New Orleans Saints 2013 Preview

photo credit: neworleanssaints.com

2012 Record: 7-9 (3^rd in NFC South)

2012 Season Review: The New Orleans Saints 2012 season was doomed from the start when Commissioner Rodger Goodell slapped down an entire season suspension on head coach Sean Payton. What followed was a disappointing 0-4 start out of the gate, two interim head coaches (due to other suspensions), and a third place finish in the NFC South. Even as quarterback Drew Brees led the league with over 5,000 yards passing yet again, the Saints missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The good news has to be that they will get their beloved leader back from suspension in 2013 and will certainly be looking for revenge.

Offseason Review: Key Additions- CB Keenan Lewis, TE Ben Watson, S Jim Leonhard, S Kenny Vaccaro (draft), OL Terron Armstead, DT John Jenkins (draft)….Departures- DT Sedrick Ellis, OT Jermon Bushrod, RB Chris Ivory, WR Devery Henderson….Final Analysis- The Saints top priority this offseason had to be somehow improving this historically bad defense, which ranked 31^st against the pass and 32^nd against the run last year. They absolutely had to focus on this secondary first and foremost, and I do think that they did a decent job of that. To strengthen the safety position they drafted Texas product Kenny Vaccaro with their first pick in the draft, along with signing Jim Leonhard. Their 2012 safeties, Malcom Jenkins and Roman Harper, were each just terrible last season to say the least, and change was definitely needed. I think that Vaccaro was a great pick at 15, and I fully expect either him or Leonhard to unseat Harper at the strong safety position very early in the season. Sticking with the secondary and the need for its improvement, New Orleans desperately needed another cornerback to play alongside Jabari Greer, who was inconsistent at times but overall, not very bad for them in 2012. They did a great job filling this void by adding the talented former-Steeler Keenan Lewis. In his first year as a starter in Pittsburgh Lewis played fantastic, and he should be a welcome addition to this secondary. The one area of concern that the Saints attempted to address but were hit with a great deal of bad luck came in the form of a rush linebacker. They re-signed the surprising Junior Galette and added former-Cowboy Victor Butler. But in training camp Butler suffered a season-ending injury thus leaving a major void at the position. With Will Smith also going down for the year recently it looks like the Saints could be stuck with the average Martez Wilson again starting this season alongside Galette. Finally, the Saints greatest concern on offense this offseason had to be patching up this below-average offensive line. They did a nice job achieving this by drafting a decent offensive tackle in Terron Armstead. He won’t start right away but he does provide depth to a position that was lacking talent. Overall the Saints made a nice effort trying to patch up their weaknesses from a year ago, but there are still a few issues on this defense that have me thoroughly concerned. Grade: C

Strengths: Despite missing their head coach and leader last season, the Saints still had the league’s best passing offense in my opinion. Quarterback Drew Brees had another ridiculous season as he threw for 5,177 yards, 43 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions. Obviously the interception total is a bit higher than you’d like to see, but the rest of the stats speak for themselves. His 5,177 yards were over 200 more than any other quarterback in the league, and his 43 touchdowns easily led the league as well. But Brees’ dominance and importance to the Saints extends way beyond the stat sheet as he’s an outstanding game manager and unquestioned vocal leader for them as well. Seriously, how many other quarterbacks in the league will you see in the center of a pregame circle screaming his lungs out to get his teammates pumped up? Brees can honestly do it all and is, in my opinion along with many others, the league’s best quarterback. But don’t think that he’s been able to rack up all of these impressive stats all by himself. Brees is surrounded by talented receiving options at every skill position, highlighted by his fourth-year tight end Jimmy Graham. In the past two seasons, statistically speaking, Graham has been among the best tight ends in the league, totaling 184 catches for 2,292 yards and 20 touchdowns in that period. Last year he was slightly hampered by wrist injury that required surgery in the offseason, but now that he’s healthy and in a contract year I fully expect him to be the league’s best tight end in 2013. The New Orleans weapons at receiver aren’t just any average Joes either. Both Marques Colston and Lance Moore are each consistent, reliable, and gifted wideouts who can each be penciled in for 1,000-plus yard seasons if they remain healthy. Finally, Brees’ best weapon in the passing game may come out of the backfield in the form of running back Darren Sproles. The play-making running back has been electrifying in this offense for the past two seasons, recording 161 receptions and 14 receiving touchdowns in that time frame. He isn’t much of a running back due to his small stature and the weakness of this offensive line, but he’s probably the best pass-catcher in the league out of the backfield. Just another weapon for this already unfairly talented passing offense.

Weaknesses: As good as this offense was in 2012 and figures to be this season, the Saints defensive unit has and will be equally just as terrible. They’ll be switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan because why not? It’s not like things can get any worse for them. Many of the same problems for this unit still remain, including the lack of a pass-rushing linebacker. A few months ago, New Orleans had four guys, Will Smith, Victor Butler, Junior Galette, and Martez Wilson, who could have formed a very nice outside linebacker platoon. But with Smith and Butler falling victim to season-ending injuries in that time, the Saints are left with the inexperienced Galette and Wilson to hold down the fort once again. Galette actually isn’t too bad and has played well in his time on the field for them, but I can’t trust Wilson to be an every-down player again for them this season. This unit will again struggle in 2013. I can’t say that I’ll be much more confident in this secondary going into the season either. Both safety Kenny Vaccaro and cornerback Keenan Lewis should be very productive and consistent for them throughout the year, but besides those two there are a ton of question marks. The other two safeties that will see major playing time this season are Malcom Jenkins and Roman Harper. Neither one of them was very impressive a year ago nor would I expect anything better than mediocrity from them again this year. The other cornerback will be the inconsistent Jabari Greer who may see some improvement after the addition of Lewis takes some of the burden off of him. Time will tell whether or not he’s capable of holding down the starting job and playing well this season.

Fantasy Breakout Player: With stud New England tight end Rob Gronkowksi currently battling an injury that will hold him out until who-knows how long, Jimmy Graham now becomes the NFL’s top tight end in both reality and fantasy. I’ve already extolled the dominance of Graham’s first three seasons in the league so I won’t go too much into detail on this but remember, Graham put up 85 catches for almost 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns last season while battling a lingering injury. Just imagine how dominant he can be this season while healthy and in a contract year. There’s concern as to who will be throwing him the ball this year so I believe that Graham should be the first tight end taken in every fantasy draft.

Best Case/Worst Case: Best Case- The Saints offense has their typical type of season, with maybe a little more production out of their running game. The defense is surprisingly average led by new acquisitions Keenan Lewis and Kenny Vaccaro in the secondary. The Saints win the division and make another super bowl appearance. Worst Case- The offense is still dominant and able to keep them in games, but the defense is somehow worse than expected. The front seven is unable to get any sort of pressure on the quarterback which doesn’t make things any easier for an average secondary. The Saints finish last in a talented NFC South and miss the playoffs for back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2008.

One Word to Describe This Preview for the Lazy: Revamped. The old crew is back together again for New Orleans this season, and they’re revamped and ready to wreak havoc on the rest of the NFL. Drew Brees and Sean Payton do not like losing and I expect each of them to come out guns blazing in 2013. Whether or not this team can take the next step to super bowl champion though remains to be seen. That will all rest on the production that they get from their mediocre defense this season.

Prediction: 10-6

NFL Week 10 Thoughts

It’s a day late, but I’ll still share my thoughts on week 10 of the NFL season.

Falcons Fall

I don’t know what it is, but the Atlanta Falcons just cannot seem to beat the Saints. New Orleans is now 11-2 against Atlanta since the Drew Brees era began in 2006. In this particular matchup the Falcons had a legitimate chance to win the game late, as they drove inside the red zone with time running out in the fourth quarter. But they were unable to score as they turned it over on downs and wouldn’t drive at all on their final possession. It is certainly not time to panic for the 8-1 Falcons as they still hold a three game lead over the 5-4 Buccaneers in the division. But they should be a bit concerned with their lack of a rushing game. Despite a career-high 408 yards passing from Matt Ryan, the Falcons had just 46 rushing yards on Sunday. They will need to improve upon that in the near future if they want to make a run in the postseason.

Four Starting Quarterbacks Injured

A week of many surprises in the NFL also saw a slew of starting quarterbacks go down with injuries. The Eagles, 49ers, and Bears all lost their quarterbacks to concussions while the Steelers lost Ben Roethlisberger to a shoulder and rib injury. The questions will now certainly arise as to how these teams will keep their offenses going without their starters. The injuries to Jay Cutler and Alex Smith certainly do not seem very serious, but their teams will most likely have to play in their matchup on Monday night without each of them. Eagles quarterback Michael Vick seems to have a very serious concussion, but it seemed like he was on his way out in Philadelphia anyways. Lastly, early reports have Roethlisberger out for a possible six weeks which could be a killer injury for Pittsburgh. Three of these teams are currently in a playoff race right now, and they will each have to rely on their running games and defenses to win ballgames for them.

A Tie?

For the first time since November 16th, 2008, two NFL teams have tied in a regular season game. The 49ers, lead by backup quarterback Collin Kaepernick, tied with the Rams 24-24 on Sunday in a rather disappointing game. Each team missed a potential game-winning field goal in the overtime period, and neither was really able to get its offense going. Games like this make me wonder why the NFL has not adopted a college-style “second overtime” to prevent this from happening. It’s not like this would be a major change to the game, as ties are very uncommon nowadays anyway  In my opinion ties are the worst possible way for an NFL game to end (besides a blown call on a hail mary in the back of the end zone on national TV, but we all know that never happens), and the NFL should use this opportunity to make them extinct. To prevent this, why not give each team the ball at the 25 yard line and run a college-style overtime? The fans would love it, and it’s not a ridiculously taxing thing to ask the players to do. As the guys on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown would say C’mon man, no more ties! The NFL has to get on this immediately.

NFL Week 7 Thoughts

Houston Takes AFC Lead

The Houston Texans absolutely dominated the hobbled Baltimore Ravens on Sunday by the score of 43-13. Many expected this to occur as the Ravens were missing two of their best defensive players, Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb. The Ravens needed their offense to step up and give them a big game on Sunday, but that obviously did not occur. In my opinion its now clear that Houston is the top team in the AFC by far. It will be incredibly tough for anyone to come into Reliant Stadium and beat them this season, especially in the playoffs. As of right now, I do not see anyone even challenging the Texans on their road to New Orleans this year.

Close Loss in New England

It seemed at one point that the New York Jets were going to go into New England and beat the Pats on Sunday. They took a 26-23 lead with just 1:37 to go and needed just one stop to preserve a possibly season-changing victory. It’s too bad that they were playing against hall-of-fame quarterback Tom Brady. Brady was able to lead his team down the field for a game-tying field goal as time expired. He then lead them down the field for another field goal before his defense ended the game in overtime. The Jets had the Patriots right where they wanted them, but Rex Ryan’s defense could not close the game out. A win in this game would’ve given the Jets a ton of momentum as the season goes forward and a seat alone in first place in the AFC East. This blown lead may cost them for the rest of the year though.

Shades of 2011 Return

The sky might just not be falling in Green Bay and New Orleans after this week. Both offenses finally look like they have reverted back to their record-breaking 2011 form, and both teams picked up road wins on Sunday. For Green Bay it was their second straight road win and second straight game scoring 30 points. Despite early questions their offense looks like they are perfectly fine. The Saints still sit at 2-4 but have won two straight and will be getting their interim head coach Joe Vitt back for the first time this year. If not anything else there has to at least be optimism for this team moving forward. The offense has been playing outstanding of late, and the defense is receiving Jonathan Vilma back to hopefully help out. If they can get a win next week at Denver, they could have a shot at another successful season.

 

NFL Week 2 Thoughts

Here are some of my thoughts on the second week of the NFL season.

Big Trouble in the Big Easy

The New Orleans Saints are the only team in the NFC without a win. That’s something that even their greatest naysayers most likely did not predict a few weeks ago. This is a team which has given up 75 points in their first two games, a very startling number for a defense looking to move on after their infamous bounty scandal. Usually in the past this team has been able to overcome sub-par defensive play with an electric offense lead by quarterback Drew Brees. But that has not been the case so far this year. Brees has thrown just four touchdowns to four interceptions, and has looked a bit lost leading the offense for the first time without Sean Payton. This is a team that better get its act together very quickly as they’ll have tests against Green Bay, San Diego, Denver, Philadelphia, and Atlanta all in their next seven games.

A Texas Sized Letdown

 

The Dallas Cowboys came into their matchup with Seattle on Sunday about as high as a team could be. Just 10 days earlier they had upset the defending champions in their house on opening night, and had everyone questioning whether or not this team had finally gotten it down. But some would wait to see how they would play against Seattle as a test to see if this team had really changed for the better. And they failed miserably. The Cowboys dug themselves in an early hole as they got out to a 10-0 deficit after fumbling the opening kickoff and having a punt blocked. They were forced to play from behind the entire game, and this allowed rookie quarterback Russell Wilson to absolutely pick them apart. Wilson had all day to throw against a Dallas defensive line which bullied Eli Manning and the Giants just a week earlier. This performance leaves many in doubt for the Cowboys future this season as we will once again constantly have to ask “Which Cowboys team will show up this week?”

Peyton Struggles in Atlanta

After their week one victory over the Steelers all seemed to be right with the Denver Broncos. With a rejuvenated Peyton Manning at the helm and a nasty defense backing him up, this team was poised to go to the super bowl! Well that was the opinion of many last week and now we are forced to once again put Peyton back under a microscope. Manning threw three interceptions very early and the Broncos were doomed from the start against Atlanta. Despite a valiant effort Manning could not replicate his brothers performance a day earlier and the Broncos fell to 1-1. One of the main problems with Manning so far is that the deep pass has been almost non-existent to him this season. In fact Manning did not have a deep completion that comes to mind all game, something that he may be most known for. So maybe we were a bit too early to judge just how effective Peyton will be in Denver, but next week will tell us a lot as the Colts will take on the 2-0 Texans.

And What About Those Dang Replacement Refs?

 

If you were one of the NFL referees currently locked out by the league, this weekend of games could not have gone any better for you. Which means that if you were one of the NFL’s replacement referees, this weekend of games could not have gone any worse for you. The replacement refs were downright horrible this weekend blowing many obvious calls and making many incorrect ones as well. They also appeared to have little-to-no control over the players. Off of the top of my head I can clearly recall at least three or four games this week where fights nearly broke out on the field between players. To make matters worse it was even discovered that a Saints fan was scheduled to referee the Saints-Panthers game before being removed. Then today LeSean McCoy told 94WIP in Philadelphia that a ref told him “I need you for my fantasy team” during a game. This is getting out of control incredibly fast and these two sides desperately need to come to a deal before the league looses all of its credibility.

NFC South 2012 Best Case, Worst Case

Welcome to our 2012 NFL Preview series here at Views From the Cheap Seats where we will take a look at a best and worst case scenario for every NFL team this season.

Next up is the NFC South, regarded by many as the craziest division in the NFL. In the past five years every team has taken the crown at least once, and the Saints are the only repeat winners. In fact since 2003, every team has gone from “worst to first” at least one time with the Saints and Buccaneers doing it twice. So is there hope for Tampa Bay in 2012, or will Cam Newton take the division over? Or will the Saints and Falcons dominance continue? Keep reading for the answer.

Atlanta Falcons

Best Case: Under quarterback Matt Ryan, this teams problems have never been in the regular season. In fact their 23-9 record in the last two years is among the leagues best. So their best case scenario would be to simply have yet another stellar regular season, except this time maybe beat the Saints once or twice. This year in the playoffs though, fans should hope that the team looks much more poised against tougher opponents and maybe makes a run at the super bowl in New Orleans.

Worst Case: Struggles haunt Matt Ryan early as he looks more like the player he has been in the playoffs in the last two years. Injuries haunt talented young receiver Julio Jones once again, and he struggles to stay on the field. Tony Gonzalez finally shows signs of old age as he appears to be on a decline. The team wins only nine games and does not make the playoffs. Head coach Mike Smith is fired during the off-season.

Carolina Panthers

 

Best Case: Cam Newton repeats his historic 2011 season with an even better 2012, as he passes for over 4,000 yards and accumulates over 5,000 total yards. The now 33 year-old Steve Smith looks like he has found the fountain of youth once again as he benefits from being Newton’s top target. The team does not fulfill Ryan Khalil’s prediction of a super bowl championship, but they do finish above .500 and challenge for a playoff spot. It becomes clear that the Panthers are ready to be among the NFL’s elite.

Worst Case: It appears that Newton’s successes in 2011 may have been short-lived as he goes through a major sophomore slump. Most of the struggles which experts predicted he would encounter happen this year instead. Without Newton’s superhuman play, the offense reverts back to its 2010 form under Jimmy Clausen and looks lost. The team takes a major step back from its six wins last year and has major questions going into 2013.

New Orleans Saints

 

Best Case: Quarterback Drew Brees does an outstanding job as the essential “player-coach” in interim head coach Joe Vitt’s abscense. The offense looks like it has for the past few years, not missing a beat in Sean Payton’s abscense. The defense uses a horrendous off-season as motivation and improves a bit even without star linebacker Jonathon Vilma. All of this leads to an outstanding 13-3 record, and a run to becoming the first team ever to play the super bowl in their home stadium.

Worst Case: Just as many experts predicted, the team looks lost without the leadership of Sean Payton. Feeling the pressure of having to coach teammates along with run the offense, Drew Brees struggles and barely reaches the 4,o00 yard mark. Without its bread-and-butter of a high-powered offense, the team struggles and limps to an 8-8 record. They miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and have many questions to answer for 2013.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

Best Case: The team continues its strong play from 2010 and early 2011 as the new leadership of Greg Schiano provides great motivation. Josh Freeman looks more like his 2010 self as he has a career year. Big signings Carl Nicks and Vincent Jackson both have big years and add to the offenses productivity. The defense steps up after a dreadful 2011 year and the team ends up winning 10 games. This is good enough for a wild card spot, an idea which seemed crazy after a 10 game losing streak to close out last season.

Worst Case: First time head coach Greg Schiano struggles for control in his locker room as the young team deals with many immaturity concerns. Josh Freeman struggles with turnovers just as he did in 2011 and forces the team to looks elsewhere at the position. Vincent Jackson proves to be the bust signing of the 2012 off-season as he puts up very average numbers. The team wins less than five games and finishes the season with an even bleaker outlook than they did last year.