We are the BEST team in the NFC (1 Viewer)

[SaintJ]

Not sold on Seattle even with Hasselbeck and Alexander. Last year was kind of "their year," and even before the injuries they were hardly the class of the NFC. I just don't see them getting the momentum in 2006 to be a huge threat to win road games in the playoffs against the bye teams.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, may be peaking at just the right time. If you're looking for little chinks in the armor, we need to see Romo handle a little adversity and a little TO whining after a loss. Otherwise, they look like a load right now, although I wonder if their D can't be scored on by the league's better offenses. I'll give you that they handled Indy very well, although earlier in the year the Eagles and Giants hung 38 and 36 on them, respectively. Here are the other eight offenses they've faced:

Jacksonville
Washington (twice)
Tennessee (pre-Young)
Arizona
Houston
Carolina
Tampa Bay

They look strong, but we'll see.

The Bears are a very, very good team with a strong, opportunistic D, great special teams, a solid RB and one little Achilles heel. Unfortunately, since we haven't created a turnover since the Harding administration, we may not be the ones to expose it.

Other than that, there's not a team in the NFC that scares me, no.

 

[TPS]

I kind of agree with kewee's first sentence:

>>It's gonna be between us, Dallas, and Seattle.

And I'd throw in the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears and New York Giants. Which two teams are getting the bye week and which of the other divisional championship teams will have to travel? Those are all key factors in the eventual outcome. Nobody wants to fly to Seattle and face a Holmgren-coached team with a healthy Hasselbeck and Alexander (who is a game changer when completely healthy). It would be tough to face the Bears in late January in Chicago. Just the same, I don't think many NFC teams will want to travel to the Superdome this year either. So it's a tough call in the NFC except that sold or not, no one should be writing off the Seahawks IMHO.

In the AFC, it's anybody's game. But with Baltimore, San Diego and Indianapolis playing at the extrordinarily high levels each are playing at, I think those teams have to be the interchangable tossups for favorites to reach the AFC Championship game (agree with Peter King). My dark horse is the New England Patriots who sport an AFC-low 144 opponents points (13.1 ppg). The wildcard pack should be interesting as several teams are vying for those spots:

Denver 7-7
Kansas City 7-7
Cincinnati 6-5
Jacksonville 6-5
New York Jets 6-5

TPS

 

[Loose Cannon]

Not sold on Seattle even with Hasselbeck and Alexander. Last year was kind of "their year," and even before the injuries they were hardly the class of the NFC. I just don't see them getting the momentum in 2006 to be a huge threat to win road games in the playoffs against the bye teams.

They were 3-0 when SA went down and 4-2 when Hasselbeck went down.

 

[Numbskull]

Think about it

Mcnabb is done (along with his eagles)

the Bears record does not reflect their team (easy schedule, rex grossman is their HUGE weakness)

Carolina is a good team but jake delhomme is prone to make big mistakes at the wrong time

Seattle can't even run the ball (you can't win the big one if you can't run)

Giants have too many distractions on and off the field for them to get focused (plus manning is also prone to make mistakes)

the only team that challenges us is the Cowboys

i think what were going to see on Dec 10th is a preview of the NFC Championship game

Think about it some more,

Cowboys offensive line stinks and Romo is starting only his 5th game. Their defense can be good at times but at times has also shown they can be beat deep when Roy Williams is caught out of position. Also their are alot of distractions with this team

Saints are a young up and coming team but they are atleast a year away. Their offense might be good but their defense is at best average. Their last four games they've shown an inability to stop the pass and have a hard time tackling bigger backs and allow smaller backs to make huge gains at times. They also can't help but turn the ball over as they are last in the entire NFC in turnover +/-.
_____________________

My point of this is that all teams in the NFC teams have their own flaws and that there is no clear favorite to reach the SB. That said, I like my Saints chances

 

[syracuse saint]

I think that the Cowboys and the Seahawks would give us a run. I don't think that we could beat the Seahawks in Seattle.

However, I don't fear the Bears. I think we could beat them.

 

[SaintFan612]

I love these extreme homer posts like this. We aren't the best team in the NFC guys. Dallas is the best along with the Bears. We are 3rd right now if that. We have defensive problems.

Be realistic...

 

[Saint Droopy]

I work with a guy that is from Chicago and is a huge Baer fan (go figure), and he said the local folks in Chi town are calling for Grossman's head.

There will be some serious problems coming down the pike for the Bears... I think they play the Vikings next. The Vikes have a pretty good defense that gets after the QB... and they actually should have beaten the Bears the 1st time out.

Don't be surprised if Rex is benched before this regular season is out... teams now know that if you get a rush on him he will gladly give defenses the ball... whether if its an INT or fumble... their defense can take them but so far.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Think about it some more,

Cowboys offensive line stinks and Romo is starting only his 5th game. Their defense can be good at times but at times has also shown they can be beat deep when Roy Williams is caught out of position. Also their are alot of distractions with this team

Saints are a young up and coming team but they are atleast a year away. Their offense might be good but their defense is at best average. Their last four games they've shown an inability to stop the pass and have a hard time tackling bigger backs and allow smaller backs to make huge gains at times. They also can't help but turn the ball over as they are last in the entire NFC in turnover +/-.
_____________________

My point of this is that all teams in the NFC teams have their own flaws and that there is no clear favorite to reach the SB. That said, I like my Saints chances

I like our chances to, but the cowboys line does not stink anymore. For whatever reason they are playing well now. They held Peyton Manning to 14 points. Thats a D to fear my friend.

We have to go in ready to fight it out in the trenches because I don't think we score at will on them.

 

[Saint Droopy]

Dallas had problems against the Skins a few weeks ago. They got after Romo... and although he had a decent game pasing, they didn't put up a whole lot of points. Study that game film and we should the chinks in their armor.

 

[Paul]

I like our chances to, but the cowboys line does not stink anymore. For whatever reason they are playing well now. They held Peyton Manning to 14 points. Thats a D to fear my friend.

We have to go in ready to fight it out in the trenches because I don't think we score at will on them.

The reason their O-line doesn't stink anymore is that they've changed QBs.
As much as it pains me to say it, Dallas is a formidable opponent, and we need to play tops in all three phases in order to win this one. TO & Glenn against our secondary is a matchup that does not favor our guys, so pressuring Romo is going to be huge. Moreover, TO loves him some him, especially in a national spotlight.
Their front seven is good against the run, and they pressure the QB well. We can make plays in their secondary, but I still think Deuce has to be a big part of the gameplan in this one.
We definitely have our work cut out against them.

Anyway, who is this Dallas you speak of? All I see are the 49ers this week.

 

[SaintJ]

They were 3-0 when SA went down and 4-2 when Hasselbeck went down.

I know. They started out by beating the Lions by three and the Cardinals 21-10, in Seattle. They then beat the wacky Giants pretty good, 42-30, in a game that wasn't that close. Next three games they got blown out twice, by the Bears in Chicago and by the Vikings at home, sandwiched around a three-point win over St. Louis, and if you switched just one of those two St. Louis games around, and you easily could, the Rams would be 6-5 right now and Seattle would be desperately climbing back into the race.

Like I said, hardly the class of the NFC when you get just crushed one week and two weeks later the Vikings beat you at home by 18. They are what their record says they are, and that's 6-4 against a Charmin-soft NFC West schedule that also gets to play the NFC North, and hasn't seen Denver or San Diego yet.

 

[saintinole]

I just shudder thinking of our turnover prone team against the Bears D - a turnover creating monster.

I know we dont get a lot of turn overs but grossman has been known to throw quite a few picks

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

and in the playoffs, if you can't run your not going to get far

Does that apply to the Saints as well?

 

[airbornesaintfan]

Yea I agree it will be between us and Dallas, but think about it without Romo Dallas was hurting, WHO TAUGHT ROMO, Payton, our coach, knows all Romos tendencies and weaknesses, No other coach really has had film on Romo that is why he looks so good. We will have good film and Payton knows Romo and taught Romo how to play QB in the NFL Payton will have our d ready for him.
ADVANTAGE=US

 

[Jay Black]

I love these extreme homer posts like this. We aren't the best team in the NFC guys. Dallas is the best along with the Bears. We are 3rd right now if that. We have defensive problems.

Be realistic...

whatever you say Mr. Irvin