After the Bengals the Saints finally get to exhale and play some of the softer parts of their schedule…right? Well, yes and no; the latter portion of the Saints schedule is on paper not as strong as the earlier portions, especially with the lack of any teams on the level of the Niners left to play. However, there are three division game remaining and three potentially challenging opponents. The upside for the Saints is that while they don’t get a true ‘break’ they also won’t have to worry about a letdown against weak competition. Part of what doomed the 2011 season was the fact that the Saints were never tested until they played the Niners in the playoffs, this year will not have that issue as the schedule is rife with challenging opponents. In particular the AFC and NFC North teams all have the potential to be great preparation for the playoffs, but they all also have exploitable flaws that give the Saints a great chance to be both battle tested and relatively healthy at the end of the year. The three week stretch following ‘the gauntlet’ is a great opportunity for the Saints to probably put the division away and to start prepping for the playoffs if they can sweep these three games. With no further ado let’s take a look at our opponents:
Week 12: Baltimore Ravens at Saints.
To a certain degree I am tempted to chalk this entire game up to the success or failure of two names for the Ravens: Elvis Dummervill and Terrell Suggs. If the Saints can block these two successfully they should be able to get up big early…and that will be all she wrote. However, with Nata still there in the middle and those two on the ends there is a real chance that Baltimore will be able to pressure Drew Brees and make a game out of this on the road in the superdome. As is always the case protecting Drew Brees is priority number one. If their edge rushers weren’t enough there is a particularly volatile potential pain in the — on the Ravens team that Saints fans are quite familiar with…Steve Smith jumped ship (got the boot) and signed with them in the offseason. By this point in the season it will be readily apparent whether or not he still has anything in the tank, although that may not matter since he always seems to burn the Saints at least once a game. Smith & Smith is the biggest offensive threat the Ravens possess (Torrey and Steve for the record) as Ray Rice has both declined and is facing legal issues that have still to be resolved. The Ravens went full Matt Ryan and overpaid their Quarterback, but then forgot to keep the player who made him great/bailed him out over the course of the postseason. We will get to see Boldin in SF a couple weeks before this, and the effects of his absence from the Ravens offense was readily apparent last year. The Ravens also have a less than spectacular offensive line and I am going to predict that by this point in the season the Saints have a four-headed monster of a pass rush in Hicks, Jordan, Gallette, and Butler.
The bottom line: The Raven’s are a threat if they can keep the game close, but if the Saints have any kind of early success this could very quickly turn into one of our patented home town beatdowns. Flacco is a barely above average quarterback with a hall of fame salary and without the kind of talent at the receiver position to push him over the edge. The Saints pass rush should have a field day against what promises to be a below average offensive line and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Saints are able to pick off at least a couple of passes. Games this late in the season are mostly guess work at this point in the year, but as things currently stand the Ravens are a team who should fall victim to the Saints ‘domefield advantage’.
Week 13: Saints at Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Stealers are not the same team they were a few years ago when they were perennial Super Bowl contenders…actually they are and that’s the problem. Last year there were many Saints fans who were desperately pleading for a certain DE/OLB out of Georgia over other prospects. ( I wasn’t one, as I got to see Vaccaro handle Cooks and Wheaton at times in the Oregon State bowl game against Texas) A little over a year later and everyone of us is incredibly happy that we got Kenny Vaccoro, a player who many find to be reminiscent of the Stealers superstar safety Troy Polomalu. Jarvis Jones wasn’t exactly a bust, but he has shown virtually no signs of star quality; that said he is a pretty good fit for the Stealers system and will most likely be one of their core players this year. On the other hand their first round draft pick form this year, Ryan Shazier, has all the qualities to be a special playmaker in the Stealers system. I already covered some of what he brings to the table when I was looking at our prospective draft pics, but in the Stealers system I’m not sure there is the pass rush and safety help to cover his weaknesses. By week 12 more will be known about how he is acclimating to the NFL, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Saints pay a lot of attention to him. That said, with the loss of safety Ryan Clark there is a decent chance that their secondary will suffer as a result. Traditionally we think of the Stealers as a defensive juggernaught, but in this case almost every threat of note comes from the offensive side. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is still one of the best in the league and his ability to extend plays will require the Saints pass rushers to be very fundamentally sound, we should hope their line is as bad as always so we can get to him early. Where the Stealers really start to shine is the skill positions though. Everyone probably knows about their stud receiver Antonio Brown who is one of the players most comparable with Brandin Cooks…he MUST be contained as much as possible. They also have second year player Marquis Wheaton who was Cooks teammate two years ago and at that time was considered the better player (they are very high on him and he can FLY). Then there is Le’veon Bell the Stealers Running Back pick from last year who is a load. Once he got going last year he showed flashes of great promise, and with the Stealers at home late in the year him getting going will probably be a big part of their game plan. (notice how I waited to bring up the weather? Kinda like its of minor importance here)
The bottom line: The Saints can and should win this game against an opponent who is simply not on their level at this point in time. Playing the Stealers in Pittsburgh late in the year is always a challenge and I fully expect the legits to go all out with the talk about the Saints in the cold, but I also expect Sean Payton to literally run that narrative right down their throats. Provided the Saints don’t shoot themselves in the foot this should be a hard fought, and well earned, victory.
Week 14: Panthers at Saints.
The bottom line: I am not going to scout the same team twice, and especially not a team who is far more dangerous at home than they are facing us in the dome. (check last year’s games if you don’t believe me.) Unless Kelvin Benjamin has turned into a star and their line has miraculously fixed itself by week 13 I fully expect the Panthers to be a five or six win team who the Saints will burn to the ground by the end of the first half. There is always the potential of a ‘division game’ where the Panthers play above their level, but honestly they just lack the firepower to be a formidable team this year. With the heart of the team gone (Steve Smith) and with a secondary that is piecemeal at best I think the Panthers will return to being an up and coming team that is still a few pieces away from being a true threat.
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