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

[sfidc3]

What I am saying is we have 9 wins to get. The Bears made the playoffs at 8 and 8. Washington made the playoffs at 7 and 9. It's not a big leap to think Sean can get us there. I think Winston will do fine. Sean hasn't been shy about starting rookie DBs, and has been money on almost all of them. So I expect Adebo to start and do well. The loss of Malcolm Brown....hurts, Shy is not a rookie and has many snaps, that he has graded out well at. I wouldn't say a run stopping replacement, but Shy is stout and brings more pass rush. If those 2 guys can thrive. We will be good. On Offense we will be balanced run/pass, and use play action to set up the deep throws to put their DBs on their heels a bit. Winston's ability to hit on throws of 20 + yards, will open up the run and screen game. Sean has been pretty dam good at getting young, inexperienced players ready to play on game day.

There are only 9 teams of 32 or 2/3 of the NFL have less (betting odds) of making the playoffs than the Saints. Or is betting odds media driven or some such.

Ok, so you are already making the assumption that Winston will be the starter, TBH I believe he may be also but there are no guarantees.

One of the other issues this team has is a lack of experienced/quality depth, we are already depending on rookies stepping up (which is always a big if). If we suffer some injuries (especially on D) this team is going to struggle.

Don't get me wrong, I do think we have a strong roster overall but we have a very thin roster at some spots on the D....

 

[CJL]

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 like all of them but #3 a bad nfl team can beat a great nfl team any given Sunday this isn't college!

 

[DomePatrol2005]

Whatever happened to punctuation? Was it not taught (or emphasized?) when you were in school? Btw, how old are you? And I'm just curious as to why so many have so completely abandoned it.

Off topic ehSURPRISE. wHAT surprise its.

 

[LordPoopington]

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

Not counting 09, the most fun seasons for me have been the seasons where our playoff experience was unexpected. 87 (my favorite non-09 season), 00, 06, 17. If we make it this year, it will be similarly unexpected for me (I think we have too much talent to be bad this year, but I have no real expectations going in).

To win, we need Jameis to not be a turnover machine, we need someone to just be a serviceable CB2 (Jackrabbit and Apple weren't great, but they were okay and okay is miles better than 07-08 Jason David or Ken Crawley in the first month of 2018 or Davante Harris at any point in his carer), we need young players like Ruiz, Chauncey, Granderson, Trautman, Callaway, and TQS to keep making progress, and we need to avoid injury disasters (09 had regular season injuries, but none of our stars suffered season enders and the washed-up Charles Grant was our only regular starter who missed the postseason).

 

[MamaRoux]

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

Come on Man! CSP, #13 back, #45 hitting HIGH NOTES, Latavius Murray is a BEAST (which NO ONE is thinking but maybe me) TQS will be a True BALLER, Our "D" , while still a bit "soft" on the Corner is focusing on take-aways! CSP has always been a HUGE FAN of that # effecting all games and this season? He's on FIRE about getting the ball out and into OUR hands! So, I'm optimistic by nature too! Cheers and as always;GEAUX SAINTS GEAUX!

 

[nakadish]

Come on Man! CSP, #13 back, #45 hitting HIGH NOTES, Latavius Murray is a BEAST (which NO ONE is thinking but maybe me) TQS will be a True BALLER, Our "D" , while still a bit "soft" on the Corner is focusing on take-aways! CSP has always been a HUGE FAN of that # effecting all games and this season? He's on FIRE about getting the ball out and into OUR hands! So, I'm optimistic by nature too! Cheers and as always;GEAUX SAINTS GEAUX!

TQS, a baller? I'll have some of whatever you are having.

 

[So_$@int Silly]

Is this why

 

[liveoakh]

TQS, a baller? I'll have some of whatever you are having.

Don't sleep on TQS. He led all receivers in yards per catch last year at 13.2 YPC, and caught most of his targets. He was in Drew and Payton's dog house, mostly for good reasons. But, now he is the #2 WR, I see him getting a lot of targets of 20+ yrds. TQS's game is pushing the ball down field. He will fare much better with the field more open to him, and a clean slate w/ a new QB w/ the kind of arm to open the field up. The Saints are going to try and push the ball down field, and we don't have a lot of WR's who can get behind DBs. Only, Harris, TQS,......Calaway has the speed, but I haven't seen any tape of him showing any vertical ability. The potential is there. Also, 7th rd pick Baker untested, but has good speed.

 

[saint_drago]

I really need to know how many games Latt is going to miss before I can get behind this defense. And I need to see if they bring in another vet. If we're looking at 4-6 games with Patrick Robinson being our top Corner...yikes.

I say we rush 8 guys every play and hope for the best.

 

[Fiyo]

Those are the only ones I could think of as well. I’m sure there will be some bumps and bruises, so I’m not going to expect much, and just hope for the best.

Not saying it will, but it could happen. I seem to remember a relative unknown by the name of Tom Brady replacing an injured Drew Bledsoe and suddenly and shockingly pushing the Pats to a Super Bowl. Doug Williams started 1987 as Jay Schroeder’s backup before being called into action after a Schroeder injury and making history. We’re 0-0, and we’re have to be a lot worse than that before I stop believing. I even have distant hope for Baby Brees — Ian Book.

 

[NOLAJM504]

Saints need to focus on the rushing attack, and keep Winston's decisions as easy as possible in his first full year. A concentrated effort on ball control will make up for what we lost on D.

 

[SweetT]

Not saying it will, but it could happen. I seem to remember a relative unknown by the name of Tom Brady replacing an injured Drew Bledsoe and suddenly and shockingly pushing the Pats to a Super Bowl. Doug Williams started 1987 as Jay Schroeder’s backup before being called into action after a Schroeder injury and making history. We’re 0-0, and we’re have to be a lot worse than that before I stop believing. I even have distant hope for Baby Brees — Ian Book.

Good points, but I have to see the product first before I get my hopes up. As of right now, I know we will be capable of a 9-8 season, but obviously I’d like it to be better than that. I have concerns that SP will have to be more of a coach now that Drew is gone. Whoever our QB is, will have to deal with more pressure than ever, and we will need some unproven guys to step up. Plus, we will need a lot of breaks to go our way. Something historically that rarely ever happens.

 

[Filaphill]

I'm a believer let's go eat some W's.