it's nice seeing them bounce back with Payton at the helm, but their running game is still an issue. and so is defending the run. Ryan's aggressive schemes can't cover up everything.
if they can beat the 49ers in 3 weeks and win at Seattle, then i'll buy in. they have a few other tough games as well, it's a tricky remaining schedule.
that loss at New England was really unfortunate and if it costs them the #1 seed, it'll be huge. having to play at SF, Green Bay, or Seattle in a championship game would not be good.
if they can beat the 49ers in 3 weeks and win at Seattle, then i'll buy in. they have a few other tough games as well, it's a tricky remaining schedule.
that loss at New England was really unfortunate and if it costs them the #1 seed, it'll be huge. having to play at SF, Green Bay, or Seattle in a championship game would not be good.
Im as big or bigger homer than Chop and im still not convinced they have it all this year. Injuries scare me the most, they are not deep at several key positions.
As i said yesterday they r 1 Brees sack away from going belly up. We see that right now they are handicapped when Graham is injured. Their other recievers are just not Super Bowl quality yet. Colston is not his old self, Meachem isnt the answer, Stills and Moore are decent but not really steady. Last week with Graham limited the Bills keyed on Sproles and took him out of the game. He had 4 catches for -4 yds. Their 2nd RB Robinson is no bargain either and he may have to carry the load as its proven Thomas cannot carry the ball 15 times a game and stay healthy very long. There is still no clue when Ingram is coming back and he's no sure thing either even if he's 100%.
They have virtually no backup O-linemen. The rookie backup guard was awful in his only start. And then to top it all of Hartley missed 2 kicks last week. Let him get shaky and the Panthers start looking better and better.
Defense is still iffy. Linebackers are getting pushed around on runs, Vilma may be back anytime and will help against the run but make them weaker against the pass as he cant cover a twin bed. Even the secondary is iffy as the safeties are not great cover guys. As we saw against the Pats a really good passer can drive on them at will. Fortunately there are not many great passers left in the league.
And very true that playing a game on road grass ala GB or SF would be no bargain at all.
They cant sit Graham and wait 4 him to get healed so he'll have to play thru his injury, the 3rd string TE played a lot last week and looked good at times but also dropped 2 easy catches.
Ive been hoping since day 1 they would make a move for RB help but i guess nobody wants Ingram at any price and they just dont have any backups anybody would take in trade. As far as i know they never even brought in any Free agent backs for a look so they'll have to go with what they've got now.
Nobody wants them to win it more than i do but they'll need every break to go their way to get there this year..
As i said yesterday they r 1 Brees sack away from going belly up. We see that right now they are handicapped when Graham is injured. Their other recievers are just not Super Bowl quality yet. Colston is not his old self, Meachem isnt the answer, Stills and Moore are decent but not really steady. Last week with Graham limited the Bills keyed on Sproles and took him out of the game. He had 4 catches for -4 yds. Their 2nd RB Robinson is no bargain either and he may have to carry the load as its proven Thomas cannot carry the ball 15 times a game and stay healthy very long. There is still no clue when Ingram is coming back and he's no sure thing either even if he's 100%.
They have virtually no backup O-linemen. The rookie backup guard was awful in his only start. And then to top it all of Hartley missed 2 kicks last week. Let him get shaky and the Panthers start looking better and better.
Defense is still iffy. Linebackers are getting pushed around on runs, Vilma may be back anytime and will help against the run but make them weaker against the pass as he cant cover a twin bed. Even the secondary is iffy as the safeties are not great cover guys. As we saw against the Pats a really good passer can drive on them at will. Fortunately there are not many great passers left in the league.
And very true that playing a game on road grass ala GB or SF would be no bargain at all.
They cant sit Graham and wait 4 him to get healed so he'll have to play thru his injury, the 3rd string TE played a lot last week and looked good at times but also dropped 2 easy catches.
Ive been hoping since day 1 they would make a move for RB help but i guess nobody wants Ingram at any price and they just dont have any backups anybody would take in trade. As far as i know they never even brought in any Free agent backs for a look so they'll have to go with what they've got now.
Nobody wants them to win it more than i do but they'll need every break to go their way to get there this year..
4-1 on the road...speaks for itself.. Did they play a bad game on Monday ? yes they did.. Fact is they had every reason and excuse to lose that game and they didn't.. showed me alot... I only see 1 or 2 possible losses the rest of the season.. they get homefied its going to be really tough for anyone to beat them especiallly with a full compliment of players
If they get home field they will be tough.....if not, they will not be. They are getting by bad teams like stl and hou on the road.....the better teams will not collapse at home in the playoffs like these teams. You can go by their 4-1 record on the road if you want....they don't pass the eyeball test though.
Man you are a glass half empty type guy.
95% of what you say is true but it applies to every single team in the NFL.
The Colts, Packers and Broncos are all one QB injury away from being done.
Not many teams have much depth at OLINE although I think the Saints are pretty deep at tackle.
Armstead is going to be a stud.
If Brown or Stief gets hurt Armstead will come in and do a fine job.
You way over value the importance of the running back position.
You dont have to have Adrian Peterson these days to win a super bowl.
Saints running game is fine for what they do on offense.
