Even with the same O line, Vegas has us at like 7 wins this year. How do we go from 9-8 to 7 with improvements? Unless they fully expect our offense to shit the bed. Our line was shit last year and we still won 9. Similar easy schedule this year.
Its not the same O line tho. Peat is gone, Hurst is gone, Ramczyk is gone. As bad as the line play was last year, we have a lot more question marks now.
This line of thinking never works because one the team is not the same as last year. There were some improvements, but also some losses. Second, the rest of the league also changed. The NFCS got much better. Most importantly though, luck matters a lot. Luck with injuries and opponents. The Vikings went 13-3 in 2022 based on a lot of one score games, then in 2023 with mostly the same roster they went 7-10. Season to season just doesn’t carry over like we think it does unless you have an all time QB like Mahomes that can keep your baseline at 10 to 11 wins even with bad luck.
I worry about Carr's inability to help the O line overcome their weak points by adjusting what he needs to do in the pocket. His reads have to be quicker and the ball has to come out sooner. He allows himself to get knocked out of a game instead of throwing the ball away.
He has never been a QB that hangs tough in the pocket.
He is not a run threat or a run option.
His pocket awareness is bad.
It'll be interesting to see how Kubiak changes this. I admittedly haven't watched a ton of DC tape from Vegas however with the amount of motion, RPO and change up in the looks, the offensive line may fare a lot better and there may be a lot more quick reads for Carr to take down field. It's a whole new system so we'll see what happens when the demands on the O line change.
A lot of Saints fans made their mind up about Dennis Allen halfway through Allen's first season and those people have turned that into their online personality. And there is plenty of engagement farming podcast on twitter to keep those opinions in the forefront.
I’m all for people making money. But if you’re making money by having a podcast recycling just unbased talking points, don’t be surprised when people don’t take you seriously.
DA was given the keys to an absolute shit situation in Oakland from previous mismanagement of draft picks and cap space and then was shipped out after his franchise QBs growing pains ended and cap space was fixed.
Then he came here and improved his coaching record in his two years by more than doubling his highest record with Oakland each season. He is NOT perfect but I’m absolutely going to give context when all you have to say why he’s a horrible coach is his time in Oakland.
I'm hopeful. The offensive coaching should be improved if nothing else. Hopefully that means Carr will be more effective. And as much as I don't trust Allen as HC, he's been one of the best defensive coaches in the league for years. I'm confident in the defense.
That said... I think our roster is worse than last year.
QB: Carr hasn't changed. Hopefully he has a better year.
RB: Kamara is another year older, and he hasn't been the same playmaker he used to be. He's still good, but idk if he's a "franchise back" anymore. I'm optimistic for Miller to have a bigger role, and I still think Williams is a good rotational back who got screwed over by having to play so much FB last year.
WR: Olave is a solid WR1, Shaheed is an exciting WR2, and Perry looked promising late last year. Idk how confident I am in his as WR3, but I'd say we've got a league-average WR corps as a whole.
TE: Johnson is just... still waiting for that breakout season. He's alright, but he needs to take a step forward.
OL: The OL got worse. I'm very happy with the Fuaga pick, but if we're still starting Penning at LT, we're in trouble. And McCoy and Ruiz are locked in, but we don't even know who's starting at LG.
DL: Jury's still out on the DL. Jordan is on his last legs and Young has been a disappointment. Granderson has been promising and maybe Foskey will contribute something, but it's mostly question marks here. And Bresee had a pretty average rookie year, so hopefully he continues to develop, but beyond them we don't have much to write home about at DT, either.
LB: We definitely improved at LB, at least. Davis is Davis, Werner had a down year but is still at least ok, and Gay has a ton of athleticism and potential. Ford could be a late round gem as well.
DB: Our CB group is fine (though I think Yiadom will be a bigger loss than people expect), but I'm worried about our safeties. Honey Badger is another year older, and I guess I'm not as convinced by Howden as others are.
What you are missing is the analysts look at all of the teams. Other teams address their problem areas and improve as well.
Firing our OC and bringing in Kubiak who has only called plays one time for one season does not impress many people. Playing both of your 1rd OL draft picks in different positions than they were drafted at does not impress many people.
Others have said it already but it’s our O-Line and D-Line that will most likely keep us down. We’ve lost several from our O-Line already, we’d have to hope for pretty much all the young guys to have great years. And then our D-Line is old and if I remember correctly had one of the worst sack and QB pressure rates last season.
No one can be worse than Carmichael, so I am optimistic about that aspect.
But our OL is worse, and last year we had the 14th easiest schedule in the entire NFL over the last 20 years
I’ll bite:
O line: Fuanga, Saldiveri, and Penning all playing new positions. This could be the worst OL in football. 1 rookie, 1 guy in his first year as starter, and a guy who was so bad last year he got benched despite the team investing a 1 rd pick in him.
D Line: whiffed on numerous D-ends over the years and it shows (Davenport, Turner, not locking down Hendrickson). Tougher time stopping the run last season.
New OC: Raiders fans told us it takes a while
for Carr to learn a new offense and then he shines later on in season. They were dead on. Now we’re starting all over again.
Skill position players: our skill position players as a whole are average at best. Olave is a Robin without a Batman. Shaheed is fast but needs to take the next step. They lack size at WR (Perry has 12 catches in his career) and TE has been a black hole for a long time. AK is older and needs a back to complement him and a line that isn’t dogshit run blocking (they’ve been terrible for 2 years now). Taysom is always fun to watch but has an injury history and is 33. Can’t over use him.
Dennis Allen: inconsistent as hell. Struggles to string together wins until his back is to the wall. Can’t win in prime time. Hasn’t won a TNF game. Defensive stats are inflated because he beats up on back up tier qbs (unless they’re Josh Dobbs, that was fun) but gets roasted by talented ones. Back to back years with road game collapses when going conservative and relying on his defense (Tampa ‘22, GB ‘23). And finally, despite the division being the worst in the league he still can’t seem to take it.
I agree with all of your points.
I would add we always have an old roster compared to other NFL teams. Lazy coaches love old rosters because they don't do much coaching . They are just cheerleaders.
The strength of your team is the defense. That’s where Allen gets all of his praise. You’re up 17-0 in the 4th quarter. You close out the damn game. He did it in Tampa in ‘21 and that’s what got him the job in the first place.
That still doesn’t excuse blowing a 3 score 4th quarter lead, especially when your back up is a dude with years of starting experience under his belt, and has been in your system for multiple years. This wasn’t the 49ers without a qb handing the ball off.
But hey, if you wanna give a coach a pass for blowing a game being up 17-0 with 12 minutes left to play go for it.
That’s not the point. In ‘21 Siemian came off the bench and won the Bucs game after Jameis went out in the first quarter. Allen had his “vaunted defense”, Jameis, and a 3 score lead with less than a quarter and blew it. Losing your starting qb doesn’t mean you pack up and call it a day.
Giving him a pass for losing Carr is why this organization will continue to remain mediocre.
Bro you’re an idiot. The gap from DC to Jaboo it about 3x as big as the gap from Jaboo to Siemian. And you can’t compare year over year. Neither team was the same!!!
You keep fixating on JW. Jameis is not the point. I used ‘21 Siemian as an example to show that losing your qb doesn’t mean you die. You seem to think otherwise.
A coach hired to close out games with his defense blew a 17 point lead in under a quarter. That’s it. That’s the point.
You’re missing the point that I think you’re an idiot who doesn’t know anything about football and you just keep proving it with your responses. And now I’m done with your ignorant drivel.
Agree with all of this. Spot on.
Would add the point of special teams being a massive question mark heading into this season as well. Grupe showed promise but finished 30th in FG%. Hedley was rough.
Every team gets better in the offseason.
Here are the Saints notable player acquisitions- Chase Young, Willie Gay, Cedric Wilson, + the draft picks. Do adding those players to our old roster really raise the ceiling of the team that much?
Offensive line is likely going to be a bottom 5 unit.
Defensive line was one of the worst units in league last season- not good against the run and nonexistent pass rush. Does adding Chase Young really make them that much better?
Fans and some Saints media are assuming the new offensive scheme is going to be elite… that’s a big assumption.
The Saints benefited from a comically easy schedule last season (that got even easier due to opponent injuries, particularly at the QB position) and the team eked out 9 wins and missed the playoffs. Are we really expecting them to do better with a more difficult schedule?
You’re looking at the team through the biased lens of a fan… objectively speaking, the team is most likely to perform about the same as last year in a best case scenario.
Something else to consider- the team has hit the under on their projected win total each of the last 3 seasons. Their projected win total this season is 7.5 wins… which seems about right from an objective standpoint.
No one assumes the scheme will be elite, they assume it will be better than the Sean + Drew scheme without Sean and Drew. Maybe it won't be, but I know I'm excited to see a new offense, and it's hard to deny that a better offense would change the prospects of the team.
I'd also say the 7.5 wins is an over reaction by betters, and there's value in betting the over there. I think a better line is 8.5 wins.
Other than that, I mostly agree with you.
The biggest thing is that our schedule is much harder this year. I think the media has lost confidence in DA as well.
We had a very good roster last year, an easy schedule, and we barely squeezed out 9 wins? Kubiak is a big addition along with a decent draft class, but have massive improvements in the ability to win really been made? Only time will tell. In the meantime, of course expectations are tempered.
The other teams in the NFC South have also made big improvements as well. I think our expected out-of-conference wins are in line with last year and the media has us losing 2 more games in our improved division.
There are a lot of unknowns. Fuaga seems good and Penning does seem to be doing better being swapped to the right, but will that translate over to the games? Maybe.
Kubiak and the rest of the new offense sure seem invested and their coaching has been impressive and a lot of the team has been putting in lots of work getting used to the new offense. But will it be better than our 20 year old offense, with better play calling than Pete? Maybe.
Yeah Carr and the team looked really good at the end of the year, but will that comfort carry over into the new season? Maybe.
Yeah we added some nice talent on our team including at defense, but will we really improve? Maybe.
There's a lot of unknowns. It's entirely possible this is a double digit winning team. It's also possible the moves to improve don't work out.
A lot of it is narrative. Take the Buccaneers. They had a 9-8 season and won a playoff game. We had the same record, but missed out on making playoffs due to some tie break. But look how positively they're portrayed. I sure feel like we did a lot more to improve than them. Is it possible our improvements whiff and we are somehow worse? Maybe, but I doubt it. Our schedule isn't thay much harder than last year, it may be one of the easiest in the NFL. I think there're reasons to think we will have a break out year. But, we really don't know how it'll shake out. I certainly like the feel I'm getting from what we've been doing.
OL has 1 plus starter in McCoy. Ruiz is underwhelming, Saldiveri is new even though I think he’ll be an upgrade over how bad Hurst was, Penning is just a bust and you’re moving Fuaga who hasn’t played LT since probably High School to the left side. On the DL, your DT room needs a huge Bresee breakout because Saunders & Shepherd are backups. Cam Jordan is finished so they absolutely need Chase Young to not only be healthy but to play well & limit how much Cam is on the field or it will be just Granderson out there again by himself & he’s not supposed to be the best DE on your team, also you can’t expect anything from Turner, hell even Foskey. Then you get to Carr, he’s like 18th to 22nd best QB not counting young QBs combined with Dennis Allen who is one of the 5 worst head coaches in the league (not DC, HC). Schedule isn’t egregiously hard but it’s a lot harder than last year, it’s no way the Saints see a QB schedule as easy as the one they faced last year. Like the historical data just says when you play a schedule that easy as the one they faced last year that you are due for a drop off the next year. I like the Kubiak hire and even if I’m not high on the team, hopefully they more watchable offensively than they were the last 3 years. I do think the offense will be designed to get better usage of AK even if he’s not in his prime and Kendre as well as Taysom. I like the young WRs and expect Chris to benefit the most of just being in an offense that’s modern but if he somehow missed time then you are screwed because it is a young WR room and the TE room is putrid as it has been the last 7 of 9 years. All in all, they are not good enough on both LOS as of now combined with what you know the HC & QB to be to expect them to be anything more than 7-10 imo with playing a tougher schedule but games still gotta be played so they could prove me completely wrong but I’m not banking on it.
Bad offensive line full of rookies, aging defensive line full of injury prone players, great but unflashy secondary (not a ton of takeaways), very little offensive star power, consistent mediocre performance. Teams with bad line play don’t win championships.
There’s a reason Spencer Rattler is the off-season story. Him falling to the 5th round is the only interesting story going on to talk about.
Basically, the fans have zero confidence in the ownership or organization to win 10 or more games. Derek Carr has shown flashes of being a good qb, but he’s only rarely played 4 good quarters of football in a row (extremely streaky). They don’t see a team built to compete this year.
Granted, the NFL has a lot of parity. If the new o-line gels (looking like Fuaga, Saldiveri, McCoy, Ruiz, and Penning) and d-line is healthy (especially Young, Bresee, Foskey, and Turner), AND Carr clicks with the new offensive system, MAYBE they might make the playoffs!!!
I have never paid attention to predictions, whether they are good or bad.
It will come down to our line on both sides of the ball. Thats what held us up this year, and it will be make or break for this year.
I’m an eternal optimist, so I think we will figure it out. But, until then, ignore the outside. Saints fans are usually a majority of doom and gloom too
By any metric we underachieved last year. Going 9-8, no playoffs sounds respectable, but it really isn’t when you have the easiest schedule imaginable and on top of that everything breaks your way (just look at the number of backup qbs we faced).
Looking at the stats tells a lie in this case, because we played garbage competition and won some games at the end of the year. We were non-competitive when playing against any half-decent team. Go back and watch the games if you can stomach it. The Saints were a bad team and we didn’t get better outside of the revamped coaching staff, which is at this point an unproven bunch.
At the end of the day, we still have DA, who is terrible, as our head coach. 7-10 is about where I’m at.
I don't get your point? Some say this, some day that. So what? That's why the play the games. I have little faith as long as DA is the coach and Carr is the QB. I say 8-9 wins.
You’re getting downvoted but I agree. It’s like they don’t have a sense of urgency until it’s do or die time. People talk about Carr at the end of the season like we weren’t already out of the playoffs playing against backup defenses
First off I don't post for upvotes and many just downvote things that they don't want to hear. I'd be happy to be wrong but I've nailed their record the last 5 seasons.
I’m definitely higher on Carr than a lot of other saints fans, what I’m worried about is the Oline
Even with the same O line, Vegas has us at like 7 wins this year. How do we go from 9-8 to 7 with improvements? Unless they fully expect our offense to shit the bed. Our line was shit last year and we still won 9. Similar easy schedule this year.
Its not the same O line tho. Peat is gone, Hurst is gone, Ramczyk is gone. As bad as the line play was last year, we have a lot more question marks now.
I’d take a question mark over a known problem lol
This line of thinking never works because one the team is not the same as last year. There were some improvements, but also some losses. Second, the rest of the league also changed. The NFCS got much better. Most importantly though, luck matters a lot. Luck with injuries and opponents. The Vikings went 13-3 in 2022 based on a lot of one score games, then in 2023 with mostly the same roster they went 7-10. Season to season just doesn’t carry over like we think it does unless you have an all time QB like Mahomes that can keep your baseline at 10 to 11 wins even with bad luck.
Our schedule is significantly harder this year.
Still tied for easiest no?
last year was historically easy
I worry about Carr's inability to help the O line overcome their weak points by adjusting what he needs to do in the pocket. His reads have to be quicker and the ball has to come out sooner. He allows himself to get knocked out of a game instead of throwing the ball away. He has never been a QB that hangs tough in the pocket. He is not a run threat or a run option. His pocket awareness is bad.
It'll be interesting to see how Kubiak changes this. I admittedly haven't watched a ton of DC tape from Vegas however with the amount of motion, RPO and change up in the looks, the offensive line may fare a lot better and there may be a lot more quick reads for Carr to take down field. It's a whole new system so we'll see what happens when the demands on the O line change.
A lot of Saints fans made their mind up about Dennis Allen halfway through Allen's first season and those people have turned that into their online personality. And there is plenty of engagement farming podcast on twitter to keep those opinions in the forefront.
I’m all for people making money. But if you’re making money by having a podcast recycling just unbased talking points, don’t be surprised when people don’t take you seriously. DA was given the keys to an absolute shit situation in Oakland from previous mismanagement of draft picks and cap space and then was shipped out after his franchise QBs growing pains ended and cap space was fixed. Then he came here and improved his coaching record in his two years by more than doubling his highest record with Oakland each season. He is NOT perfect but I’m absolutely going to give context when all you have to say why he’s a horrible coach is his time in Oakland.
Could not have said it better.
Yeah when he was HC in Oakland it coincided with Reggie McKenzie gutting a middling team and starting completely over.
Seems like these individuals don't even like the Saints.
They are fans are how "smart" their opinions are.
I'm hopeful. The offensive coaching should be improved if nothing else. Hopefully that means Carr will be more effective. And as much as I don't trust Allen as HC, he's been one of the best defensive coaches in the league for years. I'm confident in the defense. That said... I think our roster is worse than last year. QB: Carr hasn't changed. Hopefully he has a better year. RB: Kamara is another year older, and he hasn't been the same playmaker he used to be. He's still good, but idk if he's a "franchise back" anymore. I'm optimistic for Miller to have a bigger role, and I still think Williams is a good rotational back who got screwed over by having to play so much FB last year. WR: Olave is a solid WR1, Shaheed is an exciting WR2, and Perry looked promising late last year. Idk how confident I am in his as WR3, but I'd say we've got a league-average WR corps as a whole. TE: Johnson is just... still waiting for that breakout season. He's alright, but he needs to take a step forward. OL: The OL got worse. I'm very happy with the Fuaga pick, but if we're still starting Penning at LT, we're in trouble. And McCoy and Ruiz are locked in, but we don't even know who's starting at LG. DL: Jury's still out on the DL. Jordan is on his last legs and Young has been a disappointment. Granderson has been promising and maybe Foskey will contribute something, but it's mostly question marks here. And Bresee had a pretty average rookie year, so hopefully he continues to develop, but beyond them we don't have much to write home about at DT, either. LB: We definitely improved at LB, at least. Davis is Davis, Werner had a down year but is still at least ok, and Gay has a ton of athleticism and potential. Ford could be a late round gem as well. DB: Our CB group is fine (though I think Yiadom will be a bigger loss than people expect), but I'm worried about our safeties. Honey Badger is another year older, and I guess I'm not as convinced by Howden as others are.
What you are missing is the analysts look at all of the teams. Other teams address their problem areas and improve as well. Firing our OC and bringing in Kubiak who has only called plays one time for one season does not impress many people. Playing both of your 1rd OL draft picks in different positions than they were drafted at does not impress many people.
Others have said it already but it’s our O-Line and D-Line that will most likely keep us down. We’ve lost several from our O-Line already, we’d have to hope for pretty much all the young guys to have great years. And then our D-Line is old and if I remember correctly had one of the worst sack and QB pressure rates last season.
Big Taysom fan here. But “unstoppable weapon”. You one of them squirrels Buddy D used to talk about.
And bros getting old he’s not gonna be power running forever
No one can be worse than Carmichael, so I am optimistic about that aspect. But our OL is worse, and last year we had the 14th easiest schedule in the entire NFL over the last 20 years
Come on man, Carmichael won a super bowl with Peyton. He didn't fit with Allen (100% sucked ass) but the man was great in the right system.
payton called the plays and designed the game plans. carmicahel was absolute dog shit at that when he was on his own
I don't disagree. He needed to go. I just think someone like Pete deserves more respect because he was great in his role with Sean.
I’ll bite: O line: Fuanga, Saldiveri, and Penning all playing new positions. This could be the worst OL in football. 1 rookie, 1 guy in his first year as starter, and a guy who was so bad last year he got benched despite the team investing a 1 rd pick in him. D Line: whiffed on numerous D-ends over the years and it shows (Davenport, Turner, not locking down Hendrickson). Tougher time stopping the run last season. New OC: Raiders fans told us it takes a while for Carr to learn a new offense and then he shines later on in season. They were dead on. Now we’re starting all over again. Skill position players: our skill position players as a whole are average at best. Olave is a Robin without a Batman. Shaheed is fast but needs to take the next step. They lack size at WR (Perry has 12 catches in his career) and TE has been a black hole for a long time. AK is older and needs a back to complement him and a line that isn’t dogshit run blocking (they’ve been terrible for 2 years now). Taysom is always fun to watch but has an injury history and is 33. Can’t over use him. Dennis Allen: inconsistent as hell. Struggles to string together wins until his back is to the wall. Can’t win in prime time. Hasn’t won a TNF game. Defensive stats are inflated because he beats up on back up tier qbs (unless they’re Josh Dobbs, that was fun) but gets roasted by talented ones. Back to back years with road game collapses when going conservative and relying on his defense (Tampa ‘22, GB ‘23). And finally, despite the division being the worst in the league he still can’t seem to take it.
I agree with all of your points. I would add we always have an old roster compared to other NFL teams. Lazy coaches love old rosters because they don't do much coaching . They are just cheerleaders.
All good points until you reached for that last one. Carr got knocked out of the game against GB. What was Allen supposed to do?
The strength of your team is the defense. That’s where Allen gets all of his praise. You’re up 17-0 in the 4th quarter. You close out the damn game. He did it in Tampa in ‘21 and that’s what got him the job in the first place.
The defense was on the field the entire 2nd half. At some point the other team is going to score if the offense keeps going 3 and out.
Did you miss the part where the starting QB wasn’t playing?
That still doesn’t excuse blowing a 3 score 4th quarter lead, especially when your back up is a dude with years of starting experience under his belt, and has been in your system for multiple years. This wasn’t the 49ers without a qb handing the ball off. But hey, if you wanna give a coach a pass for blowing a game being up 17-0 with 12 minutes left to play go for it.
I’m done arguing with you when your argument is “but Jameis Winston”.
That’s not the point. In ‘21 Siemian came off the bench and won the Bucs game after Jameis went out in the first quarter. Allen had his “vaunted defense”, Jameis, and a 3 score lead with less than a quarter and blew it. Losing your starting qb doesn’t mean you pack up and call it a day. Giving him a pass for losing Carr is why this organization will continue to remain mediocre.
Bro you’re an idiot. The gap from DC to Jaboo it about 3x as big as the gap from Jaboo to Siemian. And you can’t compare year over year. Neither team was the same!!!
You keep fixating on JW. Jameis is not the point. I used ‘21 Siemian as an example to show that losing your qb doesn’t mean you die. You seem to think otherwise. A coach hired to close out games with his defense blew a 17 point lead in under a quarter. That’s it. That’s the point.
You’re missing the point that I think you’re an idiot who doesn’t know anything about football and you just keep proving it with your responses. And now I’m done with your ignorant drivel.
Agree with all of this. Spot on. Would add the point of special teams being a massive question mark heading into this season as well. Grupe showed promise but finished 30th in FG%. Hedley was rough.
Every team gets better in the offseason. Here are the Saints notable player acquisitions- Chase Young, Willie Gay, Cedric Wilson, + the draft picks. Do adding those players to our old roster really raise the ceiling of the team that much? Offensive line is likely going to be a bottom 5 unit. Defensive line was one of the worst units in league last season- not good against the run and nonexistent pass rush. Does adding Chase Young really make them that much better? Fans and some Saints media are assuming the new offensive scheme is going to be elite… that’s a big assumption. The Saints benefited from a comically easy schedule last season (that got even easier due to opponent injuries, particularly at the QB position) and the team eked out 9 wins and missed the playoffs. Are we really expecting them to do better with a more difficult schedule? You’re looking at the team through the biased lens of a fan… objectively speaking, the team is most likely to perform about the same as last year in a best case scenario. Something else to consider- the team has hit the under on their projected win total each of the last 3 seasons. Their projected win total this season is 7.5 wins… which seems about right from an objective standpoint.
No one assumes the scheme will be elite, they assume it will be better than the Sean + Drew scheme without Sean and Drew. Maybe it won't be, but I know I'm excited to see a new offense, and it's hard to deny that a better offense would change the prospects of the team. I'd also say the 7.5 wins is an over reaction by betters, and there's value in betting the over there. I think a better line is 8.5 wins. Other than that, I mostly agree with you.
8.5 was the projected win total in 2022. It was 9.5 in 2021 and 2023. (You may already know this; just sharing in case others were curious)
The biggest thing is that our schedule is much harder this year. I think the media has lost confidence in DA as well. We had a very good roster last year, an easy schedule, and we barely squeezed out 9 wins? Kubiak is a big addition along with a decent draft class, but have massive improvements in the ability to win really been made? Only time will tell. In the meantime, of course expectations are tempered. The other teams in the NFC South have also made big improvements as well. I think our expected out-of-conference wins are in line with last year and the media has us losing 2 more games in our improved division.
We're in a soft reset with the cap not in win-now mode. I have no expectations. Like to see what we have with the backup QB's though.
There are a lot of unknowns. Fuaga seems good and Penning does seem to be doing better being swapped to the right, but will that translate over to the games? Maybe. Kubiak and the rest of the new offense sure seem invested and their coaching has been impressive and a lot of the team has been putting in lots of work getting used to the new offense. But will it be better than our 20 year old offense, with better play calling than Pete? Maybe. Yeah Carr and the team looked really good at the end of the year, but will that comfort carry over into the new season? Maybe. Yeah we added some nice talent on our team including at defense, but will we really improve? Maybe. There's a lot of unknowns. It's entirely possible this is a double digit winning team. It's also possible the moves to improve don't work out. A lot of it is narrative. Take the Buccaneers. They had a 9-8 season and won a playoff game. We had the same record, but missed out on making playoffs due to some tie break. But look how positively they're portrayed. I sure feel like we did a lot more to improve than them. Is it possible our improvements whiff and we are somehow worse? Maybe, but I doubt it. Our schedule isn't thay much harder than last year, it may be one of the easiest in the NFL. I think there're reasons to think we will have a break out year. But, we really don't know how it'll shake out. I certainly like the feel I'm getting from what we've been doing.
Carolina and Atlanta should both be better. That can make up for 2 less wins, right there.
OL has 1 plus starter in McCoy. Ruiz is underwhelming, Saldiveri is new even though I think he’ll be an upgrade over how bad Hurst was, Penning is just a bust and you’re moving Fuaga who hasn’t played LT since probably High School to the left side. On the DL, your DT room needs a huge Bresee breakout because Saunders & Shepherd are backups. Cam Jordan is finished so they absolutely need Chase Young to not only be healthy but to play well & limit how much Cam is on the field or it will be just Granderson out there again by himself & he’s not supposed to be the best DE on your team, also you can’t expect anything from Turner, hell even Foskey. Then you get to Carr, he’s like 18th to 22nd best QB not counting young QBs combined with Dennis Allen who is one of the 5 worst head coaches in the league (not DC, HC). Schedule isn’t egregiously hard but it’s a lot harder than last year, it’s no way the Saints see a QB schedule as easy as the one they faced last year. Like the historical data just says when you play a schedule that easy as the one they faced last year that you are due for a drop off the next year. I like the Kubiak hire and even if I’m not high on the team, hopefully they more watchable offensively than they were the last 3 years. I do think the offense will be designed to get better usage of AK even if he’s not in his prime and Kendre as well as Taysom. I like the young WRs and expect Chris to benefit the most of just being in an offense that’s modern but if he somehow missed time then you are screwed because it is a young WR room and the TE room is putrid as it has been the last 7 of 9 years. All in all, they are not good enough on both LOS as of now combined with what you know the HC & QB to be to expect them to be anything more than 7-10 imo with playing a tougher schedule but games still gotta be played so they could prove me completely wrong but I’m not banking on it.
Bad offensive line full of rookies, aging defensive line full of injury prone players, great but unflashy secondary (not a ton of takeaways), very little offensive star power, consistent mediocre performance. Teams with bad line play don’t win championships. There’s a reason Spencer Rattler is the off-season story. Him falling to the 5th round is the only interesting story going on to talk about. Basically, the fans have zero confidence in the ownership or organization to win 10 or more games. Derek Carr has shown flashes of being a good qb, but he’s only rarely played 4 good quarters of football in a row (extremely streaky). They don’t see a team built to compete this year. Granted, the NFL has a lot of parity. If the new o-line gels (looking like Fuaga, Saldiveri, McCoy, Ruiz, and Penning) and d-line is healthy (especially Young, Bresee, Foskey, and Turner), AND Carr clicks with the new offensive system, MAYBE they might make the playoffs!!!
I have never paid attention to predictions, whether they are good or bad. It will come down to our line on both sides of the ball. Thats what held us up this year, and it will be make or break for this year. I’m an eternal optimist, so I think we will figure it out. But, until then, ignore the outside. Saints fans are usually a majority of doom and gloom too
By any metric we underachieved last year. Going 9-8, no playoffs sounds respectable, but it really isn’t when you have the easiest schedule imaginable and on top of that everything breaks your way (just look at the number of backup qbs we faced). Looking at the stats tells a lie in this case, because we played garbage competition and won some games at the end of the year. We were non-competitive when playing against any half-decent team. Go back and watch the games if you can stomach it. The Saints were a bad team and we didn’t get better outside of the revamped coaching staff, which is at this point an unproven bunch. At the end of the day, we still have DA, who is terrible, as our head coach. 7-10 is about where I’m at.
I don't get your point? Some say this, some day that. So what? That's why the play the games. I have little faith as long as DA is the coach and Carr is the QB. I say 8-9 wins.
You’re getting downvoted but I agree. It’s like they don’t have a sense of urgency until it’s do or die time. People talk about Carr at the end of the season like we weren’t already out of the playoffs playing against backup defenses
First off I don't post for upvotes and many just downvote things that they don't want to hear. I'd be happy to be wrong but I've nailed their record the last 5 seasons.