Now that the draft is over our next order of business (or at least mine) is to begin looking at the Saints schedule and do a pre-season threat assessment. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to go down the Saints schedule team by team, and will try my best to give unbiased and accurate analysis of how the Saints matchup with each team. We all know by now that I will be firing some obligatory shots at the Falcons, by the way. I will be doing a post-game analysis of the previous games as well as a preview of the next opponents each week during the regular and post-season and depending on how these teams’ seasons are going those previews could be very different from the ones I am doing now. With that said let’s start it off with the team that we love to watch ‘rise up’…just so we can enjoy the delicious ‘thud’ of them falling flat on their faces.
Week 1 and week 16: Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons are coming off a disaster of a season that much of their fanbase is blaming on a few key injuries, and while they are correct to a degree, it came more as a result of flawed team building. The Falcons played with fire when they traded half a draft for Julio Jones; while he is a tremendous talent he isn’t a Megatron level player who can put a whole team on his back…and Roddy ‘I renege on bets’ White is getting older. No matter how much I hate to admit it, White is still a very talented player and when he and Julio are both healthy they create problems. However, we have never seen Matt Ryan without Tony Gonzalez for a season and the impact of losing him cannot be understated. Gonzalez not only provided a veteran presence and a tireless work ethic, but also was Matt Ryan’s ‘Binkie’ when all else was taken away. Their problems were further exacerbated when they failed to fix their incredibly weak left tackle position; and while Mathews will most likely go on to be a very good player…all rookies struggle and as Cam Jordan put it he may well end up being “lunch”. That isn’t to say that Atlanta isn’t a threat at all, because while they are a very flawed team, they are also a very talented team at certain spots. In particular the one area where they have answered the bell as far as their owners demands to toughen up (after the poor little baby was hit by Vaccaro because he doesn’t know when to slide) is definitely their defensive line. In particular it’s the tackles. Picking up Solia will help make them a much more difficult team to run on, (Carolina and Tampa in particular will have trouble with this) and while their second round pick Rashead Hagemen has tremendous bust potential…he could also be a phenomenal pickup. Lucky for the Saints we have two of the best guards in the league who can help neutralize him.
By this point someone reading this might be wondering why I haven’t mentioned the Falcons secondary…well it’s because I like to leave the best for last…and I don’t mean best for them. While the Saints went out and pillaged the Bills for a tremendous free-safety in Jairus Byrd to team up with their outstanding rookie from last year Kenny Vaccaro. The Falcons may as well have Casper the friendly ghost out there right now…because that’s about how helpful their safeties are looking at this point. They did acquire a couple of very talented young corners in the draft last year, but they don’t have anyone who can cover Graham, Colston, Stills, or Cooks…maybe they can take one of these guys away, but frankly their secondary is only surpassed in awfulness by Carolinas on the Saints Schedule.
The Bottom Line: The Saints could certainly lose week one because ‘divisional game’ and the legendary home record of Matt Ryan (except against the Saints, but who am I to expect ESPN to know facts). That said if they do manage to lose this game it would be nothing less than a monumental failure. I expect the Saints to go into the Georgia dome and absolutely curb-stomp the Falcons, and it isn’t because I am a homer or because I hate the Falcons because well…Roddy White is reason enough frankly. The Saints should dominate this team because they are far more talented, have the vastly superior QB, and an even bigger advantage in the coaching department.
Week 2: Cleveland Browns
I have seen a lot of Saints fans brushing off the Browns game because well…they’re the Raiders without the Chris Berman sound effects and that is BAD. The pending suspension of Josh Gordon will determine whether or not I go full Saint Ralph of Doom on this one, but if he is available this team has the potential to be a top seed in the AFC. Yes you guys read that right, and I am not overreacting here. I said potential for a reason, it is a long shot, but the Browns have been sneaky good in picking up pieces the last couple of years. They have a very talented defense with one of the top 3 or 4 corners in the league in Joe Haden, (who just signed a beast of a contract…stuff that in your mouth Sherman) a guy with star potential in Ming (sorry Wang…you can’t have him) and a ton of complementary pieces on defense. What they were missing was a quality QB, which they might have had if Hoyer hadn’t got hurt, we will see on that end. They have a ‘Jimmy-light’ in Jordan Cameron who has tons of untapped potential, and an all-world level talent in Josh Gordon who will have Rob Ryan up all night figuring out how to take him out of the game if he is available. They also have one of the league’s best o-lines to complement those pieces and give a talent like Manziel a ton to work with (he is MUCH better from the pocket than he has been given credit for).
Excluding the mention of Manziel that is what they had to work with before the draft; since then they added possibly the best corner in the draft in Justin Gilbert, got their possible QB of the future in Johnny Football, and just recently added another dangerous weapon in Miles Austin. The good news for the Saints is that Austin has the same chances of staying healthy as Harper does of covering Jimmy…so not very good. However, if he does stay healthy he is a great safety blanket and is deadly after the catch which would be a terrific complement to Manziel, and because of his time with Romo he is used to improvisational quarterbacks who need their receivers to keep fighting to get open. If all of that wasn’t enough they also signed a very underrated back in Ben Tate who could give the Saints fits if they don’t fix their issues against the run from last year.
So what’s the good news you ask? The Saints are just as good on defense except they have actually already done it, they also have tons of young talent, but they have already started to see dividends, and New Orleans may well have the best offense in the league this upcoming year. The Browns have a decent secondary outside of Haden, but neither Ward nor ‘Hitner’ (seriously stupid nickname) really scare me all that much unless they take a cheap shot. Graham should have a field day, and provided the o-line continues their stellar play from the end of the season last year they should be able to stay balanced and get enough of a lead to force them into being one dimensional. Another major advantage the Saints have is that they are a far more experienced team and already established in all facets of the game, whereas the Browns have a ton of potential…but in the NFL a lot of the time all potential gets you is fired.
Bottom Line: The Browns are one of about 4 games on the Saints’ Schedule that I have even a little bit of trepidation about due to their tremendous upside, however their lack of experience combined with the Saints comparable (I’m being generous we are honestly more talented) talent we should walk out with a well earned win. I really hope that I am wrong on the Browns being a major threat, and almost the entirety of that is built on the assumption that Gordon plays…if he is suspended it changes everything and my pre-game scouting report for the Browns the weak of the game will reflect both that fact and the their performance in the games leading up to the match-up. Translation: I hope I am wrong here and am more than willing to admit when I am.
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