healthier team.

There's plenty of threads and posts about facing the reality of where this team and the difficulty of adjusting our expectations. I specifically requested we allow ourselves the indulgence of hope for the sake of discussion, and perhaps sanity. We are fans of a football team. Let's have a little fun for a moment.

What say you? Is it not possible that getting 3 starters back on defense might turn this into a different team?

It's "possible" but I feel like it isn't likely. It would be amazing if we get guys like Breaux, Rankins, Ellerbe and possibly even Kikaha back. Our defense would certainly be looking more talented in a hurry. However -- that's looking at injuries in a vacuum. As we get those guys slowly back, who else --who is healthy now, will go down? Will those injuries negate the positive gain of getting those others back? Will we lose anyone key from the offense to injury? If so, how will that impact things?

Our season has been deeply impacted by injuries and there is nothing to say that won't continue -- of course, there's nothing to say it will continue as well.

I also look at our remaining schedule and see some very difficult games on the horizon.


Seahawks - We are still beat up in the secondary and their defense might be problematic for our young WRs.

at 49ers - Should win but ---ugh, who knows?

Broncos - Still an amazing defense, especially against the pass.

at Panthers - Never feel like Panthers is a sure victory.

Rams - Mr. 7-9 always seems to bring his best against us.

Lions - Stafford is playing incredibly well and they are in the WC thick of things for now.

at Buccaneers - Another team that seems to be improved. We always play them well but this will likely be a tough divisional game.

at Cardinals - Tough team with a tough defense. On the road. Very, very tough game.

Buccaneers - Another match up with the Bucs. Tough to call.

at Falcons - What Falcons team will show up? Will they still be leading the division? Will Julio still be healthy. Always a tough divisional match-up.


Anyway ... speculating on wins and losses is tough at this point but I look at the remaining games and see very few games we "outmatch" our opponent on talent. Does that mean anything in the big picture? Maybe not much -- but I just haven't seen enough out of this team to think they can put together a sustained run.

But as always...I sincerely hope I'm really, really wrong.
 

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