Saints Pre-Season Forecast

Antonio Brown’s 62 yard touchdown reception with 1:35 on the clock brings the Pittsburgh Steelers from behind in a 25-21 victory over the Washington Redskins and (Drew Brees clone) Kirk Cousins (NFL MVP) to win the Super Bowl.  That’s how it will end.  How will this football season begin?

With fantasy football of course.

Because you’re a Saints Fan, and we specialize in fantasy.

We think the Saints have improved their team through the draft and free agency, and we are right.

But every other team believes the same thing.  I think the word is delusional.  But what would life be without a little delusional optimism?

As I write this the rumor is that the Saints, after assessing their Quarterback through a pre-season in which the team performed like they were unsynchronized swimmers, liked what they saw of Drew Brees enough to discuss what may be a 4 year $100 million contract on the 37 year old.  Brees has elected to play hardball, rather than offer a Brady-like home team discount, which is certainly his right.  The problem is that when you look up “dead money” in the dictionary you see a picture of Mickey Loomis, the Saints GM.  Loomis makes mistakes, like everyone else who is alive, but has the unfortunate distinction of making mistakes that are gargantuan in zero’s and crippling in impact.  His latest scheme of building a wall around Drew Brees and making Atlanta pay for it, is unlikely to gain any traction, so Brees, by taking such a large percentage of the payroll may in fact be signing his own decapitation warrant.  It's like sending Hillary Clinton out without body guards.  One thing is for sure in the Brees negotiation, the longer the Saints wait, the more the price goes up, as lesser but younger QB’s sign lucrative contracts.

But we soldier on.  We have Mark Ingram to not take any pressure off.  We have a new wide receiver named Mike Thomas who better be a Colston/Moore combo if he’s going to help, and we have an offensive line that needs to jell yesterday.  We’re betting on a bunch of rookie cornerbacks to help Delvin Breaux, and we’ll try to forget the two bungled draft choices of Peat and Grayson that could have been defensive help, like a pass rush to protect the kiddie squad that will be chasing receivers.  Just for fun, google the two drafts and take a gander at the players that were available when we pulled these two out of the hat.  I’m not saying they can’t be serviceable pros.  I’m just saying it’s a time-worn Saints tradition to dwell on what could’ve been.  It keeps us insane.

New defensive coordinator Dennis Allen seems to have advanced the defense over that guy with my profile.  The offense actually ran the ball on first down throughout the preseason, so we probably didn’t get a good look at what they can do.  After weeks of pre-season and training camp, the Saints decided they didn’t like either kicker and booted them both in favor of a rookie who had been cut elsewhere, in case you’re wondering what desperation smells like.

So, after all of that, it’s time for my prediction.  I won’t get fooled again.  I’m well aware that some teams improve steadily throughout the year, and while that hasn’t been the Saints M.O. it’s a possibility given the youth and talent on board. Still, the best I can muster up, with a healthy Brees throwing for 5K, is a 9-7 record, barely missing the playoffs.  I reserve the right to amend that prediction at about 1:30 on Sunday.  See you in the dome.