The Saints will make the playoffs, and I will tell you 5 reasons why. (1 Viewer)

[liveoakh]

1.) We are a very good football team, with a playoff caliber defense. Despite the loss of Hendrickson and Jack rabbit.
2.) The QB play will be better than expected.
3.) The NFL is littered with bad teams, that we will just be better than.
4.) The NFL has expanded the # of playoff teams to 14. That is 1 extra slots for AFC and one for the NFC. That means you can get in with 8. 9 wins.
5.) We have CSP, and he will find a way to get us into the playoffs. Yes, he is that good. He has 9 wins in his back pocket.

 

[los226]

2nd corner is essential in today’s NFL. The only way that this team makes the playoffs is if the offense is top five in points scored and doesn’t turn the ball over.

 

[liveoakh]

2nd corner is essential in today’s NFL. The only way that this team makes the playoffs is if the offense is top five in points scored and doesn’t turn the ball over.

You are correct, 2nd corner is a need. We have to be on the + side of the turn over battle. We need a top 5 defense more, to make the playoffs. We are going to score some points.

 

[longtime lurker]

I hope man. I’m a bottle in on my red wine and it may take another or two or three to be at your level of sure-ed-ness. Cheers

 

[los226]

You are correct, 2nd corner is a need. We have to be on the + side of the turn over battle. We need a top 5 defense more, to make the playoffs. We are going to score some points.

Unless some rookie comes in and really shows out at corner, then there won’t be no top five defense.

 

[RaginCajun83]

1.) We are a very good football team, with a playoff caliber defense. Despite the loss of Hendrickson and Jack rabbit.
2.) The QB play will be better than expected.
3.) The NFL is littered with bad teams, that we will just be better than.
4.) The NFL has expanded the # of playoff teams to 14. That is 1 extra slots for AFC and one for the NFC. That means you can get in with 8. 9 wins.
5.) We have CSP, and he will find a way to get us into the playoffs. Yes, he is that good. He has 9 wins in his back pocket.

Thought #4 was just for last season?

 

[cwebb41]

I will play devil's advocate......5 reasons why we might not make the playoffs.....

5. No second corner and Lattimore gets suspended for a portion of the season.....pass defense falls apart with no pass rush to protect a potentially woeful secondary.
4. Strength of schedule.....tough games which includes games against the Packers, Titans, Seahawks and Bills.
3. No second receiver threat steps up......especially at tight end. If Smith or Trautman does not step up.....3 and outs could be a norm. Saints fans are very spoiled at how dependable Brees was moving the chains over the past few years.
2. Injuries.......we are very thin at key positions. Any major injuries to the defensive or offensive line and heaven forbid Linebacker......could be disastrous. If Davenport or Jordan misses time.....the faucet will just opens up.
1. Hill and Winston are QB busts.....a quarterback turnover carousel forces Payton to flip flop both quarterbacks. Kamara is stuck being just a dump-off receiver and we lost a lot of 31-20 ball games with killer turnovers being the culprit.

Again.....just playing devil's advocate. I realistically see a 11-5 ball club with Winston winnig the job as a game manager.....defense falls back to the mid-teens as a defense. We become a run-heavy team with Kamara and Murray being a one-two nightmare punch sprinkled with some Taysom Hill as a dual runner and a flanker receiving weapon with Deonte Harris being a huge vertical threat.

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[meily]

This team is as talented as any other year, outside of #2 corner and linebacker I think the Saints will hit the ground running this year.

J.Winston is talented QB with starting experience and playmaking ability with a rocket arm, that is talent at the QB position we haven't seen in years and a pretty good replacement for the HOF signal caller we had before him.

 

[EvilMike]

I'm going to be optimistic despite what my head is telling me. Too many major losses due to the Brees bill coming due.

 

[SRAddict]

The debbie downers are in mid season form. Lets see how what our record is at Week 4 before I start making predictions

 

[Saints 318]

We all need to go into the season with a mindset of not making the playoffs, to have a better outcome lol

 

[liveoakh]

4. Strength of schedule.....tough games which includes games against the Packers, Titans, Seahawks and Bills.

Winston will have field day throwing against the Titans and Seahawks secondary. They really suck. Packers and bills are tough teams, but so are we.

 

[sfidc3]

1.) We are a very good football team, with a playoff caliber defense. Despite the loss of Hendrickson and Jack rabbit.
2.) The QB play will be better than expected.
3.) The NFL is littered with bad teams, that we will just be better than.
4.) The NFL has expanded the # of playoff teams to 14. That is 1 extra slots for AFC and one for the NFC. That means you can get in with 8. 9 wins.
5.) We have CSP, and he will find a way to get us into the playoffs. Yes, he is that good. He has 9 wins in his back pocket.

I could see us making the playoffs with an 11-6 record or missing them with a 8-9 record.

1) You left out Malcolm Brown who was an absolute key to our run defense last year. For our D to be playoff caliber we are going to need a lot of younger players to step up (and our first 3 draft picks).
2) I don't think there will be that big a dropoff in QB play from Brees v2020
3) Things change, sometimes drastically, every year. Bad teams last year can be much improved the next year.
4) Maybe on the 8-9
5) This is the year that SP is really going to have to shine with all the uncertainty and personnel changes, we will see....9 wins in the back pocket? you must have missed 2014-16...though we do have a much better personnel and scouting dept now with Ireland....

 

[Consigliere]

2nd corner is essential in today’s NFL. The only way that this team makes the playoffs is if the offense is top five in points scored and doesn’t turn the ball over.

Absolutely. CB#2 is the weakest link in the chain. Whenever we have had a good one, the team has won the division.