Saints Rocket Into First

All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

All of a sudden the Saints find themselves in the division lead.

At 4-4, the Saints are tied for the NFC South division after an offensive explosion in Indianapolis.

The Saints were down 17-7 early but they responded like pros and we can hope this trend continues.

Finally, the Saints weapons Kamara, Hill, Olave, Michael Thomas, Shaheed, and even newcomer, the beignet dissing, Jamaal Williams led by Derk Carr’s QBing threw off the funk at least for one week.,

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Now we have to see if they can sustain the offense after a soul-searching week in which the players said they had come together to try and find out why things were not working,

The description of the week’s communications is a window into the world of Pro Football, It’s a job, A well-paying job. A job that by the way takes a a lot of physical effort. It takes its toll. You hear a lot about traffic stops and other nonsense but being a professional athlete in this day and age is a life-changing thing.

GOING FORWARD

Let it be noted that the teams the Saints have defeated are all well down in the NFL power ratings.

With Chicago, a team competing for worst team in NFL 2023, and their sputtering unit coming to the Dome Saints fans have every reason to expect this “new” Saints offensive production to continue.

The offensive line which I have maligned here all of a sudden has started opening holes for the running game and protecting Carr enough to give him a chance to do what the Saints are paying him to do. That being a franchise QB.

Offensive Line coach Doug Marrone deserves a lot of credit for his patchwork line success. As any NFL season goes on injuries mount and the teams that adjust and whose the second tier guys step up are the ones that prevail. Perhaps we’re seeing that here in our offensive line. Peat if he can stay healthy may be a key.

Peat comes in for a lot of criticism but he stepped up big time the last two weeks by playing a good left tackle where he has not played since 2017.

Andrus Peat and Max Garica on the left side of the line have played better than the line that started the season, If you noticed on the TD series in which Taysom Hill was used to blast into the endzone he repeatedly ran to the left,

God and offensive lines work in mysterious ways.

WARNING

With The Bears coming to town it may be worth pointing out that the Saints have been underwhelming at home.

The Saints are 12-13 in the last 25 home games.

Looking back Saints are 2-3 in the last 5 home playoff games.

This points more to a home-field disadvantage.

I spoke with a writer who has covered the Saints for over 20 years last week we talked about this issue and he told me that he has spoken to NFL coaches who have told him that it does not go unnoticed that if you punch the Saints in the mouth at home and get off to an early lead the Saints vaunted crowd simmers down to the point that the home field advantage in effect can become a disadvantage pretty quickly,

Season ticket holders take note.

As a comparison to the Saint’s 2-3 home-field record in last 5 playoff games the Seahawks with their famous 12th man crowd are 12- 3 lifetime in home playoff games.

GOOD NEWS

Jamaal Williams ran well and with a lot of enthusiasm. With Kamara, Williams, Miller, and Taysom Hill we have one of the deeper running back rooms in the NFL. That is a big change. And with Shaheed emerging as a real long ball threat and Olave and Michael Thomas we have an enviable WR room.

Carr looked pretty good on Sunday. Will we see Derk Carr live up to our expectations? We have two very winnable games before the bye week, 6 – 4 would look good in this division.

Carr has been the most durable QB in the league since he entered the league and with the epidemic of QB losses this last week we have to hope he continues to answer the bell.