Question About the Saints....

[UpstatePanther]

So....Jeremy recently wrote an article about our rival, the New Orleans Saints, and basically suggested that the Saints will compete for the cellar of the NFC South this year. Meanwhile, two of four NFC South beat writers think the Saints will win the division. Granted, two of them also picked the Panthers to make the playoffs somehow. But this is indicative of the sports media. many many pundits seem to want to pick the Saints to challenge for the division title, despite an aging quarterback and significant free agency losses at multiple, integral positions (positions that were only really filled by rookie draftees). I will admit that i have thus far written off the Saints as cellar dwellers. But, amongst the cacaphony of dissenting voices, i am beginning to doubt that the Saints will be as bad as we Panther fans want them to be.

Here's the question... are we overlooking the Saints? did they really sink as far as we hope they did, or are we letting our electric blue glasses color our perception of our rival? I wont steal Jeremy's thunder by asking the same question he did. my perception of my fellow fans is that we may have overlooked our rival. 

what are your thoughts Huddle? 

[PizzaTheHutt]

fans, sports media....we can overlook the Aints as much as we like. As long as the team takes them seriously and comes prepared to play lights-out football both home and away...that's all that really matters.

But yeah fug the Aints. I hope they go 0-16

 

 

[UpstatePanther]

fans, sports media....we can overlook the Aints as much as we like. As long as the team takes them seriously and comes prepared to play lights-out football both home and away...that's all that really matters.

But yeah fug the Aints. I hope they go 0-16

 

 

i was just curious what the media obsession with them is about... thats all. but yea im with you. fug the Aints.

[TheRed]

You would be silly to overlook any team in our division. I'm not.

Regardless of how shitty the division was last year, these teams generally play each other hard.

Even as badly as we beat the Saints, and Falcons in December, we still split with them.

[uncfan888]

The media has loved the saints for a while. Screw em. They can battle it out for last place with Tampa 

[Woodie]

The Saints are not going to be a bad team.  They won't be great either, but anyone hoping for an easy win from them will be disappointed.  There are two reasons that most pundits think they will win the division...Sean Payton and Drew Brees.  In no other measure does anyone think they are elite, but most believe the rest of the team is good enough to win with those two leading it.  

I think the reason we aren't getting more respect is because nobody really knows what to expect from us.  They know we have a good defense and that our receiving corps should be better, but they're not sure about our OL and don't know which Cam will show up.  Once the OL shows they are legit (which I think they will) and Cam shows that he can be consistent with good protection (which I have no doubt he will), I honestly believe people will start jumping on our bandwagon. After all, it's about the QB.  Look at every trendy pick, and every one of them has a QB that is considered elite.  And because of Cam's inconsistencies, he's not seen as elite...close, but not quite elite, yet.  

[UpstatePanther]

You would be silly to overlook any team in our division. I'm not.

Regardless of how shitty the division was last year, these teams generally play each other hard.

Even as badly as we beat the Saints, and Falcons in December, we still split with them.

youre saying we will split with a team that we creamed while playing our best football of the year? a team that got much worse over the offseason? whereas our team has gotten significantly better at many key positions?

not being a jerk. just would like you to defend your argument.

[SIGCHI222]

Homerism prevents most people from seeing the parity that is built into the NFL.  Between the draft and the salary cap, no team is ever more than a year or two from turning things around (typically).  The Saints are probably a 6 to 8 win team, which is where I want them.  I hope no team in the South ever goes 0-16...#1 overall picks have a funny way of changing a team although I do think TB wasted theirs on Winston.

The formula is supposed to be, win your home games and split the away games...12-4.  I don't care where the wins come from, just win the South.  Everybody else can pound sand.

[Captain Morgan]

youre saying we will split with a team that we creamed while playing our best football of the year? a team that got much worse over the offseason? whereas our team has gotten significantly better at many key positions?

not being a jerk. just would like you to defend your argument.

 

he's not saying that's his prediction for next year, he's saying that's what happened last year.

[Woodie]

Homerism prevents most people from seeing the parity that is built into the NFL.  Between the draft and the salary cap, no team is ever more than a year or two from turning things around (typically).  The Saints are probably a 6 to 8 win team, which is where I want them.  I hope no team in the South ever goes 0-16...#1 overall picks have a funny way of changing a team although I do think TB wasted theirs on Winston.

The formula is supposed to be, win your home games and split the away games...12-4.  I don't care where the wins come from, just win the South.  Everybody else can pound sand.

The ironic thing is that most think the NFCS sucks because nobody had a winning record last year, but I actually think we still can have one of the best divisions in football.  As you say, homerism blinds people to the truth.  So it's easy to say NO or Atlanta sucks because they are our rivals.  But the truth is that both teams have a lot of talent and are real threats.  I believe we are better than both, but we cannot take either lightly. 

Every team in our division had issues last year that caused them to play down from their talent level.  NO got healthy and should be more well-rounded, and Atlanta added some quality talent and fixed their biggest problem which was coaching.  TB won't be horrible either, but I think they still have too many holes to be considered a serious threat to the division.  Barring injury, I expect us to win the division again, but it won't be a cake walk.

[Snake]

I'm more worried about the Bucs than both the Saints and Falcunts. I really do see both the Bucs and Falcons fighting for a wild cars in December. Saints will have a top 10 pick.

[teeray]

As long as Drew Brees is their quarterback they will he a factor period.  Even if he is on the downside (which I don't totally buy) he is still a top 5-10 QB in the NFL.

The big question is how much does their losses hurt them, or do they help them by addition by subtraction.  That is an unknown.  When we benched or released our veterans last year it was a plus for us.

As long as Brees is healthy and behind center they will he a factor IMO, but I think we are a more well rounded team.

I think ATL and TB will be the ones looking up in the NFCS when the smoke clears.

[Ricky Spanish]

I think the decline of Drew Brees is WAY overblown here. The dude is still a great QB and anyone who says otherwise is delusional. Because they have him, they are automatically a contender. I personally think they are our biggest competition from the division next year. They get a lot of injured guys back on Defense which was their biggest issue next year. I think Losing Graham is a big problem for them because he was such a matchup nightmare, but I think they are going to be alright offensively with Breesus at the helm. 

Having said that, in a few years that team is going to poo the bed. They have too much money tied up all over their roster and I don't see how they can get past the cap hell without taking some steps back like we did. 

[Ace_Aladdin]

So....Jeremy recently wrote an article about our rival, the New Orleans Saints, and basically suggested that the Saints will compete for the cellar of the NFC South this year. Meanwhile, two of four NFC South beat writers think the Saints will win the division. Granted, two of them also picked the Panthers to make the playoffs somehow. But this is indicative of the sports media. many many pundits seem to want to pick the Saints to challenge for the division title, despite an aging quarterback and significant free agency losses at multiple, integral positions (positions that were only really filled by rookie draftees). I will admit that i have thus far written off the Saints as cellar dwellers. But, amongst the cacaphony of dissenting voices, i am beginning to doubt that the Saints will be as bad as we Panther fans want them to be.

Here's the question... are we overlooking the Saints? did they really sink as far as we hope they did, or are we letting our electric blue glasses color our perception of our rival? I wont steal Jeremy's thunder by asking the same question he did. my perception of my fellow fans is that we may have overlooked our rival. 

what are your thoughts Huddle? 

I said it before NFC south is going to be one of the better division.