Saints Report # 10 - November 22, 2009

Letting 10 -0 sink in.

I’m sitting here waiting on the HBO season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and I’m trying to curb my enthusiasm for the Saints. Be calm, 10 – 0, no big deal, just ask the Tennessee Titans. Long way to go. Division pretty much in hand. Another big game coming up. Curb it.

Here’s what’s cool about the Saints – just the way it’s all come together, good solid coaching, good play calling (remember Carl Smith) good drafting. But here’s what I really like – the patient player development. Today was Robert Meachem day. Let’s face it – sometimes players come in and make an immediate impact, like Marques Colston and Reggie Bush. Other times, they have to develop. The slow, methodical development of a first round pick like Meachem is the last thing that is expected. We see so many times when a team gives up on a first pick that doesn’t explode as a superstar (see the Detroit Lions’ fleet of wide receiver first round picks). Meachem even had to sit for a year. Whoever heard of that? Off the roster for a whole year, but the team didn’t give up, they just kept working with him until he got it, and now – wow!

From the beginning it was obvious Pierre Thomas was an NFL running back. The Saints have brought him along slowly, and now he’s a steady contributor. It wasn’t as obvious with Lance Moore, but his emergence last year was a testament to the tortoise method that they sometime employ.

All in all, no matter how this year ends up, this is the proper way to develop an NFL team. Finally. Good drafting, good development of unrecognized players, key free agent acquisitions, and yes good coaching.

So, when the Saints dismantled the Bucs today 38 – 7, and I’m thus trying to curb my enthusiasm, it is not so much the prospect of a Super Bowl that has me excited. It’s the fact that this team has a chance to be elite for the next several years. I got a kick out of the consternation over how the Saints won their last few games, that they weren’t up to par. Are you kidding me? We want W’s and only W’s. Don’t care how, don’t care what they look like. I never thought I’d see a Seinfeld reunion, and I’d never thought I’d see 10 – 0. I saw both today.