The Saints are relevant at 3-4, and in the hunt at 4-4 (3 Viewers)

[AARPSaint]

I think we want CAR to win every remaining game, except vs. the Saints. Our division is pretty much out of reach, but we are still in play for a wildcard. There are a ton of teams with 3 or 4 wins. We need the division winners to win big, knocking our wildcard challengers out of contention.

Kwtpf will certainly be very interesting unless the Saints get worse. That's unlikely to happen unless they suffer devastating injuries.

What if three teams from the NFC South were to make the playoffs? The national media's sneering at the division last season would come back to haunt them, which would do my heart good.

 

[DomeDude]

I love the Saints dearly but if the other team gave you 3 fumbles and a 20pt lead and you almost blow it that is not something I want to hang my hat on. The 2nd week in a row turnovers have saved us.. No way no how I would even put the saints and playoffs in the same sentence without a "face palm" emoticon.

In 2009, turnovers were a large part of our journey to a SB victory. Its one thing if they were just bonehead mistakes by the other team, but forcing turnovers is a part of being a good defense. A win by forced turnovers ? I'll take it any day.

 

[Spec]

We have to win 10 games. That's the number.

There are too many teams in the hunt and the Falcons are almost assuredly going to win 10+ and get that 5th seed.

Have you seen the remaining schedule for the Saints?
Home games: Giants, Titans, Panthers, Lions, Jags
Road games: Redskins, Bucs, Texans, Falcons

We will be favored in every one of those games except possibly the Panthers game (in which I think Saints will be a slight favorite when that game happens) and the road Falcons game.

I am predicting the Saints will win 8 of the last 9 to finish 11-5.

 

[sfbaysaint]

I love the Saints dearly but if the other team gave you 3 fumbles and a 20pt lead and you almost blow it that is not something I want to hang my hat on. The 2nd week in a row turnovers have saved us.. No way no how I would even put the saints and playoffs in the same sentence without a "face palm" emoticon.

I get your point. Expecting turnovers to bail the offense out should not be a game plan.

 

[daybreaker]

Have you seen the remaining schedule for the Saints?
Home games: Giants, Titans, Panthers, Lions, Jags
Road games: Redskins, Bucs, Texans, Falcons

We will be favored in every one of those games except possibly the Panthers game (in which I think Saints will be a slight favorite when that game happens) and the road Falcons game.

I am predicting the Saints will win 8 of the last 9 to finish 11-5.

Agreed. I think Payton has said before he views the season in quarters.

We started 1-3, but if each quarter after that goes 3-1, then we finish 10-6.

It's not impossible. Also not impossible to imagine that the 3rd or 4th quarters goes 4-0 to hit 11 wins.

 

[st dude]

Throwing the ball from the two and having it intercepted really changed the complexion of the game. That would have put the Colts in panic mode and probably would have spiraled from there. This is one of the things that perplexes me about this coaching staff. Those things will get your beat more often than not, and it almost cost us the game.

Lots of coaches on first down from the two will occasionally throw it. If you get stuffed on your first down, the pass has less surprise factor.

What happened was the call got us a td, called back for a questionable offensive pass interference call. That put us back on the 12 yd line. It was a safe pass, had it been incomplete we sill had three downs to run the ball in. who koows, a run on first down might have scored or might have gotten a ticky tack holding call.

The interception was the result of either a bad throw by Brees or Colston quitting on route, they were not on the same page.

You have to keep the other team honest and lots of NFL coaches will periodically throw from near the goal line on first down. In retrospect we wish they would have run it. That doesn't make it a bad call, the play Payton called was a td, called back for hand to hand pushing by the defensive back and saints tight end that usually gets overlooked.

 

[SaintsFanNStl]

No way no how I would even put the saints and playoffs in the same sentence without a "face palm" emoticon.

Didn't see the face palm emoticon there.

 

[guillermo]

I may be the only one not evaluating the season for wins or playoffs. I am looking for constant growth.

We are starting to look some growing up from our front seven, and if we can get next year another pass rusher and an interior lineman that can collapse the middle, we will have something very, very good.

I am not adding a thing in the secondary. Thinking of playing Breaux and Lewis healthy,
our nickle and dime corners are playing well, and we still have to add Swann and Williams to our roster.

We are getting better on offense, but it will get time, we will have to rebuild the right side of our offensive line, and we need another receiver and two tight ends in the following two years.

Considering all the players that are contributing that are on their first year, then we would have a solid team at its peak in 2 more seasons. The question then, is if we are keeping Drew.

 

[st dude]

I may be the only one not evaluating the season for wins or playoffs. I am looking for constant growth.


Considering all the players that are contributing that are on their first year, then we would have a solid team at its peak in 2 more seasons. The question then, is if we are keeping Drew.

1) Evaluating our chances for the playoffs and monitoring the team for continued growth are not mutually exclusive exercises. There is no reason not to do both.

2) We will likely not see another Drew Brees, New England will not see another Tom Brady, at least in the foreseeable future. A healthy Brees can play for at least three more years and he remains our best chance to get back to a superbowl. All the reactionary talk that the era is over and we need to get rid of Brees and our coach is nonsense.

The one new quarterback in the last three years coming out of college who was destined to be an elite with Brady, manning, Brees and Rodgers was Andrew Luck. Luck is good, but he many never be as good as Brees has been. The draft for qb's is a crapshoot. We need to keep Brees until he is not physically able to perform at a winning level.

 

[AARPSaint]

1) Evaluating our chances for the playoffs and monitoring the team for continued growth are not mutually exclusive exercises. There is no reason not to do both.

2) We will likely not see another Drew Brees, New England will not see another Tom Brady, at least in the foreseeable future. A healthy Brees can play for at least three more years and he remains our best chance to get back to a superbowl. All the reactionary talk that the era is over and we need to get rid of Brees and our coach is nonsense.

The one new quarterback in the last three years coming out of college who was destined to be an elite with Brady, manning, Brees and Rodgers was Andrew Luck. Luck is good, but he many never be as good as Brees has been. The draft for qb's is a crapshoot. We need to keep Brees until he is not physically able to perform at a winning level.

A lot depends on whether or not Grayson is the heir apparent. We haven't seen nearly enough from Grayson to make that judgment. My sense is that they acted too soon, but there might not be a better solution in the next couple of years. Those who follow the college game more closely than I do might want to comment.

 

[arosspen]

There's 9 games left, am I right? Anything's possible.

 

[gregh]

Can't believe they lost to Tampa at home. 4-3 is a hell of a lot better than 3-4

 

[HouseCall]

Can't believe they lost to Tampa at home. 4-3 is a hell of a lot better than 3-4

Gotta wonder if we lose that game if Brees doesn't go down or comes out for
MCCown.

That injury just threw us into a tailspin that game. Obviously the online was abhorrent which caused the injury, but that loss was really sealed after the injury.

 

[bclemms]

Best case scenario is the Falcons sweep the Panthers and the Saints win the game against Atlanta and Carolina. If that happens then it would greatly increase those odds.

Panthers have won 10 straight regular season games. Hard to see them losing 6 of the last 9 or something similar.

Saints are playing for a wildcard spot. The good news is they have a really weak schedule. The bad news, this team plays down to competition in a bad way.

 

[Brennan77]

I expected the turnaround on the season. The real question is if it can be sustained. I think we win this weekend to get back to .500. After that, who knows? We have seen this before. It sure would be fun to see a young and hungry team get hot though.