Here is yesterday's edition of Sports Talk...Unplugged. It was a makeup show for the missed Tuesday edition and I am a prominent guest on this one so give it a listen and let me know what you think.

bondcrash

Come on down and make your three predictions for this weeks Saints game against the Bucs. You know the rules.

Word up to CSC member bondcrash for taking last weeks title with his two correct predictions. He won the popular vote thanks to his score prediction so let that be a reminder, don't forget to start your three predictions with a final score guess. In case you missed it, this is how he won it last week:

1) Meachem 1+ TD's

2) Saints secondary gets burned with 3 passing TD's

3) We lose the turnover battle

Score Prediction: Saints 37 - 34

Good luck to everyone this week. 

The Saints are now just three days away from a crucial division game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their first meeting of the season. In preparation for that matchup, I had a chat with with SB Nation's Tampa Bay blogger, Niko Houllis over at Buc 'Em. Read on to hear his thoughts on Aqib Talib, Josh Freeman and the disappointing season thus far. Niko also wanted to let you guys know that you might want to stop by Buc 'Em this weekend for enemy flashback and classic enemy flashback; some great  Bucs/Saints video highlights. Some of our older fans might enjoy that.

CSC: Are you surprised at all by how the season has played out for the Buccaneers? It seemed like most people were expecting this.

BE: No one was really surprised, although I was one of the few on my site that felt we could be competitive more. It would have been easier if the Bucs had told us this was straight-up a rebuilding year, but that doesn't sell season tickets. Now that fans have seen Josh Freeman, most have calmed down a little as they see there is a future.      

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Season Stats

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In week 4's matchup against the Jets, Jonathan Vilma took a low-blow block from Mark Sanchez, for which Sanchez was fined. Now he's speaking out against Brady Quinn's cheap shot on Baltimore's Terrell Suggs last week. Here is what Vilma had to say on his PlayMaker Mobile page last night. 

What bothers me about this play is, for one, Brady Quinn is not a rookie—he's a third year guy. Two, he knows right and wrong, he knows fair and foul play. And three, as much emphasis as there is put on protecting quarterbacks, quarterbacks need to understand they need to do the same thing. There is a reason defensive players can't go low on quarterbacks. Look at Tom Brady. Look what happened to him. So why would you reciprocate and do the same thing if you're the QB? That's what really bothers me.

It's not like Mark Sanchez where it was his fourth game starting and he was a little bewildered and he was just out there. Brady Quinn has been around and he understands right from wrong. He understands fair and foul play. That bothers me. Yeah, Brady Quinn gets fined but that fine isn't going to help the Ravens, it's not gonna help Terrell Suggs get back any quicker, and now they've got to play Peyton Manning this weekend.

Not having Suggs impacts them in so many different ways. Now do they not only miss one of their best pass rushers but they miss one of their best players on defense, period. The guy can stop the run and the pass and you need that against a guy like Peyton Manning, where everyone says "don't blitz Peyton," but you need someone to rush the passer and that was their guy. That's what's especially frustrating. To see that happen, the way it happened, being on the defensive side it really bothers. We have to be really conscious about where and how and how hard we hit a quarterback, and now QBs are just going after defensive players because they're afraid of being blocked, they're afraid of being hit, and that's just not right.

What do you guys think about Vilma's thoughts and words?

Who loves ya!?

Sean Payton

From the New Orleans Saints official website

Opening Statement:

"A couple of notes in regards to the injury report, Jonathan Goodwin (ankle) did not practice;Lance Moore (ankle) did not practice; Jabari Greer (groin) did not practice; Darren Sharper (knee) was limited; David Thomas (knee) did not practice; Reggie Bush (knee) did not practice; Tracy Porter (knee) did not practice; Sedrick Ellis (knee) was limited. We signed cornerback Chris McAlister and waived quarterback Chase Daniel."

What do you foresee McAlister's role being?

"A lot of it will be based on the health of a couple of guys in front of him. But he's a veteran player that understands defense and is someone that we think can come in and help us. We worked him out yesterday and we signed him this morning."

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More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

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This was something I wanted to do last week at the halfway mark of the season but never got around to it. I thought it would be interesting to take the temperature of fan sentiment regarding head coach Sean Payton and try to get a quantifiable answer as to how fans feel he is doing in his job as head coach this season. 

Personally, Payton gets an "A" from me. Pretty hard to find fault with the coach of a 9-0 football team. In fact, my initial hesitation with writing this post was that I thought his excellent work this season was too obvious and evident and that it would just be a waste of time. 

But just for funsies, let's do it anyway! Cast your vote below and grade Payton's performance so far. Of course, your greater take on the subject can be expressed below in the comment section.

Last night when I heard the news about the signing of cornerback Chris McAlister, I immediately shot an email to SB Nation's Ravens blogger, Bruce Raffel from Baltimore Beatdown, to try and get the inside scoop on the situation. Bruce has legitimate connections with the team, so I expect him to know his stuff. This is what he had to tell me:

Based on the problems the Ravens had a CB this year, a ton of fans around here were clamoring for his return. However the Ravens didn't want him, which should say a lot to other teams. He never bought into Coach John Harbaugh's leadership and was pretty much a distraction in the locker room, always late for practices, not following assignments and getting burned by the better WR's in the league going for the pump fake, always trying for the great pick rather than playing tight defense.

More importantly, was that he had a severe knee injury and was not thought to be healed enough to make the cuts necessary to cover. If he is healthy and in a better state of mind than he was at the end here in Baltimore, then you've got a big corner who can play real well. If not, well then you will see why no one else wanted him.

Plus I also heard he only wants to play safety and was holding out for the right money and team. Perhaps the Saints have both to offer. Good luck, we'll be watching closely.    

Safety, eh? Vewy intewesting.