Mike D predicts Super Bowl run
I have been covering the New Orleans Saints for the past 25 years and I have never written this before an NFL season started.
I really believe this Saints football team has the right football stuff to play deep in January and make a Super Bowl run.
For the past three seasons the Saints have posted one of the league’s best offensive teams, but they have been watching and not suiting up for the playoffs the past two seasons due to a porous defense, an inability to stop opponents from hitting upon big yardage in the passing game and they have also sported a very inconsistent special teams unit.
I am not saying that the Saints have a defense like the Pittsburgh Steelers or the New York Giants, but they are better and much better in the secondary.
Due to acquisitions like cornerbacks Jabari Greer, 2009 first round draft choice Malcolm Jenkins and the development of second year cover-man Tracy Porter-who I think will be a Pro-Bowl performer in the very near future, the Saints have the best group of cornerbacks in club history.
Add to the mix a veteran like Darren Sharper at free safety, the smooth transition of cornerback Usama Young to free safety, having veteran Randall Gay playing in all the nickel and dime packages and the upgrade of strong safety Roman Harper in new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ defensive schemes, the Saints also have a very solid last line of defense.
The Saints linebacker unit is like it was a year ago in competent outside starters Scott Fujita and Scott Shanle and a Pro Bowl caliber performer in the middle in Jonathan Vilma.
Also expect to see a lot of Jo-Lonn Dunbar playing on the outside and he certainly has shown the skills to be a valuable reserve and a future starter at outside linebacker.
If there is a concern for me on this football team it is the amount of production and pressure the Saints will get from their defensive front line.
Everyone expects starting defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant to get suspended for four games by testing positive for using a diuretic that was banned by the league, but how they respond, production wise, once they return will be very important if this team makes a run for Super Sunday.
I have been impressed in training camp and in pre-season with the continual development of defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis and defensive end Bobby McCray, along with William’s efforts to press the right buttons to get the very best out of talented, but troubled defensive end/tackle Tony Hargrove.
We all know that getting consistent pressure on the quarterback is a huge key for success in the NFL and I see improvement in that area along with their ability to play a more aggressive brand of football out on the field.
Offensively the Saints have one of the most talented units in pro football.
Drew Brees is the best quarterback in the NFC and you would be hard pressed to find anyone to disagree with that statement.
The Saints have one of the most talented receiving units in the game in future All-Pro end Marques Colston, one of the most sure-handed receivers in the game in Lance Moore, a big play threat in speedy Devery Henderson and the most improved football player on this team in former 2007 first round choice Robert Meachem.
Add to this unit a healthy version of former New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey and one of the top pass blocking offensive line groups in the league and this team will put points up on the board.
The running game will never be one to anchor this offense as long as Drew Brees is quarterback, but a healthy Reggie Bush to go along with Pierre Thomas, a rejuvenated Mike Bell and a solid inside running threat in Lynell Hamilton and the Saints have a unit that should work well by committee.
Add to the Saints mix the acquisition of a very strong-legged young punter in Thomas Morstead and this football team is primed to make a run at the NFC South Division title and something even more important, an NFC title game.
There will be a host of plays to determine the fate of this version of the New Orleans Saints, but there is plenty to believe in.
For long-suffering Saints fans the offseason is finally over with and a championship ride is now truly part of the vocabulary in Louisiana.
I really believe it….
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