There are certain things that you can expect from an NFL season: you will lose a few bets that you didn’t see coming, the team that’s undefeated in late October will face the obligatory 1972 Dolphins comparisons, and Terry Bradshaw will say something on Fox’s pregame show that will make you look around your living room in a way usually reserved for recently awakened bears emerging from hibernation.
Pro football, as it is said, is built on parity. Teams are supposedly evenly matched, and every team has a great chance to win their respective division and maybe even more.
Except for Jacksonville.
That parity has been on display in full this year. Did anyone have the San Francisco 49ers possibly having a 1st round playoff bye? Everyone had the Eagles winning the NFC East and going deep into January. Who could have guessed that the wheels would have fallen off of Indy as quickly as they did?
Sure, there are teams that you know will be competitive every year (New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore) and some that will be at the depths of the league (Cleveland and the previously mentioned Jaguars). There are teams that start strong and eventually fade (Detroit and Buffalo), teams that are sneaky good (NY Giants and Chicago), and ones that look very good before an unfortunate injury possibly derails the entire season (I’m so sorry, Houston).
Where do the Saints fall?
After watching the Saints through 10 games this year, this is all that I can determine:
1. The Saints are really good offensively. That might be the understatement of the year. New Orleans averages 31.3 points per game, and Drew Brees currently leads the league in passing yardage. As good as the Saints are with Brees passing, they do have the ability to run the ball as well. They currently rank 14th in the league in rushing, but have the kind of backs in Ingram and Ivory to be effective in cold weather games late in the year. Add to that the matchup nightmare of TE Jimmy Graham, and the Saints have one of the more well-rounded offenses in the league.
2. The Saints have an ok defense. Not bad, but not really good. They make stops when they need to (just ask Mike Smith), but they also give up huge plays on a regular basis. The defense hasn’t been creating the turnovers at the rate that they did during the 2009 championship run. That will certainly have to change moving forward.
3. The Saints aren’t an elite team, not in early/mid November, mostly because of the defense.
4. It really doesn’t matter.
Does the term “elite” even matter? The Packers won it all last year after getting in as a 6th seed. The 2007 Patriots were undefeated in the regular season, for goodness sake, and we all know how that played out.
(Cut to every Pats fan getting up to fix a drink.)
The Lombardi isn’t handed out after Halloween, and much can happen in-between now and the playoffs. In the second half of the 2009 season, the Saints had a variety of wins, ranging from national statement games (New England on Monday Night Football, Week 12) to divisional drummings (at Tampa Bay, Week 11). This year’s team has the same opportunities, playing the Giants on Monday night after Thanksgiving, as well as important divisional games at home against Atlanta and Carolina. The only two away games? Tennessee and Minnesota in Weeks 14 and 15, respectively. Add another semi-important home matchup against Detroit, and the Saints have their work cut out for them.
As Andre 3000 once so eloquently put, “you can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather.” Preseason predictions and in-season power rankings ultimately mean nothing. The games have to be played, and the unpredictably makes sports such an interesting watch. The Saints will have to prove themselves on the field, which is the only medium that matters in the end.
