oceanists
Active Member
Really, how good are the Saints?
The New Orleans Saints lost their home, the Alamodome, right along with thousands of citizens displaced by Hurricane Katrina just before the 2005 season began. That season, one of their eight “home” games was even played in New Jersey at the Meadowlands. No one should have been surprised by their 3-13 finish.
It’s amazing what a little home cooking can do. The 2006 Saints enter their Week 13 match-up with the Cowboys perched atop the NFC South with an 8-4 record and a two-game winning streak.
But, how good are these N’awlins boys.
It’s a sexy story, but the fact is the Saints may not be as good as advertised.
They have yet to defeat a team that currently owns a winning record. Three of their wins come at the expense of teams with .500 winning percentages (Falcons twice and the Eagles – 2 of the 3 were in New Orleans). The other 5 games they have won were against teams that boast a combined record of 19-41 (32% wins). They definitely haven’t beaten the cream of the crop.
In all fairness, they only played two teams with winning records, and all they can do is play their schedule. However in both games, at home nonetheless, the Ravens and Bengals convincingly handled them 22-35 and 16-31, respectively.
The Saints offense currently has the most yards of any offensve in the NFL. Quarterback Drew Brees leads the NFL in passing yards. Until his injury, receiver Marques Colston led the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns. Veterans Duece McAllister and Joe Horn still contribute a great deal to the offense. First round draft choice Reggie Bush is coming off a 4-touchdown performance last week against San Francisco. Even their 3rd and 4th receivers, Devery Henderson and former Cowboy Terrence Copper, have made plays when called upon to do so.
They certainly have talent, but I question how good they will be against a much better defense than they’ve beaten. The 7th ranked Cowboys defense is much better than the next best defense they've beaten which was Philly currently ranked 17th.
Not only that, but the Cowboys offense has shown that they can score with the best in the league. If the Cowboys can hide their most prevalent weakness of the 2006 season, giving up huge chunks of yards in the passing game, it will be difficult for the Saints to win.
Contrariwise, some may suggest that the Cowboys have only beaten one team with a winning record (Indy) of the two they’ve play (loss to Jacksonville 24-17), so the Cowboys may not be much better in the grand scheme of things. However, close analysis of this Cowboys team must be divided at the line between pre- and post-Romo.
Since Bledsoe was benched, the Cowboys have lost one game in a freakishly close contest in Washington and beaten teams like Indy and the Giants (in New York). Additionally, the winning percentage of the teams beaten by the Boys is 43% clearly a tougher schedule.
In an NFC conference where mediocrity seems to be the norm, this weekend’s match-up will provide a rare glimpse at a couple of a select few teams that have separated themselves from the conference standard. With talented teams like Carolina, New York, Atlanta and Philly all fighting for playoff spots at 6-6, the loser of this game could quickly find themselves sinking into the quicksand that is the NFC.
The New Orleans Saints lost their home, the Alamodome, right along with thousands of citizens displaced by Hurricane Katrina just before the 2005 season began. That season, one of their eight “home” games was even played in New Jersey at the Meadowlands. No one should have been surprised by their 3-13 finish.
It’s amazing what a little home cooking can do. The 2006 Saints enter their Week 13 match-up with the Cowboys perched atop the NFC South with an 8-4 record and a two-game winning streak.
But, how good are these N’awlins boys.
It’s a sexy story, but the fact is the Saints may not be as good as advertised.
They have yet to defeat a team that currently owns a winning record. Three of their wins come at the expense of teams with .500 winning percentages (Falcons twice and the Eagles – 2 of the 3 were in New Orleans). The other 5 games they have won were against teams that boast a combined record of 19-41 (32% wins). They definitely haven’t beaten the cream of the crop.
In all fairness, they only played two teams with winning records, and all they can do is play their schedule. However in both games, at home nonetheless, the Ravens and Bengals convincingly handled them 22-35 and 16-31, respectively.
The Saints offense currently has the most yards of any offensve in the NFL. Quarterback Drew Brees leads the NFL in passing yards. Until his injury, receiver Marques Colston led the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns. Veterans Duece McAllister and Joe Horn still contribute a great deal to the offense. First round draft choice Reggie Bush is coming off a 4-touchdown performance last week against San Francisco. Even their 3rd and 4th receivers, Devery Henderson and former Cowboy Terrence Copper, have made plays when called upon to do so.
They certainly have talent, but I question how good they will be against a much better defense than they’ve beaten. The 7th ranked Cowboys defense is much better than the next best defense they've beaten which was Philly currently ranked 17th.
Not only that, but the Cowboys offense has shown that they can score with the best in the league. If the Cowboys can hide their most prevalent weakness of the 2006 season, giving up huge chunks of yards in the passing game, it will be difficult for the Saints to win.
Contrariwise, some may suggest that the Cowboys have only beaten one team with a winning record (Indy) of the two they’ve play (loss to Jacksonville 24-17), so the Cowboys may not be much better in the grand scheme of things. However, close analysis of this Cowboys team must be divided at the line between pre- and post-Romo.
Since Bledsoe was benched, the Cowboys have lost one game in a freakishly close contest in Washington and beaten teams like Indy and the Giants (in New York). Additionally, the winning percentage of the teams beaten by the Boys is 43% clearly a tougher schedule.
In an NFC conference where mediocrity seems to be the norm, this weekend’s match-up will provide a rare glimpse at a couple of a select few teams that have separated themselves from the conference standard. With talented teams like Carolina, New York, Atlanta and Philly all fighting for playoff spots at 6-6, the loser of this game could quickly find themselves sinking into the quicksand that is the NFC.
