What you missed this week with the New Orleans Saints

It’s already Week 8 across the NFL. Needless to say, there’s a lot that are pleasantly surprised at what has unfolded for the Saints. The team’s 4-2 record after starting in the dreaded 0-2 hole of doom has caught much attention this week, and they look to keep it going when they host the Bears on Sunday.

Here’s some of the biggest black and gold tidbits and stories from the week.

Quick Hits

• Cornerback Sterling Moore was released on Wednesday, and offensive lineman Cameron Tom was brought up from the practice squad. Wayne State’s Nate Theaker took his place.
• David Onyemata was fined $12,154 for his unnecessary roughness penalty against the Packers after pulled a player off the pile following a fumble. That seems pretty weak.
• The Saints will be decked out in all black for Sunday’s game against the Bears.
• Legends Jonathan Vilma and Carl Nicks were inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame on Friday, and Sunday should have a good bit of electricity in the Superdome from these two being on hand.
• Adrian Peterson dropped by the Saints facility during his bye week to sign autographs for the players.
• After missing practice early this week, Michael Thomas and Terron Armstead were full participants in Friday’s session, and are not listed on the final report.

Saints’ Drew Brees can make more NFL History against the Bears
Brees needs just 12 completions on Sunday to eclipse the 6,000-career completion club (5,988 currently). Hall of Famer Brett Favre (6,300) and future Canton-bound Peyton Manning (6,125) are the only two members in this exclusive group.

The history part comes in that Brees can do this in a shorter amount of time than the two previous quarterbacks. He’s set to play in his 240th career game, and it took Manning 259 games and Favre 286 games to get there.

Brees could easily hit this by his second drive. Of course, it will all depend how the Saints attack. It’s something to watch out for, but Brees making NFL History is nothing new these days.

Jimmy Graham To Make a New Orleans Return? – NFL World
The Seattle Seahawks are believed to be taking calls for Star Tight End Jimmy Graham and it is understood New Orleans are Interested in Bringing Graham back to New Orleans.

Graham joined Seattle via a trade that saw him land in Seattle for center Max Unger and the Seahawks’ first-round selection in the 2015 NFL Draft. But, after almost 2 and a half seasons the Seahawks patience’s are running thin with the lack of production from Graham and with his contract set to expire at seasons end and Graham to become a free agent, Seattle are keen to get something for Graham whilst he still has some value to the Seahawks.

This apparently caught fire this week, because Saints fans want to believe this will happen. There’s little to no credibility for this site, but you know....it’s out there. However, maybe something with a little bit more substance is WWL’s Bobby Hebert talking about a trade rumor between the Cardinals and Saints involving a 5th Round Pick and Hau’oli Kikaha for Larry Fitzgerald.

The week John Fox takes the handcuffs off Mitch Trubisky - Chicago Tribune
But guess what? The next opponent is a cupcake. The NFL ranks the Saints defense 10th-worst. The Saints stand fourth-worst on third down. They’re just outside the bottom 10 in passing yards and their average of allowing 4.9 yards per carry ranks second-worst in the league.

The Saints present a buffet of bad defense. The Bears ought to eat well. There’s more reason to expect more from Trubisky this week. There’s more reason to expect the Bears to let him do more.

This seems like a legit take from a person who probably doesn’t watch Saints football. He went on to say the Bears schedule is easy facing the Saints, Lions, Packers, and Eagles the next four weeks. Good luck with that.

The fade: Why the Saints are better than most on one of the NFL's lowest-percentage plays | Nick Underhill | theadvocate.com
Except it often doesn’t work out. NFL teams have connected on 40 of 156 fade routes this season, or 25.6 percent, according to Sports Info Solutions. That number seems small, but it’s not an aberration. Last year, the league connected on 32.8 percent of fade routes.

Statistically speaking, it’s the least efficient route in football. The go route is a contender, with 28.6 percent caught since the start of the 2016 season, and corner routes come in next at 43 percent. Everything else is more than 50 percent. And yet a lot of cornerbacks feel like the fade can be a hard play to defend — at least against certain quarterbacks.