Do you remember when there was this whole narrative about the Saints being awful after a bye week under Sean Payton? It used to be a major issue before things got turned around. Here is how the Saints have done in the Sean Payton era coming off a bye:
2006- Lost at home to Ravens 22-35
2007- Lost at home to Panthers 13-16
2008- Lost on the road to Falcons 20-34
2009- Won at home against Giants 48-27
2010- Won at home against Seahawks 34-19
2011- Won at home against the Giants 49-24
2012 (No Sean Payton)- Won on the road against Buccaneers 35-28
So the Saints are on a four game win streak coming off of a bye after starting 0-3 in the Sean Payton era. Evidently any issues they started out with have since been corrected. Interesting to note that the Saints have come back to the Superdome following a bye in five of those seven games and only gone on the road twice. They will be home again this year against a 2-4 Buffalo Bills team that's suffered a lot of instability at quarterback. Their stater, rookie E. J. Manuel, will miss this one so the starter could be currently injured Thad Lewis, Jeff Tuel or recently signed veteran Matt Flynn. There are no gimme games in the NFL but this sure feels like one the Saints should be able to secure. A 6-1 record and a 5 game post bye week win streak would feel pretty good if you ask me.
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