From a Saints Fan on GridIronFans...

[brakos82]

BuckFenson said this about the Saints and the Texans:

I am a die hard fan. I really believe we can win them all. WILL we, the realistic part of me says "of course". Probably the one game we lose will be against your team. That is realistic too. Schaubbbbbbbbbb had success against us as a Falcon.

[Bynum610]

I'm a huge Matt Schaub fan, but I honestly don't get that statement. Schaub started against the Saints one time, and I remember that game because I was there after visiting a friend at Tulane. That was back in '04, and the Saints won it 26-13. In that game, Schaub went 17-41 for 188 yards, 0 TD's, and 2 INT's.

Though I might be missing something?

[brakos82]

Originally Posted by Bynum610

I'm a huge Matt Schaub fan, but I honestly don't get that statement. Schaub started against the Saints one time, and I remember that game because I was there after visiting a friend at Tulane. That was back in '04, and the Saints won it 26-13. In that game, Schaub went 17-41 for 188 yards, 0 TD's, and 2 INT's.

Though I might be missing something?

[Texan_Bill]

Brakos, we both know everyone on GridIron posts the most logical and well thought out posts of any the message board....

[jlam]

Heh, I fully expected to click on this thread and have to temper the words of one of our slightly "overzealous" types, but it looks like I'm going to have to do the opposite.

He was being far too polite, I don't think we will lose to you.

[TK_Gamer]

If we hold mccalister under 100 yards and coral bush in the short passing game we will win IMHO.

[Specnatz]

Originally Posted by jlam

Heh, I fully expected to click on this thread and have to temper the words of one of our slightly "overzealous" types, but it looks like I'm going to have to do the opposite.

He was being far too polite, I don't think we will lose to you.

Losing Horn will hurt the Saints beyond just the stat sheet. He is the one who held that team together the last two years he was the leader, Not Brees and definately not bush.

Plus the team has a much more difficult schedule than last years. Some fans do not have their head in the sand but up there butts.

[jlam]

Originally Posted by Specnatz

Losing Horn will hurt the Saints beyond just the stat sheet. He is the one who held that team together the last two years he was the leader, Not Brees and definately not bush.

What I said above was more tongue-in-cheek than anything else, but I figured someone would take it seriously.

I disagree about Horn. Joe was always a nice guy to the fans and did good things for the community, but there have been reports for some time that a lot of it was just for pub and a not a reflection on how he was in the locker room. Joe wasn't exactly pushing for the team to go back to N.O. in 2005 either, at least not at first. I recall many people being quite upset at some things he said during that time frame actually.

I also disagree about Brees. I think he and Payton made a hell of a lot of difference in how our team presented and represented itsself on and off the field. Bush did his part in the community as well, but I don't think you'll find too many knowlegeable fans saying he was a leader on the team.

Plus the team has a much more difficult schedule than last years. Some fans do not have their head in the sand but up there butts.

I agree somewhat about our schedule, but we didn't exactly have a cupcake schedule last year, either. In addition to the always unpredictable NFC South, we had the AFC North and the NFC East, neither of which are easy by any means. This year we draw the AFC South (which I think is about on par with the AFC North, roughly at least) and the NFC West (again pretty close IMO to the NFC East last year). The only reason our schedule really gets tougher now is because we finished 1st in the division and get to replace Green Bay and San Francisco (last place finishers in 2005, just like us) with Philadelphia and Chicago (1st place finishers in 2006).

So, much more difficult? Meh, maybe. No way you can really tell at this point.

And I don't know where you were going with the last sentence.

[Specnatz]

Originally Posted by jlam

What I said above was more tongue-in-cheek than anything else, but I figured someone would take it seriously.

I disagree about Horn. Joe was always a nice guy to the fans and did good things for the community, but there have been reports for some time that a lot of it was just for pub and a not a reflection on how he was in the locker room. Joe wasn't exactly pushing for the team to go back to N.O. in 2005 either, at least not at first. I recall many people being quite upset at some things he said during that time frame actually.

I also disagree about Brees. I think he and Payton made a hell of a lot of difference in how our team presented and represented itsself on and off the field. Bush did his part in the community as well, but I don't think you'll find too many knowlegeable fans saying he was a leader on the team.



I agree somewhat about our schedule, but we didn't exactly have a cupcake schedule last year, either. In addition to the always unpredictable NFC South, we had the AFC North and the NFC East, neither of which are easy by any means. This year we draw the AFC South (which I think is about on par with the AFC North, roughly at least) and the NFC West (again pretty close IMO to the NFC East last year). The only reason our schedule really gets tougher now is because we finished 1st in the division and get to replace Green Bay and San Francisco (last place finishers in 2005, just like us) with Philadelphia and Chicago (1st place finishers in 2006).

So, much more difficult? Meh, maybe. No way you can really tell at this point.

And I don't know where you were going with the last sentence.

I was going with the quote that started the thread. Not meaning you. Should have put it differently.

I look at the schedule and look at teams like SanFran whom I think will be quite a bit better than last year. As I do think Houston will. Your road games is what is a killer about the schedule, only one game I see as a cupcake. Home games yeah you have some you should be with out question and then you have Atl which is a who the heck knows team. Could be difficult or could be easy.

As far as taking it seriously, not really you have posted here enough for one to know what you mean and the jest of what you say. I do not need a sarcassim smiley to tell me what ya ment.

[Yankee_In_TX]

Originally Posted by TK_Gamer

If we hold mccalister under 100 yards and coral bush in the short passing game we will win IMHO.

LOL, sorry, that's like saying "If we shut down Manning's passing game..." (not that we can't beat the Saints, their D stinks, but shutting down Duece and Bush will be very hard to do).

[jlam]

Originally Posted by Specnatz

I was going with the quote that started the thread. Not meaning you. Should have put it differently.

I look at the schedule and look at teams like SanFran whom I think will be quite a bit better than last year. As I do think Houston will. Your road games is what is a killer about the schedule, only one game I see as a cupcake. Home games yeah you have some you should be with out question and then you have Atl which is a who the heck knows team. Could be difficult or could be easy.

As far as taking it seriously, not really you have posted here enough for one to know what you mean and the jest of what you say. I do not need a sarcassim smiley to tell me what ya ment.

I do agree that SF has some potential to be better, and we do indeed have some tough road games. But if we play the way we're capable of, I don't think it's anything we can't overcome. It's all speculation at this point, as you even said at the end of that paragraph.

Anyway, to end the threadjack about the N.O. Saints' season and get back on topic, I really am looking forward to seeing the matchups in the Texans-Saints game. I think as it stands now we have the edge, but a lot can change between now and November.

Things that could potentially worry me in that game:

-Containing A. Johnson. McKenzie is a good corner, but like most teams our corners play sides of the field and most opposing teams try to line up thier best weapons on the opposite side of the field from him. On that opposite side will be either Jason David (I have high hopes for him, but he would give up a lot of height against AJ), Fred Thomas (had a bad last half last season playing banged up as well as having lost a step or seven with age) or rookie Usama Young (said to be very talented, but very unlikely he'll be starting this year).

-Staying away from Demeco Ryans. He seems to have a nose for the big play and, as was evidenced in the NFCCG, turnovers are a real killer for us (not that this is our problem exclusively).

-The Houson D-line. This one is highly dependent on how Okoye and Williams are progressing at their respective positions. I was very high on Okoye (as were a lot of others) up to the draft and I see a lot of potential on the Dline to disrupt passing games of other teams. Fortunately, I think we run the right kind of scheme to minimize this as we tend to get the ball out pretty quick, making decisions and not hanging about in the pocket too long.

A lot will obviously be a lot clearer as the season progresses and the game draws nearer, but it does feel good to actually talk a little football again.

[jlam]

Originally Posted by Yankee_In_TX

LOL, sorry, that's like saying "If we shut down Manning's passing game..." (not that we can't beat the Saints, their D stinks, but shutting down Duece and Bush will be very hard to do).

I disagree. Our D most definitely does not stink. Last year we were most definitely a "boom or bust" defense. It seemed we either got a three-and-out (or something close) or gave up a huge play leading to a TD. We play a more aggressive, man to man type D most of the time, so that's where the boom or bust stems from. We did two things poorly last season on D, gave up big plays and didn't force enough turnovers (the latter being because none of our defensive backs could catch to save their life last season; Bullocks must have dropped at least six or seven picks).

I think that with the addition of Brian Simmons at MLB, Jason David likely starting at CB over Fred Thomas, the return of Roman Harper at SS (who was very good before he went down in Week 5 for the year; big plays went up significantly in number after his knee injury), and the addition of Kevin Kaesviharn at FS to provide competition to Bullocks (who routinely blew over-the-top help assignments on big plays last season) will help us a good bit.

/runonsentenceover