The Saints dispatched the worst team in the NFL, the Carolina Panthers last Sunday and again find themselves in a three-way tie in the NFC South. They are behind in the tiebreakers and must be one game better than the Bucs or Falcons to win the NFC crown.

5 of the Saints ‘ wins are against teams that are currently in last place in their division. Not much of an endorsement for the Mickey Loomis-built and Dennis Allen coached NFL team.

The New York Giants come to town this weekend, The Giants are another of the NFL’s worst teams. The Giants are however much more dangerous than the Panthers. The Panthers might be the only NFL team that you can confidently check off as a win on your schedule. NFL teams are full of very good football players and can win on any given Sunday, as the saying goes.

WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW

As coach Jim Mora once famously said to a sports reporter, “You think you know, but you don’t know. And you’ll never know.”

What goes on inside a locker room or team should be kept in-house. Disagreements and malingerers and other normal dysfunctions in a large group of people working together are the norm.

There is an insatiable hunger for the inside scoop in sports. It is online just like a real-life spa opera, Many online headlines are just misleading, and misleading on purpose. Anything to get those clicks. As fans, we can only mine the nuggets we can get from all the talking heads.

In New Orleans however, we have a unique window into what might be going on, that most fan bases don’t have. This is due to the father of the Who Dat Nation, Bobby Hebert. Hebert is the rare commentator who has what can be called a lack of a filter. If you’ve listened to Hebert over the years you might be able to see behind the curtain.

The latest look was after the Panther game. A lady called up and asked Hebert about the outburst of Eric McCoy aimed at QB Derk Carr followng a sack. The telling question was if Hebert thinks that Dennis Allen is the kind of coach who could stem any serious rift within the personnel.

Hebert said, ‘No”.

I would like to see Dennis Allen succeed because he seems like a nice guy who has his stuff together. But It does appear that he is not the kind of leader who can exert control on the volatile and often infantile shenanigans of the modern NFL player.

Take Michael Thomas’s tweets about Carr missing an open A. T. Perry against the Lions as an example. Numerous tweets by the way were later expunged. This is ridiculous behavior. As if Michael Thomas never dropped a pass or did anything incorrect on any given play. The last time I looked Derek Carr had played hurt most of the year. Carr shows up. Thomas is on the couch. An expensive couch no doubt.

Other Hebert windows I have heard concern Brandon Cooks, Payton Turner, Marcus Davenport, and Andrus Peat. 

The comments Hebert had on the air on WWL are things you just don’t hear on talk radio very often.

Of Peat, Hebert has said on more than one occasion, “he doesn’t want to play.” The context here is that Peat, the son of a former NFL player, is a big talented guy but his heart is not into playing football.

Only an opinion from Hebert of course, but still telling. Peat has come to the rescue for the struggling Saints OL this year as Trevor Penning has proven not ready for primetime.

As to the double trouble of first-round picks, Marcus Davenport, who is now with Minnesota, did not play against the Saints, as he was on the familiar injury report that week, and Payton Turner is always injured it seems. Hebert recently said of both,  “they are just weird guys.” What this means, I do not know, but it is somewhat curious.

I was always fascinated as to why the Saints would trade Cooks. He is an excellent NFL receiver with speed and athleticism. More curious was that Cooks was on his rookie contract and was salary cap friendly. Salary cap-friendly is what the Saints crave, yet they got rid of Cooks. Cook meanwhile, after playing for close to a half dozen teams in the NFL, is playing well for the Dallas Cowboys. Hebert recently referred to one of the Saints WRs as Brandon Cooks 2.0, and not in a positive way. So, something was going on with Cooks. You just don’t trade a player like that for no reason.

Another glimpse of what is going on can be learned from listening to the experienced Deuce McAllister on the radio broadcast. Mcalister is an excellent football commentator, perhaps one of the best I’ve heard. He is insightful and on the Saints’ side. 

But, time after time this season he has questioned the strategy of Pete Carmicheal on play calling. He does not call out  Carmichael by name but he has strongly disagreed with play calls in real time this year. 

Listen to Deuce and Bobby and you can attempt to find out what the hell is really going on.

NEW YORK 24 SAINTS 19

Hope I am wrong.