Soak this week in, boys…

You control the line of scrimmage, both sides. Everything else falls into place. That has always been the Parcells/Belichick modus operandi, and I don’t expect any change. Look for the Patriots to play smashmouth against us…and look for Payton to do the same thing. It’s part and parcel with his new emphasis on the running game and being physical.

May the best team win…even in black pants.

nothing more than a chess game with big football players. Especially this game.

I like the line from “The Departed”…

Thank you so much for this article. For those of of us, or perhaps I will just say for me,

I am just a fan – not a football scholar.

Articles like this enrich the game for me. They aren’t full of numbers and stats that just don’t sink it. It is intelligent, insightful, well thought out, seamlessly presented and illuminates the game for me in a way 1000 numbers can’t.

Thank you.

Monday night can’t come soon enough.

Monday night can’t come soon enough.

How’s that, Gris Gris? Lol! Geaux Saints!

Torrence placed on IR to make room for Mike Mckenzie according to Jeff Duncan’s twitter

http://twitter.com/jeffduncantp

I was sitting in the office this afternoon thinking about all of this and decided to try and articulate it. This is gonna be a helluva week capped off with a great game. Look for as little information as possible from Payton on who will be healthy for this one. He’s a prideful guy and this is his first time facing Belichik as a head coach. He’ll be anxious to match wits with him and I’ll bet this is THE game he has most looked forward to this season. We all remember how well he did when he got to face another great coach he admired in Bill Parcels, right? That night it was Mike Karney who was the secret weapon. Will Kyle Eckel be that guy next Monday night?

In case you haven’t heard yet, they’re interviewing Drew tonight at halftime on ESPN.

Its going to be pretty annoying from a fan standpoint. Waiting to see if Ellis and Greer are going to play……..Why the heck do they always list Brady on the injury report? that crap is annoying……

Geaux Saints!!! Bless you boys!!!

 Hello Saints Fans " ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL "

The Injury Report is governed by the NFL if Tom has an injury that impedes his play It’s on the list and that’s why he’s listed so don’t blame the Pats

Ask Mangini about it

Yes, I’m lurking. ;-) At any rate, injury reporting for the Pats is hilarious, to say the least. During cross blogging exchanges I consistently get asked about this “injured” player or that. Invariably, I have to wait until Friday to even get a clue. And even then, we get, “It’s a gameday decision.” Aarrgghh!!

Here’s to a good week of cross blogging!

a) how’s Will Smith doing this year?
b) how’s Malcolm Jenkins doing this year?
thanks

Heath Evans would be a go for next game. How nice would it have been to see him open holes against a team which QB humiliated him on national TV against the Colts, 2 or 3 years ago, before AND after the play!

This guy looks like he is going to be a very very good corner and probably has the versatility to play FS also. It’s kind of early to tell, but we have seen very little if anything negative and lots of upside.

Thanks.

Did you see the AP report that the combined record of our opponents is 37-63? What a great mind-F to put on a team right before a big game, Makes one wonder if Belicek put that in their ear. Such a mind game. The Pats, by the way, are combined 47-53.

So, let’s see, divide by 10 games so far, that’s 4.7/5.3, for the Pats, subtract 3 losses and 7 wins, that would be….-2.3/2.3. That can’t be right!?!?! And, the Saints would be -7.3/6.3, omigod!!!!

are going to prepare for this game just like they did they Giants game. Remember when everyone was hyping that game up because we were going against the then #1 defense in the league. This game is going to be more hype but I think the Saints are going to take the same approach and just prepare as much as they can. Even though the Saints players have been preparing for one game at a time SP and GW have been game plannining for this game in secret for the past 3 weeks. They have a game plan and I think the Pats are going to be confused as hell.

Even though I know Payton wouldn’t take it that far, I would love to see him pull the Wildcat with Reggie out of his back pocket. That would really confuse the mess out of the Pats because they know Payton doesn’t use it so they don’t game plan for that at all. I know its far fetched but I would love to see the look on the Pats D-coordinator’s face when Brees goes wide to the left or right and Bush or Moore(if healthy) is back to take the snap.

i don’t expect a shootout or a close game. i expect a drubbing by the saints.

of the Dallas game in 2006, when we played the Cowboys in their own stadium, and it was supposed to be a big test: win, and the Saints are for real. Well, we won, all right. We clobbered them. Maybe the best Saints game of all time, up to that point.

And the next week, we lost to the Redskins.

Again, this game is supposed to be some sort of ultimate test: the pundits won’t believe in us unless we knock off the Patriots. So we have to clobber them.

And next week, we play the Redskins.

History doesn’t actually repeat itself, but it sure does love a good joke.

  I just don’t see THIS Saints team over looking anyone. With out saying it out load this team has a common goal. SB. Can’t even say it out loud myself. lol Even WHEN they beat the Pats there won’t be a let down. I think it will be seen as just one more step toward the one only goal and move on to the next. Coaches can say this till they are blue in the face but that mind set only really comes when a team knows they can get there. This Saints team knows it! Geaux saints !!

We can list stats and compare QB’s and I think we all agree that the Saints are playing like the better team right now but this is a different game it could be a preview of this yrs Superbowl
and the fans and the media are making it the game of the year

But pressure changes everything and all the pressure is on the Saints, to stay undefeated and storm thru the NFC play-offs to the SB and that can be a huge distraction the media hype, the interviews , the expectations from a big game it’s easy for a team to try to hard, if the Saints can stay grounded it will be an exciting game
If not they could beat themselves I know this doesn’t seem likely but

Any Given Sunday ( or Monday night )

Pressure changes everything

Despite all the praise I’ve heard over the Saints, now I’ve continuously heard about how soft their schedule has been. But at the time, we exposed two undefeated teams from New Jersey and we were considered to have a fairly difficult starting schedule.
To top it off, I’ve heard posts that New England hasn’t beaten a team that currently has a winning record. (sidenote: the Colts have trailed their last 4 games in the 4th quarter, so they’ve been badmouthed too.)

I guess the bottom line is… there’s always an angle that’ll make your team look weak or inferior. Likewise, there’s always an angle where your team looks better than they are. I think the Pats and Saints are VERY MUCH for real and they’ll have a great game Monday night. May the best team win… and may that best team be the Saints! Who dat!

  Has anyone else read the Jason " nitwit" story saying the Saints will lose 3 of their last 4 games and fade way? Looked for it today and found the one before and after but couldn’t locate that one.

i’m getting more and more excited about this game! the more i look the more i’m convinced that the Saints are going to blow them off of the map because Sean Payton is going to come out loaded for bear. This is just going to be so coool.

i always have to keep in mind that anything can happen on any given monday, but….let’s see, that famous phrase by whatever his name was fits perfectly….“oh, my!”. I think i’ll be able to say that about ten times in this upcoming game, probably followed by a whodat! and, maybe an aaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!

This was at the end. Tom Jones question to the readers. " Anyone else think it was kind of a jerk move by the Saints to go for it on fourth and 1 with five minutes left and a 38-7 lead? " Jerk writing this maybe! Sean Payton pulls the starters with something like fine min.‘s left rather then rub the Bucs noses in it. Keep anyone on either side of the ball from a senseless injury for nothing and this guy prints this. I say classy and smart thing to do. Promise you Pats would have ground them to dust and laughed all the way to the plane. Lets see Payton is a jerk for putting the brakes on. Would have been a jerk if he would have piled on another easy TD probably two. So whats left? Oh I have it. Lets just give the ball to the Bucs and stand aside so they can score a little. RIGHT! Guess you can see this boiled my butt! LOL now does this fool not know the Bucs have to meet us again in the Dome? Hope Payton see’s this story and smokes their a**! Sorry Bucs fan’s nothing against you guys. Payton has too much class to do something like that anyway. One can dream.

we have the draft and salary cap to keep the competitive edge

No matter what happens, we have a short week to move on and get ready for the next opponent.

Don’t get me wrong, this game is big, and I want us to win. But I won’t get too low if we lose, nor too high if we win.

I’ll save my BIG HIGH for after the Super Bowl (hopefully).

Thanks Mtn Now on to the game The thing that has me worried about the Saints is your success returning fumbles,interceptions, and kick returns for touchdowns !!! we need to be really tight with the ball or we are going to pay.

And who do you think on the Saints D matches up best with Moss so he doesn’t score 5 TD’s on you ?

6 days and counting ………..

With Brady in 07 Greer didn’t have much success stoping him but in 08 with cassel he did better He’ll need a safety

But he’s fast and tall enough he just needs to step it up

He is a shutdown corner Moss had to mug him all day just to keep the ball out of his hands

Colts fan here, happy to have Peyton on our side, and hoping you’ll see similar results with your Payton – see what I did there? ;-)

Anyway, I totally understand your anxiety – you’d think that the Pats-Colts contest would decide the fate of nations. But it so lived up to the hype when it finally came.

I’ll be rooting for the Saints… wouldn’t it be cool to hear the debate be Manning-Brees instead of Manning-Brady for a change?!?!

Good luck!

A colts fan travels to the big easy to jump on the beat the Pats bandwagon that’s ok you know we’ll be back in Indy and we’ll do our talking there The Saints will be a tough one but experience prevails the pats are 97/31 over the last 7 seasons the Saints 62/66 and we have a pretty good record in the big games not perfect but we get the job done the Saints will need to prove themselves with a win over a team like the Pats I don’t think the Saints have really been challenged this season by an explosive O like the Pats. This will be a real good look at both teams to see if they have what it takes to go all the way

Since it’s AFC East playing NFC South this year, there’s a lot to look at.

Bills. Saints win here by winning by 20, not 1.
  Pats (W) 25-24 (wk 1)
  Saints (W) 27-7 (wk 3)

Jets. The Pats got overrun by all of the poise. We showed the Pats how to beat the Bills, and they went with it. Advantage Saints for not losing.
  Pats (L) 16-9 (wk 2)
  Saints (W) 24-10 (wk 4)
  Pats (W) 31-14 (wk 11)

Falcons. I’m giving the Pats this one, because we nearly lost that game.
  Pats (W) 26-16 (wk 3)
  Saints (W) 35-27 (wk 8)

Bucs. Tie.
  Pats (W) 35-7 (wk 7)
  Saints (W) 38-8 (wk 11)

Dolphins. Tie Pats defense gave up half of what ours did, but we scored more points in the second half than the Pats did all game.
  Pats (W) 27-17 (wk 9)
  Saints (W) 46-34 (wk 7)

SAINTS WIN!

Great post BTW. I love the line about Coach’s bank account.

This is a different Patriots Team

NOTE: Not a statistician

I believe that Monday both teams are going to show up in the dome gunning for bear. Numbers mean something until the kickoff. Plans mean everything once the play starts. But I think Sean has this great ability to have more “Huh?” Tricks in his bag than “that other guy”. Just when the other team MIGHT Think they know where he is going, he goes in a direction they would never have thought someone would even think of much less try.

We wouldn’t be calling this the Game of The Season if two really darn good teams weren’t facing off. Focus will be a factor that stats and planning won’t mean a thing if the men don’t each and every one of them bring 100 percent focus and heart and drive.

I believe they all win. They don’t play to NOT go to the SB… they both want it.

We have something the Pats don’t have. Match up the players and coaches and numbers but at the end of the day we have…

Gris Gris….

and dat is dat…

Looking forward to a game where the fans can not relax for even one second and neither can the players or coaches.

Who Dat? Drew Dat!!!! True Dat!!!!

is their total dominance of the clock. That’s like a nine minute difference! That’s usually with a team that has a great rushing attack. That’s not the word I would use for the Pats rush. The scary thought is that their defense is just that good, but I’m not sure I buy that either. I’m just guessing that it’s a short passing game.

Does anyone have an answer?

Haven’t seen the GGMAN this week. Must be brewing up some serious stuff. The spell on the Giants not only got us the win it stayed with them for 4 games. LOL GEAUX SAINTS

Even though the Giants, Eagles, and Falcons are in the top ten scoring teams 6th, 7th, and 9th I wouldn’t call them explosive and they are all .500 teams or a little better I was only saying this will be a good test for the Saints to have to pick it up a notch and see what you can do as well as for the Pats the Saints are #1 scoring fast and furious it’s going to be fun

Don’t worry about us were not the Jets we don’t get offended

This is your house say what you like

Did y’all catch this!?!? Of course, to be honest, if he had lost I would be pooh-poohing it as an unimportant stat!

Now in his ninth NFL season, Drew Brees has faced the Patriots only twice. Both games came before 2006, when he played for the Chargers. Brees beat Bill Belichick and the Patriots in both games, once in 2005* and once in 2002.

WHODAT!!!!

here’s some info. Ongoing debate among Saints fans re: What to do re: Reggie. he’s dangerous, often productive (ties for team lead w/ tds) and versatile. Downside- he fumbled a few times at key junctures this season and others. Probably got too much criticism for that compared to other RBs. Debate re: running between the takles- mainly he can but it’s not a good idea for him to be the main RB like Portis or Gore for example especially when we have PT and Bell. Additionally, what lots of other NFL fans don’t know is we have tremendous depth especially at certain positions. We present HUGE matchup problems on offense because the following weapons can dominate a 1/4 a 1/2 or a game- ( and have) Colston, Bush, Shockey, Hendersom, P Thomas, Meachem, Moore, Bell. Our weakness is (was) FB position when Evans went down (he was awesome) but over the last 3 weeks that seems to be no longer a weakness but maybe we stilol miss Evans (Not maybe, definitely) but Payton has found a way to adapt and do other things (one of his strengths) Payton’s ability to create or tweak new plays for a particular opponent is infinite. WE are banged up in defensive secondary and run stooping DL but this week 1) some BDs will return,2) Some or one DL will return and subs have made Great strides filling in. Greg Williams is one of the best re 1) using what he’s got 2) devising great game plan 3) adjusting at halftime 4) sending pressure but not taking unnecessary or reckless risks like a Phila team does. Your Pats are very good.

has a tendency to dance and not get + yards sometimes in attempt to bust one. Sometimes hurts the consistency of our offense. Prior to this year he was a liability in pass-blocking but he has improved there. I was also saying your team is very good. Hard to assess though with your season as to how good. Clearly in top 2-5 teams in AFC, probably in top 2. This game is probably more important for you. We only have to play well. You need to win so as to get some home field advantage for playoffs because that would make your task much easier especially vs Indy or Miami, Pittsburgh, Cincy, San Diego,etc. Good luck to you except this game!!!

The Saints defense allowed 9 passing touchdowns, while gaining 5 of their own! Too cool!

You guys haven’t won a road game yet. I think your need for home field advantage is HUGE!

Looks like Sean Payton won this chess match. The Pats D had no answer against the many weapons of the Saints. I’m glad I recorded this one. I’ll be rewatching this game for years to come. No. 9 was on fire and Gregg Williams was a coaching genius.

about Belichick always seeing a flaw in other teams, and he’ll run the ball a lot against the apparently porous Saints run D, I knew then we were going to win. Thats the game plan? You have Brady and you’re going to a ground game? Hoodie’s lost his mind.