Week Four: Here Comes Steve Smith

Now let’s talk about some football. There’s a symptom of the Who Dat Fever that starting taking shape after the Superbowl. The casual fans have forgotten everything about last season and now expect the team to go undefeated. I made a comment during on my Facebook page during the 49ers game and real life friends of mine were questioning my manhood. It was getting ridiculous. Now that we have suffered a loss to our most hated rival, it’s time to admit a few things. One of the reasons I was so positive about a repeat visit to the championship game is because I thought we cheated time and won a Superbowl without a championship caliber defense. I figured if we added a few pieces on that side and kept the offense intact we would actually be better than the championship team from last year. Things didn't work out like I thought.

I was not surprised we lost to a healthy Falcons team. This is not last year’s Saints team. Last year’s team had three running backs. Tomorrow only one of those backs will be playing and he probably shouldn’t. Last year’s team was much more experienced in the defensive backfield with Darren Sharper instead of Malcolm Jenkins. I like Jenkins but there is no way he knows where to be the way Darren Sharper does after three starts in the NFL. When all three linebackers from last year played together they could mask some of the lack of athleticism. Now with Scott Fujita gone we are being exposed on the outside. Tight ends and passes to running backs are killing us. Plus, Roman Harper is not playing as close to the line as last year to help out in run defense and we are not blitzing as much.

You can also tell that some of the receivers didn’t practice with Drew Brees as much in the offseason because their timing is off. Now Drew’s knee is a bothering him a little and Pierre Thomas is banged up too. With the injuries and players not being on the roster anymore I think the next few weeks will be a roller coaster ride no matter who we are playing. I think the Saints will be a better team closer to the end of the year than they are right now. We are still good enough to win every game. If Hartley makes that kick then we escape last week. We are also missing enough people for every week to be a nail biter. I think 5-3 at the half way point will be good if we can hold on while Sean Payton figures it all out.

Tomorrow we play the Panthers. I have no jokes or sarcastic things to say about them because I believe Steve Smith searches his name on the internet looking for people saying anything disrespectful about him to use as motivation. He’s already been destroying the Saints for years and I respect and fear him too much. I love the way he plays I just wish he was in another division. We should be able to win this game with the current condition of the Panthers. Steve Smith is a bad man but I refuse to accept losing a game to a young Jimmy Clausen. I’m actually hoping for a big lead where maybe we can let Chase Daniel play and rest Drew’s knee. I don’t think we have the health on offense for that right now plus the Panthers can run the ball and that’s all you need to do now against our defense with a few short passes added in here and there. Teams are going to do the same thing until we stop it. I am going to call the score 21-14 Saints and hope no one else gets hurt.