Seriously, who had the Saints in last place in the NFC South on their Bingo card at the start of the season? (1 Viewer)

[meily]

I'm looking forward to the off-season. Been a long time since we had a top 10 pick and from Underhill's analysis FA won't suck as bad as it did last year.

We were near the top even with a depleted receiving group. Get a starting caliber QB back and everything is groovy.

I'm soaking more so on threads like these flooding the forum not the draft and FA, I look forward to that as well

 

[Bill]

You think there's no proof that with Winston, Michael Thomas, Kamarra, Armstead, Peat and Ramczek all healthy we wouldn't be better than we are?

Seems preposterous to assume 100m in injured salary wouldn't be better than the mash unit, but whatever.

I do believe we would be a much better team without all the injuries. But out of our 7 losses, would we be 5 games better or 2 games better??? I can't look at the first four games, in which most of our starters played, and determine if we were the team that crushed the Packers & Patriots... or the team who choked against the Panthers & Giants. It's easy to say that we would have played like the team that beat the Bucs at the Caesars Superdome, but that was the only game we played well in our own building.

I'm not saying that we wouldn't be a genuine contender without all the injuries. I'm just saying that the jury is still out on that deliberation simply due to the small sample size. I really do hope that this year was just a string of bad luck laced with a liberal amount of mental breakdowns. Because there is nothing I want to see more than for the Saints to pick up where we left off as division champs & legitimate playoff contenders. I think a few good drafts and paying off a lot of the dead cap money will go a long way toward making that a reality again.

 

[ASaintFerLife]

Well I personally think we would win the division if we were 90% healthy with Michael thomas //Winston and all the rest. Oh well..on to a healthier 2022 ..Things will be better next year . The injury bug just hit the Saints like no other year i have every seen ...

It seeems it hit us this year much harder than since we stopped training in WV. Everyone it seems eventually gets their turn.

 

[sainthood]

A salary cap pre-thinned roster with 8 offensive starters out, 3 defensive starters, and your kicker. That is half your starting line up out on a team with depth consisting of undrafted players all over the rest of the offense. I just try to focus on the bright side. We may get a more affordable contract from Winston. We resigned Lattimore, Ram, Hill, and Kamara. Thomas is coming back. We likely will have a high end pick to replace Armstead who may leave in free agency and get a comp pick for him. We can do some cap work to resign Williams and Davenport. Davenport may come cheaper with all the injuries and the Saints have no reason to rush him back and better his stats. 2021's defensive first three picks all look promising. This roster is not bare in the picks we have been making and the players we have paid are solid. Bad draft picks and bad free agent contracts kill NFL teams and so far the Saints have few of either. If we finish in last place, it is understandable given the injury report and the cap going into the season. We need 2 wide receivers, a defensive tackle, and likely a OT to replace Armstead unless they flip Peat out and move one of the interior lineman to Peat's spot. We have options for next year with the cap at $208. Keep hope Who Dats.

 

[livefromDC]

I expected the team to be near the bottom of the conference, just not the way it happened. I couldn’t predict that we’d over perform against good teams and play badly against bad teams. Nor would I have predicted the injuries. But we lost a ton of talent on both sides or the ball, most of our depth and a HOF QB. This was expected by anyone being honest with themselves.

Injuries were expected??? That doesn't make sense. The truth is you expected the Saints to be near the bottom of the conference, but they were proving you wrong until the injuries hit. This is not the same as the Saints meeting your expectations.

 

[dtc]

I do believe we would be a much better team without all the injuries. But out of our 7 losses, would we be 5 games better or 2 games better??? I can't look at the first four games, in which most of our starters played, and determine if we were the team that crushed the Packers & Patriots... or the team who choked against the Panthers & Giants. It's easy to say that we would have played like the team that beat the Bucs at the Caesars Superdome, but that was the only game we played well in our own building.

I'm not saying that we wouldn't be a genuine contender without all the injuries. I'm just saying that the jury is still out on that deliberation simply due to the small sample size. I really do hope that this year was just a string of bad luck laced with a liberal amount of mental breakdowns. Because there is nothing I want to see more than for the Saints to pick up where we left off as division champs & legitimate playoff contenders. I think a few good drafts and paying off a lot of the dead cap money will go a long way toward making that a reality again.

Ok, but the #1 injury and the biggest problem we've faced all year was and remains Michael Thomas. With him up to snuff, we do not have the league's least talented WR room, but I was just trying to get clarity about what you said. Seemed different in the op.

 

[Bill]

Ok, but the #1 injury and the biggest problem we've faced all year was and remains Michael Thomas. With him up to snuff, we do not have the league's least talented WR room, but I was just trying to get clarity about what you said. Seemed different in the op.

I was thinking that I should have used the title, "Who had the Saints in last place in the NFC South on their Bingo card at the start of the season?" I must admit that I didn't expect all the issues we've seen this year. It's been quite a bummer to experience.

[Edit: Title has been updated to make the point clearer.]

 

[HogsNSaints]

If Matt Ryan tore his ACL, the Falcons would be the worst team in the NFL.

If Tom Brady tore his ACL, the Bucs would tread water and be average at best.

We can excuse ourselves for one season when the QB1 tears his ACL. Other fan bases around the league are.

 

[FootballFan42]

We are nowhere near the Bucs right now. Watching Brady dissect Atlanta yesterday I have to say was awesome given how much I loathe the Falcons. But I look at this year as a bit of a reset. We have to get the cap straightened out like what the Patriots did last year with their reset but the key is the QB. I like Winston more than some on this forum but I don't see him as a long term answer. Not if we want to contend for titles with Brady in our division. I would like to see us draft someone like the Patriots did with Mac. Payton is great at developing Qbs so I think our time to get back to competitive/contending will be short if we can identify that next guy.

 

[dvdman]

And we also didn’t anticipate the ridiculous amount of injuries. Yeah I know coaches don’t publicly like to use injuries as an excuse but in the Saints case it’s a valid excuse.

 

[44slayer]

I thought 2nd and a wild card. Even at 5-2. Then, it just went off the rails. If we dont beat the Jets, Im not sure I see another win on the schedule. Silver lining is, higher draft pick.

This is problem across the NFL, but the amount of injuries teams are dealing with the last 2 seasons just makes these late regular season games almost like watching the World League. And the NFL expanded the regular season. They added a game to the problem. And this is with a boatload of rules in place to prevent injuries. This all seems to coincide with covid and the reduction of training camp practices and offseason training programs around the NFL. Whatever it is, its definitely led to an inferior product across the league being put on the field.

 

[LoE]

I did.

As soon as Jameis went down.

 

[Vision]

While I didn't think we'd be a great team this season, I certainly didn't think we'd be dead last in the NFC South in Week 13. Yeah I know that it has been a year of unprecedented injuries to our starters, but there seems to be even more negatives than that. In many ways everything that could go wrong DID go wrong. We had breakdowns in all phases of our game, which led to losing games that we could/should have won. This entire year has seen an avalanche of mistakes and bad luck.

While I always hate for any Saints season to end, I am so ready to get past this one and hope that we can rebound in the not too distant future. I really wasn't ready for our dominance to end. But that era is clearly over and I want to believe we can be competitive once again. Right now it's just depressing to watch the crash & burn.

I didn't until we lost to that pile of feathers from atlanta. That's when it creeped in on me that excellent coaching may not be enough.

 

[JackDiesel]

I'm soaking more so on threads like these flooding the forum not the draft and FA, I look forward to that as well

Maybe posters like the OP get surprised that water is wet.

 

[FootballFan42]

I did.

As soon as Jameis went down.

Sigh. I know. I had no confidence at all in Siemian.