For the second straight Friday, the Saints are playing a game. That feels a bit weird, doesn’t it? The Saints will host their first game of the season, even if it doesn’t matter. I have to say this tweet in particular took me back to the Super Bowl win and gave me goosebumps:
The last 4 times I’ve been in the superdome it has felt strange to me. Guess I won’t have that feeling tomorrow night! #whodat
— jonathan goodwin (@jgoody59) August 14, 2014
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So here are the five things I’m looking for:
1. Injuries, again.
This should come as no surprise, I told you to expect it, and I’ll remind you that you should expect it for every preseason pregame write up I do. For the players and coaches it’s about reps, chemistry and roster clarity. For me it’s about survival. The Rams game was eerily successful in terms of health. I pray the Saints get that lucky again.
2. Does Brandon Coleman show anything?
What a gigantic waste of time it’s felt like to fantasize over this 6’6″ receiver that can’t catch a football. As much as every fan designated Coleman as THE GUY that would make the team as an undrafted rookie free agent, he held the designation as the most lacking player on the field a week ago. But I’m actually curious now that everyone is down on him if he’ll bounce back. Will he go off? Guys like Strozier, Austin Johnson, Senio Kelemete, Tim Flanders, Seantavius Jones, Rod Sweeting, Ronald Powell, Pierre Warren and a slew of others, they all need to go nuts. Don’t underestimate a desperate player. They could either do something great or something horrible. Either way it makes the 4th quarter of preseason games fun. But I’m going to be watching Coleman. His stock is so low right now he has nowhere to go but up, and his size and wingspan can still allow him to succeed in this setting if he decides to show up.
3. Dimke or Graham?
I really don’t know who the kicker for the Saints will be in 2014. Based on practice this week, I think Graham has a small lead. Yes he missed the extra point, which is why this is even still a battle, but this thing has gone back and forth. Dimke was pretty miserable in practice this week, which is why the odds are back in Graham’s camp. At this point I think it’s going to take another bad miss by Graham and Dimke being perfect in a live game situation to change the frontrunner status, but that seems to be changing every couple of days.
4. Lelito or Goodwin?
I said this on twitter and I stand by it: Goodwin is more likely of the two to start, Lelito is more likely of the two to make the team. That’s because Lelito is the future for the Saints at center (or guard). Even if he doesn’t start, and I don’t think he will, the Saints will make sure they hold on to him. Goodwin on the other hand is maybe less needed as a back up if he’s beaten for a starting role. All that said Goodwin has outperformed Lelito in camp pretty clearly. Still, I’ll be watching the performance of both players closely in this game. Besides kicker this is the most contested battle for playing time.
5. Can we get a turnover please?
The Rob Ryan defense in 2013 was AWESOME. I loved it. But the one knock was they didn’t get any turnovers. That was the whole point of why they signed Jairus Byrd. Despite some pretty awful quarterbacks not named Sam Bradford that played four quarters against this defense last week, still no turnovers were created. For my peace of mind, I’d like to see one. Just one. I’m not asking much here.
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