With the Saints season fully underway you may have noticed we have dialed the Blogcast down a notch. But as you can see, we are not gone! We will be doing a quarterly review; so we review the last 4 games as a set, not individually. Expect to see us after week 9, 13 and 17 as well.
Marijn Pessers (@Monedula_)
I will kick this off. These last 4 games have told us nothing. Well a lot of stuff, but nothing about where the Saints stand exactly. We have seen ABYSMAL run defense against the Falcons at home and we have seen AWESOME run defense against the Chargers. We have seen the Offense put up 30+ points often, but the one predicted shootout ended in 13 points for the offense. We have seen the defense play great football and we have seen “no defense at all”. The only thing we do know is “the season is over” *hides from Mora*. And by over I mean I do not have any doubt in my mind that the Saints will not make the post season.
Brian, you have any clue as to where the Saints stand now as a team?
Brian Bauer (@SaintBrian9)
HA! Well, I don’t think the “season is over” (cuddles next to Mora), though I certainly haven’t liked what I’ve seen thus far. The defense plays ok, the offense looks like hell. The offense picks up 400 yards, the defense gives up double. But, there are two things that keep my optimism alive and well. 1: They were seconds and two bad calls from being 3-1. Yep, that’s right. Terrible pass interference call vs Oakland on an uncatchable ball (I’ve seen closer balls ignored lately btw) and another against New York. In extremely close games. Without the PI vs Oakland, that’s a win (the play came on 4th down). Without the PI vs NYG, it’s still tied and who knows. That brings me to point 2. Exactly what teams do you see in the NFC right now you’re certain will get in ahead of the Saints? Right now I’ll give you Minnesota, Atlanta, and for the time being, Dallas. Washington? NY Giants? Green Bay? Hell, Carolina??? I’ll take my chances thanks.
MP
Fair point. But this team is just too decimated to have any chance in the playoffs. Sure Breaux will come back and we get our 1st round rookie back in about week 9, and that will help! Also we might get Kikaha at some point. He is on PUP I believe which also makes him eligible to return. That could change it all. So I give you that point. Also the NFC South is a disaster. The Panthers have been studied and have no clue why they are being run over by everyone. The Falcons are exactly the Saints. I mean horrible defense and 0 depth. However they do find ways to win and they did have no injuries of importance yet. Andrew Juge said it on the podcast, and being the Jugean I am, have thought the exact same thing. The Falcons are 1 injury away from losing out the rest of the season. I calculated that the Saints defense needs to allow an average of 20 points a game for them to make 10-6. I will post an other post that will calculate what is needed to get 8-8. Because 8-8 with favorable tie-breakers might give you the NFC Ssouth. It looks to be as bad as it was in 2014.
BB
So many good points there. The Saints are gonna have to score and the defense has to look like it did in weeks 2 and 4, not in 1 and 3. And you’re dead on – the Falcons have been the luckiest team in the league in terms of injuries thus far, it will certainly catch up with them (Weatherspoon just went out for the season, so the trend might be turning?). It might be your point on OUR injuries though that gives me the most hope. Things HAVEN’T been as bad as they could be, and yet the Saints defense is hanging in there and could be getting better right around the time things will getting interesting playoff wise. Not many teams can look forward to getting a CB1, DT1 and maybe even Kikaha halfway through the season. Could go a long way towards making the Saints the second half contender they haven’t been in a long time.
MP
The thing that bothers me though is that there has always been something that is off. One element is clicking and then the other sucks where it is completely the other way around the next game and I can not find an explanation for it. I think it is just bad luck and a team that is young. Right now even Ralph most likely won’t gamble on the Saints game. You just can’t trust these guys as a unit right now. In the end I am happy they won the last game. Even though it is the Chargers collapsing more then the Saints being awesome, it was the defense that pulled them through and this builds character on a team and you have 2 weeks of that now!
Before I answer my own question I will have you have a shot at it first Brian; next to the team as a whole, name 1 player you are excited about and 1 player you are disappointed in that needs to improve in the next 4 games?
BB
To your question: player I’m excited about has to be Mike Thomas. We hear a lot about rookies people are excited about, and yet they often disappoint. Look at Thomas go. My goodness. The kid looks great and he’s not getting nearly a full allotment of snaps. This is gonna get nutty – potentially rookie Odell Beckham Jr nutty – before the season ends.
My disappointment is a tie. Coby Fleener and Brandin Cooks. What in the world is happening? Through two games Cooks looked all world and Fleener terrible. Through two more, Fleener is still pretty much a disappointment in my eyes and where have you gone Brandin Cooks? If Brees is gonna succeed on the road, Cooks just can’t disappear. This was the year he needed to become big time and so far it’s far from it.
MP
Well as to disappointment, this nation turns it’s lonely eyes to Coleman and Cadet. Not a disappointment in the same sense you write about. My disappointment is that these guys are on the field at all. They should not be on the team. I want to see other guys there. As far as I am concerned they draft an other WR 1st round next year just to get rid of Coleman. Be damned pass rush and O-line. If it is WR I am ok with it.
The player I am excited about is someone a lot of people are disappointed about. Wil Lutz. I think we FINALLY found a kicker that has the potential to be just as good as any kicker AND he can kick really hard. He kicked the ball out of the end zone on a kickoff in San Diego which is not Denver mind you. I can see this guy kicking a 65 yarder and getting the record back to NOLA where it belongs!
BB
Marijn great call with Lutz. Time to stop hating the Saints kicking game. Lutz is long, young and deadly. He may miss a few in the offing but I’d rather a guy like Lutz who reminds me of Janikowski vs a short yardage “Ace” like Agauyo who can’t find the uprights with a compass. You’re right on Coleman too. I hate to say it but the guy is a backup. By the way – love how well Nick Fairley is playing. Might be best in his career honestly. Nice to hit on these from time to time. By the way, on the defensive front…. Love Fairley, not at all happy with Stephone Anthony. Where have you gone my friend?
MP
All true. So much like the Saints as a group this year. Great upside and great downside mixed all over the board. Anthony of course is who I should have called. That guy is on my fantasy team… I have no idea if I should drop him. I probably should.
Well enough about the past quarter. Let’s do a quick preview. The next 4 games are against the Panthers (home), Chiefs (away), Seahawks (home) and 49ers (away). Before we get to a prediction, what is your overall feeling for those games and what are you looking forward to the most?
BB
I wrote a column several months ago in which I deemed this portion of the schedule coming up as “Murder’s Row” … of course, I wrote that assuming there was a decent chance they’d start this part of the schedule at 3-1 rather than the opposite. Funny thing about that column was that this is the stretch I was most concerned about, and yet at 1-3, a quarter of the way through what’s been a bit of an odd season so far, I feel strangely … optimistic. The Panthers are confused (and the Saints have 2 weeks to prepare for them), the Chiefs are mortal, even the Seahawks don’t look right. I know it’s gonna sound crazy with just a single win in the books, but why do I feel like there’s a chance New Orleans could be .500 when we write this in November?
MP
It is possible yes. But also it is very unlikely. IF there is a strong push it will be in the end of the year. Which would be a nice set-up to go into the post season if at all possible, or in any case it will set up the Saints nice to go into next year and win it all! Anyway I think you are right. This bunch of murderers has been put on death row and the Panthers are just one injection away from flat-lining. The Seahawks still could be difficult with Graham AND Spiller both wanting to prove something. Chiefs just left all 53 players at home and put a bunch of zombies on the field against Pittsburgh. The 49ers… I have no clue. We could win em all, we could lose them all. This season has league wide only proven a few things that we all know that would happen so far.
I think you already gave the answer, but I will ask you anyway, What do you think is the record for the next 4 games? Also name the GOAT and the goat of those 4 games.
BB
You know, I want to stick with the 3-1 I hinted at, but weird stuff has been following this team around all year. I’ll take 2-2 knowing that one of them is gonna be a loss we’re all pissed about for a month, because it’ll be tight and decided on a crappy call or a dropped touchdown or something. The GOAT? I’m gonna go with Mike Thomas. I feel like that dude is seconds away from having a monster, everyone needs to pay attention to Mike Thomas kinda games and he’ll just own after that. The other goat? I see more bad news for Fleener on the horizon. Maybe even getting benched. How about you?
MP
I was thinking more along the lines of 1-3. The reason is this. I am still high on our new kicker. The prospect of a guy at that position, quality and stability would be awesome. It is not as much the chances that he will do great but me wanting him to do great. So making him the goat would mean 2 winning field goals on the last drive when I have him as the GOAT. But then I was thinking, we need a goat as well. So yeah no to wins. Just 1. And it is gong to be Crawley. Crawley will do really well in coming years but he will have a lesser period and that is these 4 games. I see him blowing coverage with 10 seconds to go and give up a TD or a fieldgoal for the Saints to lose.
Any last thoughts?
BB
I think we’ve covered it buddy. Talk to you in November!
MP
See you then! WHO DAT!
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