What the Saints have to look forward to

By Os Davis  |   Monday, September 10, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

New Orleans Saints
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After watching their team receive the most memorable beat down of the week not involving the Notre Dame Fighting Irish or Japan's Rugby Cup team, a little wind has to be taken out of the sails of New Orleans Saints fans right now.

Seriously, it doesn't matter how good you (now) think Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts are, the NFL follower has to be wondering - just a little, mind you - if the 2006 Saints were overachievers and whether the '07 version is one routinely prone to giving up four or more touchdowns in a half.

"Is this a return - gasp - of the 'Ain'ts?" the highly cynical might whisper.

(And that goes double for those fantasy owners who, ahem, took Reggie Bush in the first round hoping he'd improve on last season's mind-boggling performance.)

As the oldest of old clichés goes, though, there's still a lot of football left to play in this season. Surely, the Saints will stay in contention and fans have lots of reasons to be just as optimistic (OK, almost as optimistic) as they were a week or so ago.

Let us count the ways why things still look great for the Saints:

The schedule. Perhaps the easiest for any playoff contender this side of the Pittsburgh Steelers, four of the next five games for New Orleans are at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and at home against the Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons - all winnable games. They're at Seattle in Week 6 and San Francisco in Week 8, but further matchups include games with the Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals and another against Atlanta. Even an average team could go 10-6 with the Saints' schedule.

The hilarity of the bandwagon. Take stock of all those who are suddenly not talking up the Saints as much as before the jaunt to Indianapolis; incidentally, this includes nearly everyone in Western Civilization. Then watch how, right about Week 8 or so, everyone - who had them all along - takes New Orleans to win the NFC. With a close one against the Buccaneers on Sunday, this could become the bumpiest bandwagon since, oh, the Carolina Panthers' last season.

Reggie Bush's first touchdown.

Marques Colston's first touchdown.

Deuce McAllister's first touchdown; in fact, the first touchdown by the offense.

Jason David. New Orleans fans, if you want excitement, you've got the personification of heart-attack induction in this former Colt free agent. Let's see, David put the Saints in the game with the second-quarter fumble return but was badly - and oh, boy, that's a whopper of an understatement - burned twice for long strikes in the second half.

Said head coach Sean Payton: "...at the corner position, all the eyes go to that one player when there's a big pass completion, but there's a lot more going on than just one individual."

Um, coach, there may be a reason in this case...

Note to Saints fans: Get plenty of cardiograms this season. Or just look away whenever the opposition throws David's way.

Week 4. That's the bye week for the Saints. And whether they're 0-3, 1-2 or 2-1 at that point, something tells me they're gonna need it.

Eternally blessed all year-round at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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