Saints Last Report - January 3, 2016

Now we know.

Carly Simon has revealed who she wrote that song about.

Not “You’re so Vain.”

No.

"Anticipation"

And no it’s not about ketchup.

It’s about the plight of the New Orleans Saints fans.

Because now is the best part of the year.

The Anticipation of next year, because we are fully gullible, and the season is too stressful.

49 times we’ve fallen for it, and only once been rewarded.

So, here’s how it will go.

We’ll wait at least a day to see if Payton will remain the coach.

We’ll spend 116 days looking forward to the draft.

We’ll talk about Drew Brees and the salary cap.

Then, we’ll get excited about our 49^th straight outstanding draft

We’ll wait 150 days until the mini camps

We’ll wait 210 days until training camps opened.

We’ll believe the hype – the team looks great.

We’ll forget they’re playing against each other.

We’ll get excited about the 4 pre-season games.

They look pretty good.

Anticipation will be at a fever pitch.

Sometime in September, the balloon will burst.

We’ll realize that we’ve improved, but so has everybody else.

Will next year, our 50^th season, yield our 13^th winning season? 

Anticipation

Well, one thing that makes the 119 days of actual season bearable is when you can sweep the season series from the equally inept and fanatically hated Atlanta Falcons.  With a last second field goal, following one of the rarest events of the season, a big-play interception from the Saints defense, the Saints vanquished those dirtiest of birds 20 – 17.  It was another great game for Brees, who continued his hot streak and won his 100th game as a Saint.  That's right.  He is the starting pitcher for 100 of the Saints lifetime 331 wins.  That's 30% of the franchise wins by playing in 20% of their games.  Amazing.  Brees regained his discipline this year and only threw 11 interceptions.  Another positive sign was the play of Brandon Coleman, who despite a huge drop at the end of the game, continued an upward trend at year-end.  Maybe he is the Colston replacement he was touted to be.  Maybe Tim Hightower will stick around.  We’ve got plenty of time to talk about it.

Thus the Saints finish 7 – 9, their 37^th season of .500 or below. 

Anticipation misplaced.  

But the wait til next year has officially begun.