Your Favorite NFL Team......

[Getback]

Who aint dat 9-5?
I'm not gunna pout about a loss, check the record baby.

This loss may be a good thing in the long run, i.e. the Super Bowl.

[Spikes]

That is what I am thinking, hoping, and praying for. Less pressure on the Saints which is good, finish out the reg. season and you got a first week bye in the playoffs. See: 07 Pats.

[DREDIOCK]

Dallas I think matches up quite well against the Saints And probably stands as the best chance to hand N.O. a defeat for the remainder of the regular season.
Lately the Saints are letting teams hang in the game who have no business being even close. Something which may end up comming back to bite them before all is said and done.

According to NFL.com

Dallas 11th scoring offense (8th rushing 7th passing)
N.O. 16th in points allowed ( 20th against the rush 22 against the pass)

N.O offense  1st in scoring (5th passing 3rd rushing)
Dallas 5th in points allowed (9th against he rush 20th against the pass)


If Dallas plays up to their ability. And N.O. continues their current trend. This could be a much closer game then most people think.

ahem.

turns out it ended up being closer then it deserved to be

[Spikes]

Yep, well we all know who watched what the Saints will be working on this week. Offensive line protecting Brees and Defense all around. Brees has great SA and if you give him two seconds he can get anywhere, but the O line was barely giving him that.

[DaCoon]

<----------------hangs head in shame for talking all dat smack.       


    But looks forward to next two weeks.

  13-1 is still best club record ever and we should finish 15-1     

[Dadsguns]

Not to take anything from Dallas on their win against the Saints, Dallas was one of the biggest threats but a win is a win.

From what I saw and what lead to the loss was Saints did not play all their key players on defense and offense and was absurdly reserved with the plays that were called in the first 2 quarters, they didn't come to really play until the 4th and by then it was too late. 

I believe that if they had not wasted the first 30 min of the game and had played as hard as the 4th, we would not be having this conversation, they shut down the offense of Dallas in the middle of the third and the 4th, had they had some points from the first half to carry over this would have helped them.

In a way I am glad they lost, only the fitest survive in the playoffs and this will give them a chance to collect themselves and get healthy players back on the line since they do have the bye week clinched, Vikings are only a 1.5 game behind us for home field advantage now with this loss. 

At least Dallas broke the December curse.......   

[DREDIOCK]

Yep, well we all know who watched what the Saints will be working on this week. Offensive line protecting Brees and Defense all around. Brees has great SA and if you give him two seconds he can get anywhere, but the O line was barely giving him that.

To me it was all about the personnel matchups and the schemes. Sometimes its more about how teams play then their records. Thats why you will occasionally see a poor team defeat a great team.  As I said. i thought Dallas matched up very well against NO. I think Arizona,San Fran And Min, And possibly Green Bay do as well.
(Beware GB. They are very quietly starting to play very good football.)

As I have been saying. NO has been exposed in recent weeks by teams that just couldnt finish the deal. Just as Arizona exposed the Vikes secondary with the absence of Winfeild.

I didnt see the Saints holding out any Key players. Nor did I see them doing much different on offence. The big 4th quarter jump was nothing more then NO moving to the hurry up which they had to do. And Dallas being slow to respond to it. Once they did. they started getting to Breeze again and they managed to shut the Saints down on the drive that mattered most.

Dallas played up to their ability and improved their pass defence.

NO is going to have problems against balanced teams. Who do a good job studying film.

In any event. I warned that this was comming.

[Spikes]

I agree with all points here, their D kept the Saints off balance every play, and their offense kept our D off balance. But it goes to show you, the Saints CAN come back. Dallas gave up 14 in the 4th and it could have easily been 21 and an undecided loss for Dallas in OT. But they did step up, but we all know what Brees is capable of doing and there isn't any denying of that fact.


And please don't get me wrong I'm not trying to be a sore loser here, making up excuses and what not...just tellin the facts straight. But there were two penalties that should have been called that would have helped the Saints a lot. One of the Boy's players was holding on to a Saints' players shirt, pass interference...and also when Roy williams purposely ran into McKenzie then faked a stumble...was called on Saints for illegal blocking or something.

[Spikes]

Not to take anything from Dallas on their win against the Saints, Dallas was one of the biggest threats but a win is a win.

From what I saw and what lead to the loss was Saints did not play all their key players on defense and offense and was absurdly reserved with the plays that were called in the first 2 quarters, they didn't come to really play until the 4th and by then it was too late. 

I believe that if they had not wasted the first 30 min of the game and had played as hard as the 4th, we would not be having this conversation, they shut down the offense of Dallas in the middle of the third and the 4th, had they had some points from the first half to carry over this would have helped them.

In a way I am glad they lost, only the fitest survive in the playoffs and this will give them a chance to collect themselves and get healthy players back on the line since they do have the bye week clinched, Vikings are only a 1.5 game behind us for home field advantage now with this loss. 

At least Dallas broke the December curse.......   

Indeed. Here's something I sent to my friend in a message:
Though I am not glad they lost I think it'll benefit us more than going undefeated would.
-Less pressure
-More focus on playoffs than perfect reg season
-Cowgirls exploited our weaknesses and since we lost, we will take them more seriously than just 'shaking them off' because we won. Hopefully during this week more attent...ion is turned to our defense and offensive line, the two that killed us the most. Brees can work his magic any time, but he needs a O line to give him those extra two seconds.

[DREDIOCK]

N.O. is for real. no question. They are without question one fine football team

Their biggest question mark is their defense.  You can have an offense that racks up 1,000 points a game. But you cant always rely on the offense to win every game for you. Eventually your going to go up against a balanced team that can prevent points from being scored as well as score alot of points themselves.

Its like I used to complain about the Vikings back in the Denny Green days. You can score 1,000 points. But if the opposing team can score 1,001 on you it doesnt really matter. And it only gets worse if that team knows how to stop points being scored. And eventually you will run up against that sort of team

Dallas had more balance on both sides of the ball at or near Top 3rd in both points scored/allowed. (One can also look at current team trends as overall stats dont always tell the complete story)

Those are the types of teams that are going to be the most dangerous to N.O.

In any event. It is shaping up to be one hell of a playoff picture for the NFC.
alot of good teams still in the hunt

NO, Vikings and Green Bay probably the best in the NFC and maybe even  in the league right now (Yes over the colts) Each has the potential to give any of the other fits. And I wouldnt lay money on any of them if/when they play each other.
But Dallas or Arizona could catch fire and make some real noise if they play up to their ability.
Philly is a decent team but not there yet. 
Everyone else is possible but not very likely to go far.

AFC is much more boring
Colts and the Chargers. Bengals come in at a distant 3rd.
NE...while still dangerous. Aint what they used to be.

Everyone else is also rans.

[Spikes]

N.O. is for real. no question. They are without question one fine football team

Their biggest question mark is their defense.  You can have an offense that racks up 1,000 points a game. But you cant always rely on the offense to win every game for you. Eventually your going to go up against a balanced team that can prevent points from being scored as well as score alot of points themselves.

Its like I used to complain about the Vikings back in the Denny Green days. You can score 1,000 points. But if the opposing team can score 1,001 on you it doesnt really matter. And it only gets worse if that team knows how to stop points being scored. And eventually you will run up against that sort of team

Dallas had more balance on both sides of the ball at or near Top 3rd in both points scored/allowed. (One can also look at current team trends as overall stats dont always tell the complete story)

Those are the types of teams that are going to be the most dangerous to N.O.

In any event. It is shaping up to be one hell of a playoff picture for the NFC.
alot of good teams still in the hunt

NO, Vikings and Green Bay probably the best in the NFC and maybe even  in the league right now (Yes over the colts) Each has the potential to give any of the other fits. And I wouldnt lay money on any of them if/when they play each other.
But Dallas or Arizona could catch fire and make some real noise if they play up to their ability.
Philly is a decent team but not there yet. 
Everyone else is possible but not very likely to go far.

AFC is much more boring
Colts and the Chargers. Bengals come in at a distant 3rd.
NE...while still dangerous. Aint what they used to be.

Everyone else is also rans.

Definitely. Their defense looked hot in the beginning of the year up till about Week 8 or 9...then they started slippin....and slippin....and slippin. They need to find where they used to be and get back there if they are going to need to play the Vikings.

You are completely correct...give brees 5 seconds and he'll work magic, but give the other offense 5 seconds and they'll do the same. I think getting down 14-0 early kind of hurt the saints' morale...even though they were down 24-3 vs the Phins at the half, it still hurts the morale regardless...something they didn't recover from until too late.

[Spikes]

GB vs Steelers one helluva game! 3 seconds left and a TD pass, Big Ben gets over 500 yards passing.

[Spikes]

How the heck can the Vikings take #1 seed from us when they have one less win?

[soda72]

How the heck can the Vikings take #1 seed from us when they have one less win?

that would be saints karma, kicking in...

 

[DREDIOCK]

How the heck can the Vikings take #1 seed from us when they have one less win?

Because had ended the season with a W/L tie record Vikes would own the tie breaker based on confrence wins.

Not that it matters. Vikes played like crap tonight.

Offense they have the same concerns as Saints against the outside pass rush. Defense they showed how much they are missing  EJ Henderson.
Overall they just flat out played flat. Again. Poor tackling. Poor pass protection.

Cant even blame this one on Favre