Make No Mistake About It (1 Viewer)

CCL36

Super Forum Fanatic
Joined
Apr 12, 2004
Messages
6,904
Reaction score
1,463
Offline
New Orleans is going to have to win the division in order to make the playoffs.


Minnesota is a Lock for one wild card (there schedule is unbelievably easy) and the Rams or Seahawks will both finish with excellent records.

The pressure will be on in the coming weeks. Atlanta beat Pittsburg and Cinci who we have not played, Carolina beat Baltimore who we just lost to.

Playoffs are far from a lock for this team. We need so OL help next year, yes the pass-blocking is good but their is very very limited running room which limits our offense. We need to get a mammoth guard to put next to Brown so we can run on the left side.


The sky is not falling but all this playoff asurity talk is meaningless and at this point hopeful at best.
 
I agree and disagree with you. I in no way think we are a lock for the playoffs, but I also think Minny is far from a lock, even with their schedule.
 
the sky is not falling! we lost to an extremely tough opponent that will win their division, which had lost two straight coming in, had a coach on the hot seat and won the last five years coming off the bye. we beat ourselves with mistakes and were bound to have a bad game sooner or later. this was payton first bye week as a HC and he may need to change somethings he did. we still have a good team and yes it will be tough to make the playoffs, but no team we play the rest of the year will have a D like that either.
 
I don't think anyone can predict how the season will turn out. There's too much parity which makes everything way too unpredictable. With that said, I have to say I hate bye weeks. The Saints obviously were affected by it as they appeared mentally out of it from the start. Gibbs needs to come with more blitzes as opposed to rushing 4 and playing man to man. McNair ate them up today. Even so, the offense gave them two TDs off interceptions. How fortunes can turn in just a couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, it looked like the Falcons were in a meltdown yet they are now tied with us for 1st. Like I said, unpredictable.

Any news on Reggies's injury? How severe is the sprain? I didn;t see it as I turned the game off and watched Atlanta and Cincinnati.
 
Lets objectively look at the Vikings

Below is a very conservative prediction which means the Vikings will end up at least 10-6

Lets give all the questionable games to their opponents:

New England L
@San Franscisco W
Green Bay W (home game)
@ Miami W (will pick in top 5 of draft)
Arizona W (will pick in top 5 of draft)
@ Chicago L
@ Detroit W (another team that will possibly pick in top 5)
N.Y. Jets W (improved team but the Vikes have them at home)
@ Greenbay L (I give this to the Packers at home though I doubt it)
St. Louis L (I give this to the Rams though they will be 1 dimensional and
Will likely loose in the Vikings house)
 
We still have 9 games left to play. I'm not even thinking about playoffs. We're in a good position at 5-2. Remember the 2004 season, we started out horrible and were sitting at 4-8 and then ran off 4 straight and nearly made the playoffs. Its a long season. Anything can happen.
 
I think it makes no sense to assume that Green Bay can't win one or both of those games against the Vikings. I also could see Detroit and the Jets pulling off wins.

Did you think Tampa would beat Philly last week? Or Houston beat Jax?

To say Minny is a lock is just plain nonsense. Do they have a good shot? Sure. They are not the Bears, Pats or Colts. They are not the caliber of team that you can call playoffs just yet.
 
Last edited:
Seattle is not a lock to get in the playoffs. Philly looks overrated and the Cowboys aren't getting there either, plus we hold the tiebreaker over them. It is better to win conference games and lose non-conference ones but of course you always want to win. I think 10-6 will get us in the playoffs even if we don't win the division.
 
With 9 games left on the schedule, the Saints realistically have to win 5 more games to make the playoffs.

Meaning, the Saints would have to pull five wins out of this remaining schedule:

TB
Car.
Washington
Dallas
Cincinatti
Pitts.
San Fran.
Atl.
NY Giants.

If the Saints get back to playing smart, fundamental football I like these odds. 10-6 doesn't guarantee the playoffs, but Minnesota, like the Saints, have been playing a bit over their heads (until the Saints were playing over their heads), and have good coaching--the Saints still have a legitimate shot at the playoffs. Just as much as Minnesota.
 
Well which games on our schedule would you call "gimmees"

The Vikings have at least 3-6 freebie games and if they win Monday Night I think they are pretty much a lock for a playoff spot.

As for the other potential wildcard spot I havn't looked at the schedules of St. Louis or Seattle though we know their division is weak.

Furthermore we still will have a challenge to go out and finish first or second in our divison.

I am optimistic we will make the playoffs but we will have to play good and beat quality teams consistantly.
 
If the Saints get back to playing smart said:
I think this is the key. It obviously didn't happen today. Our offense moved the ball pretty well considering the caliber of defense they were playing. Just when they had chances they came us short several times, turned the ball over and our defense couldn;t stop McNair passing in the first half when the front 7 had the run stopped. It all comes down to not turning over the ball, not making dumb mistakes. With our .500 defense (which is about what we have.) we can't reasonably hope they can hold out if we put ourselves in a deep hole like today. I still think we can play with anybody, we have to be smarter with the ball and better with penalties than we were today.

-N
 
The Vikings have at least 3-6 freebie games and if they win Monday Night I think they are pretty much a lock for a playoff spot.

In today's NFL there is no such thing as a "freebie" game.
 
Well which games on our schedule would you call "gimmees"

The Vikings have at least 3-6 freebie games and if they win Monday Night I think they are pretty much a lock for a playoff spot.

As for the other potential wildcard spot I havn't looked at the schedules of St. Louis or Seattle though we know their division is weak.

Furthermore we still will have a challenge to go out and finish first or second in our divison.

I am optimistic we will make the playoffs but we will have to play good and beat quality teams consistantly.


There are no "gimmees" because of the landscape of the NFL. But I really do see the Saints winning more games if they:

1. Don't commit stupid penalites and turnovers
2. run the football
3. Have a chance to win it at the end.

It's the same knock that dogged Haslett-coached teams. Too many turnovers, too many penalites, too many mental errors. But look at the flip-side: Is there a "gimee" game that the Saints are sure to lose?

The offense turned the ball over.

The defense showed that it probably doesn't have the talent to take this team to the big dance.

But I do think the Saints can reach the playoffs.
 
Well which games on our schedule would you call "gimmees"

The Vikings have at least 3-6 freebie games and if they win Monday Night I think they are pretty much a lock for a playoff spot.

As for the other potential wildcard spot I havn't looked at the schedules of St. Louis or Seattle though we know their division is weak.

Furthermore we still will have a challenge to go out and finish first or second in our divison.

I am optimistic we will make the playoffs but we will have to play good and beat quality teams consistantly.

I think in todays NFL it makes no sense to call any games on your schedule "Gimmes". The Bears did that and almost got embarressed by the Cards. Houston beat Jax. The Titans nearly beat the Colts. Pittsburgh can't seem to win. This a leage riddled with parity. There are no gimmes.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom