10 things I’m expecting to see out of the Bucs @ Saints game tomorrow. Click READ MORE to see them:
1. Contrary to what Sean Payton claims, I do believe they’ll be keeping a close eye on the Panthers @ Falcons game. Payton said they will not look at the score and will do everything to win the game. I don’t believe him. If the Falcons get up big, I expect to see Chase Daniel (pictured) getting reps at quarterback in the 4th quarter. Payton likes to throw the media for a loop, so you have to trust history, and history suggests Payton NEVER plays important players in meaningless games. This game isn’t meaningless unless the Falcons pull away, so keep an eye on the score and mark my words: if the Falcons are up big, Daniel goes in at quarterback.
2. Jo-Lonn Dunbar will start over Danny Clark at linebacker again. This is just my prediction, but it will be interesting to see what the Saints decide to do. They threw me for a loop benching Clark when he had been playing well. Dunbar responded with a terrific performance against the Falcons last week that earned him an A in my player grades and a defensive player of the game award. Hard to put Dunbar back on the bench after that, no?
3. Chris Ivory will play. Everyone listed “probable” will go. As for the players listed “questionable”, which are Colston, Pierre Thomas, Waters, David Thomas, Shockey, and Hargrove, my prediction is that not a single one of them play except maybe Hargrove. I think Shockey will either be held out or will play very sparingly. I fully expect Colston and PT to sit.
4. Adrian Arrington will play in the receiver rotation, and have at least 3 catches.
5. With the game being in the Superdome, Thomas Morstead will handle kickoff duties.
6. If Atlanta pulls away, Julius Jones will end the game as the team leader in number of carries. It won’t really matter because I’m sure our pass to run ratio will be at least 3 to 1.
7. With David Thomas likely out and Shockey banged up, Tory Humphrey and Zach Strief will get to play a lot.
8. The Saints are currently 6th in the NFL on offense and 5th in the NFL on defense. I expect both to drop after this game.
9. With Roby out and Pierre Thomas listed as questionable after re-tweaking his ankle, Robert Meachem will take reps at kickoff returner. I could be horribly wrong there. I would guess Lance Moore, but he’s too valuable to the offense. This is a big question mark, but it will be interesting to see who takes on that roll and how they do. There’s a lot of uncertainty at that position with Courtney Roby now on IR.
10. Saints win a close game, we’ll say 20-17.
Let’s see how my predictions fare. I’ll be at the game tomorrow and will get the postgame info up as soon as I can.
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