2012 New Orleans Saints Preview

2012 New Orleans Saints

The troubles of this offseason for the New Orleans Saints have been well-documented. After the bounty scandal came to public notice, the NFL slammed the Saints with suspensions, fines, and forfeited draft picks. It was an unprecedented hammer that dropped upon the New Orleans franchise, one that has their heart of the defense, linebacker Jonathan Vilma, and their leader, head coach Sean Payton suspended for the entire 2012 season. Before the sanctions, the Saints were looking at a potential Super Bowl at home, where they are nearly unstoppable. Now, it’s very unclear about whether they can even make the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl. Drew Brees is going to have the best year of his career in order to compensate for the loss of head coach and offensive genius Sean Peyton. It’s going to be a struggle for the New Orleans Saints in 2012, but they still have the talent to make some noise in the tough NFC South.  New Orleans went 13-3 last season with two losses coming against the Bucs and the Rams (what?!), but their season ended abruptly in the second round of the playoffs. Do they have what it takes to get back?

Offense

The Saints offense, even without Sean Payton calling plays, is still lethal. This unit is the definition of high-octane. They can score at will, especially at home in the Superdome, where they are almost unbeatable. Drew Brees will have to contribute more than ever and direct this offense on the field like a general. If New Orleans has a big year and gets into the playoffs, then Brees has to be the MVP, with everything that has happened this offseason. I don’t expect the passing game to fall off much, as Drew Brees is arguably the most consistent and accurate quarterbacks ever. 4,500 yards and 35 touchdowns is most likely the floor for Brees. The running game is a three-headed monster. Pierre Thomas is the longest-tenured Saints running back and is reliable to Drew Brees. Darren Sproles is one-of-a-kind, at 5’6, but is a blur on the field and is mainly used as a pass-catcher, finishing with 86 receptions last season. Mark Ingram is the back with the biggest upside, a former first round pick who has enormous strength and power. Chris Ivory mustn’t get forgotten as well, a back that has shown some spark when he has gotten playing time. Even though New Orleans lost Robert Meachem to San Diego, they still have a very talented receivers, led by Marques Colston. Devery Henderson and Lance Moore are also still in black and gold, giving the Saints three talented wide outs for Brees to throw to. And that’s not even counting his new favorite target, tight end Jimmy Graham, who has become a superstar. Graham would have had the best season ever by a tight end if he hadn’t been playing at the same time as the Gronk. This offense should finish first in the NFL, and is the single most explosive unit in all of football. We’ll see how the loss of Payton will affect them.

Defense

Even though this defense has been the face of the bounty scandal, they should still be decent. They lost the heart and soul of their defense in Jonathan Vilma, but signed Curtis Lofton away from the Atlanta Falcons to fill the void at middle linebacker. The rest of the defense has a little talent, with Malcolm Jenkins at safety and a young defensive line filled with high draft picks. While this group is not elite by any means, they are better than the defenses of other teams with crazy offenses, like Green Bay, New England, and Detroit. It’s unclear how productive this defense will be, but one thing is for sure: they won’t be offering up any bounties. Hopefully.

Schedule

After a 13-3 season got New Orleans just the number three seed in the NFC last year (Only #3?!?! Talk about being top-loaded), the Saints blew out the Lions in the first round of the playoffs. This win was followed by arguably the best game of all last year, in which New Orleans suffered a heartbreaking loss in San Francisco to Alex Smith and the 49ers. It is a huge toss-up to try and predict what will happen to the Saints this season. On one hand, New Orleans could crumble without their head coach and best defender and spiral into an abyss, never to be heard from again...well, that escalated quickly. On the other hand, they could rise up and use this bounty scandal as motivation, and use that “us against the world” attitude to fire back at the NFL. Let’s see what’s more likely.

Week 1: W vs WAS

Week 2: L at CAR

Week 3: W vs KC

Week 4: L at GB

Week 5: L vs SD

Week 6: Bye

Week 7: W at TB

Week 8: L at DEN

Week 9: L vs PHI

Week 10: W vs ATL

Week 11: W at OAK

Week 12: W vs SF (revenge!!!)

Week 13: L at ATL

Week 14: L at NYG

Week 15: W vs TB

Week 16: L at DAL

Week 17: W vs CAR

Since this team is the hardest team in the league to predict, I’m going to take the easy way out: 8-8! Unfortunately, this record would not get New Orleans into the postseason. It still looks like the host team will not participate the Super Bowl, which is disappointing, because the Saints seemed like a great chance to break that streak.

It could be a long season for New Orleans, or a great season, but I think it will be somewhere in between. 8-8 will not be considered a success for the Saints but at least they didn’t fall on their faces after the league made an example out of them. Hold strong, New Orleans. After my bold prediction, I’ll finish the NFC South by doing a run-through of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Who Dat?!

Bold Prediction: The Saints will struggle without their head coach and miss the playoffs. Jimmy Graham, though, will not have that same trouble. He will have similar numbers as last year, with 90 catches, 1,300 yards, and 12 touchdowns. Big time.