Latest Forecast: Saints could feast on buffet of really bad teams (link) (1 Viewer)

[neworleanshoo]

Fleshes out what some have been pointing out recently... the Saints "tough schedule" isn't looking quite so daunting anymore...

he also picks the saints to win big this Sunday if you scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Forecast: Saints could feast on buffet of really bad teams

11:09 AM CDT on Thursday, October 1, 2009
Ralph Malbrough / Contributing Writer

The NFL every year has three distinct groups: The haves (Giants, Saints, Vikings, Colts, Patriots, Ravens) the have-nots (Bucs, Panthers, Lions, Rams, Chiefs, Raiders, Browns, Jaguars, Dolphins, Seahawks) and the middle. The have and have-nots make up half the league. Nothing out of the ordinary you say? Except the bad teams are really bad. Of the 10 teams I listed in the have-nots how many do you think will win six games?

Maybe two...

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl100109forecast.1d40cdb7d.html

 

[Cajunsaint85]

Sounds fair and exciting!

 

[muzzy]

The Saints have seven more games against teams whose record after three weeks is a combined 1-20.

Giddy up.

The Saints get Tampa and Carolina twice, St. Louis, Miami, and Washington.

 

[Entoman]

7 of our remaining opponents are 1-20!!!

Let the "they havent played anyone" talk continue until Feb.

 

[TheBigEasy99]

I talked about it a little more in depth in one of the other schedule threads but most of our tough games are at home from here on out. The only one that should be a challenge is the Falcons and they still have to come to the Dome as well. Apart from that we travel to St. Louis, Washington, Carolina, Tampa and Miami… teams with a combined 1 win between them.

 

[Grant Backer Two]

If we split the 6 "tough" games, we will be 13-3. We will prolly lose ONE game we should win. This is the NFL. Any given Sunday....

 

[nolascratch]

I think the Panthers could actually turn around if they replace their QB. You might argue that the QB didn't give up all the points, but 7 turnovers have given their opponents lots of room to score more. If they stick with Jake (and I hope they do), then I would say they are toast.

 

[nolascratch]

... and sweeping the Bucs and Panthers would be so nice

 

[darkhornet]

Panthers are definitely a team I wish we had now rather than later in the season, but here's hoping that they continue their slide and go into meltdown mode by the end of the year.

Buccaneers are just plain bad. I've always said they're not Detroit '08 bad, but I'm starting to wonder. They'll win a couple, but I think they're there with the Browns for the worst in the league this year.

 

[neworleanshoo]

I think the Panthers could actually turn around if they replace their QB. You might argue that the QB didn't give up all the points, but 7 turnovers have given their opponents lots of room to score more. If they stick with Jake (and I hope they do), then I would say they are toast.

replace their QB with whom? nobody on that roster can do any better than Jake, who actually played pretty well against the cowboys (that last INT was clearly on Smith).

panthers will finish no better than 4-12, no matter who's under center.

 

[Saint Jeremy]

The Saints get Tampa and Carolina twice, St. Louis, Miami, and Washington.

The Panthers and Tampa are division rivals. They will play us harder than they have played already, I believe. And the reason we have an 'easier' schedule than the rest of the division is that we finished last in 2008. Carolina was the 2nd seed. Who knew they would collapse like this.

The Saints took care of business beating the Eagles and the Bills on the road. And we do need to beat the better teams to be taken seriously.

 

[darkhornet]

The Panthers and Tampa are division rivals. They will play us harder than they have played already, I believe. And the reason we have an 'easier' schedule than the rest of the division is that we finished last in 2008. Carolina was the 2nd seed. Who knew they would collapse like this.

The Saints took care of business beating the Eagles and the Bills on the road. And we do need to beat the better teams to be taken seriously.

The 'easier' schedule thing is overplayed. We only have two games different than any other team in our division. The rest are exactly the same (minus head-to-head). Before realignment is was a much bigger deal because 7 of your opponents were factored by your record from the previous year. Now it's down to only 2.

 

[bradman1965]

Football Outsiders has our future schedule as the *easiest* going forward after the first three weeks of the season.

http://footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2009/week-3-dvoa-ratings

FUTURE SCHEDULE lists average DVOA of opponents still left to play this season, ranked from hardest schedule (#1, most positive) to easiest schedule (#32, most negative). It is not adjusted for which games are home or road.

 

[wingowolfey]

I smell MVP

 

[Saint Jeremy]

The 'easier' schedule thing is overplayed. We only have two games different than any other team in our division. The rest are exactly the same (minus head-to-head). Before realignment is was a much bigger deal because 7 of your opponents were factored by your record from the previous year. Now it's down to only 2.

I know, that's why I put it in ''. I was listening to some pundit talk about how difficult the Bucs schedule is. I said it was the same as the Saints (except we face the Rams and I forget who they face). So it's not really 'easier'.