Saint's playoff picture - 2018

[Spartica4Real]

21 hours ago, Jlowe22 said:

My confidence in this team is as low as it's been all year.  I'm not sure we can score 45 on the Rams again, and I have no faith vs the Bears.  Even the other three teams are looking like they might have chance at this point.  I'm glad the Rams and Bears will have to play each other, because I don't think we could beat both of them back to back.  I think Aaron Donald, Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks vs our beat up oline is going to be a catastrophe.

If we can get out of the NFC, I have more faith against the AFC teams.  KC defense is garbage, and the Pats have been inconsistent all season.  Chargers can be scary, but they have a long road to go through.

The Steelers have a very good defense and we hung 31 on them. As Aaron Rodgers would say, relaaaax.

We have 2 weeks to rest and some people like Brees even get 3 weeks. We're in the Dome so our offense will be fine, we have more time to prepare than other teams. We looked much worse going into the 09 playoffs and still won the SB. A bye is a reset, I wouldn't be surprised if we come out playing at our best and demolish our divisional round opponent. 

[Jlowe22]

I'm not panicking, just saying.  Our oline is a real concern considering the pass rush we'll be facing.  And i just think offensively, we have more holes than we did in 09.  Defensively we're better, and that's huge going forward.

[Fray32]

If (when?) the Eagles beat the Bears, they necessarily have to play us in the divisional round. Is anyone else ready to be mere fodder in front of Foles Meme Magic 2: Electric Boogaloo? I am because I've already resigned myself to it and I suggest each and every one of you do the same. All hail our benevolent leader Foles and his glorious new regime.

[tyler735]

On 12/31/2018 at 8:56 PM, Jlowe22 said:

I'm not panicking, just saying.  Our oline is a real concern considering the pass rush we'll be facing.  And i just think offensively, we have more holes than we did in 09.  Defensively we're better, and that's huge going forward.

Do we though?

Our 2009 OL vs our 2018 OL if Armstead comes back ready to go I'd say the 2 units are a wash. Both units had 5 quality starters. Armstead is the biggest question mark I have going into the playoffs as he will be a huge factor for us.

Our 2009 RB vs our 2018 RB is a landslide in our favor for this year. Kamara and Ingram are both better than Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush (And Mike Bell).

Our 2009 WR vs our 2018 WR are fairly equal. We currently have more talent at the top of the depth chart than we did in 2009, but a bit less depth. Michael Thomas is better than Colston. I'm taking Ginn over Henderson. Meachem was a bit better than Smith at this point in his career.

Our 2009 TE vs our 2018 TE isn't much different. Watson statistically has been very similar to Shockey during his stint with New Orleans.

Our 2009 QB vs our 2018 QB is a bit different despite being the same person. Brees playing style has evolved a bit over the years. He's not nearly as dynamic down the field as he used to be, but has also done a much better job avoiding turnovers the past couple seasons compared to Brees from years past

[Jlowe22]

55 minutes ago, tyler735 said:

Do we though?

Our 2009 OL vs our 2018 OL if Armstead comes back ready to go I'd say the 2 units are a wash. Both units had 5 quality starters. Armstead is the biggest question mark I have going into the playoffs as he will be a huge factor for us.

Our 2009 RB vs our 2018 RB is a landslide in our favor for this year. Kamara and Ingram are both better than Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush (And Mike Bell).

Our 2009 WR vs our 2018 WR are fairly equal. We currently have more talent at the top of the depth chart than we did in 2009, but a bit less depth. Michael Thomas is better than Colston. I'm taking Ginn over Henderson. Meachem was a bit better than Smith at this point in his career.

Our 2009 TE vs our 2018 TE isn't much different. Watson statistically has been very similar to Shockey during his stint with New Orleans.

Our 2009 QB vs our 2018 QB is a bit different despite being the same person. Brees playing style has evolved a bit over the years. He's not nearly as dynamic down the field as he used to be, but has also done a much better job avoiding turnovers the past couple seasons compared to Brees from years past

Armstead has a torn pec.  If he comes back, he won't last long.  I'm obviously talking about our oline without Armstead.  Yes, with a healthy Armstead we have a great oline.  And really this is the biggest problem.   

Our RBs are better this year, but the running duty was split between more than two backs in 09.  In 09 we had 2100 yards rushing, #6 in the league.  Also 21 TDs.  Very similar to this year's numbers.

We have better top end receiving talent this year, but better depth in 09.  With Ginn back, and Kamara it's closer to equal.  

[tyler735]

24 minutes ago, Jlowe22 said:

Armstead has a torn pec.  If he comes back, he won't last long.  I'm obviously talking about our oline without Armstead.  Yes, with a healthy Armstead we have a great oline.  And really this is the biggest problem.   

He might not, but he has a little while to recover now (almost a month) since his last game (and had a month or so before that game), which he appeared to re-aggravate it a bit, but to what extent? We don't know yet, but I'm not ready to rule him out yet until the team comments on it.

24 minutes ago, Jlowe22 said:

Our RBs are better this year, but the running duty was split between more than two backs in 09.  In 09 we had 2100 yards rushing, #6 in the league.  Also 21 TDs.  Very similar to this year's numbers.

Stats only tell part of the story though. Ingram missed 4 games. Kamara didn't suit up this past week. Despite them missing games for various reasons we had 26 rushing touchdowns this year which was tops in the league. I get from a numbers standpoint there wasn't a huge difference, but from a talent standpoint it isn't close. Splitting carries beyond 2 RB's would be a waste in this offense with 2 pro bowl caliber RB's. I suppose a case can be made for Taysom Hill to get carries, but that isn't really as a RB.

24 minutes ago, Jlowe22 said:

We have better top end receiving talent this year, but better depth in 09.  With Ginn back, and Kamara it's closer to equal.  

Yeah the return of Ginn is huge for the offense. It opens things up more for Thomas and Kamara.

[Jlowe22]

6 minutes ago, tyler735 said:

Stats only tell part of the story though. Ingram missed 4 games. Kamara didn't suit up this past week. Despite them missing games for various reasons we had 26 rushing touchdowns this year which was tops in the league. I get from a numbers standpoint there wasn't a huge difference, but from a talent standpoint it isn't close. Splitting carries beyond 2 RB's would be a waste in this offense with 2 pro bowl caliber RB's. I suppose a case can be made for Taysom Hill to get carries, but that isn't really as a RB.

I'm only saying, despite the RB position better, the running game as a whole isn't all that much better.  Both Bush and Thomas were over 5 YPC.  Most people severely underrate Pierre Thomas IMO, and Bush wasn't as bad in his prime as people make him out to be.  All three backs missed a few games as well.  

[SWATcha]

1 hour ago, tyler735 said:

He might not, but he has a little while to recover now (almost a month) since his last game (and had a month or so before that game), which he appeared to re-aggravate it a bit, but to what extent? We don't know yet, but I'm not ready to rule him out yet until the team comments on it.

Nobody has said anything, and everyone is being optimistic, but he's done. As I stated in a previous post, torn pecs are usually season ending. He came back and lasted less than 30 minutes. Nothing major is going to change between when he re-injured it and next weeks game. Those things take a long time to heal and recover.

[tyler735]

30 minutes ago, SWATcha said:

Nobody has said anything, and everyone is being optimistic, but he's done. As I stated in a previous post, torn pecs are usually season ending. He came back and lasted less than 30 minutes. Nothing major is going to change between when he re-injured it and next weeks game. Those things take a long time to heal and recover.

That is very possible, but at this point none of us know if he will play or not. Not all pec tears are the same.

[tyler735]

1 hour ago, Jlowe22 said:

I'm only saying, despite the RB position better, the running game as a whole isn't all that much better.  Both Bush and Thomas were over 5 YPC.  Most people severely underrate Pierre Thomas IMO, and Bush wasn't as bad in his prime as people make him out to be.  All three backs missed a few games as well.  

I get that, and agree to an extent, but I don't think we've gotten an accurate gauge on the run game for much of the year either with the loss of guys like Ginn, Armstead, and other OL having some minor injuries. They also had Mike Bell taking a lot of the short yardage runs and averaging 3.9 ypc. I thought both Thomas and Bush were better than many labeled them. However when this current unit is firing on all cylinders we have recently had Kamara and Ingram at 6.1 ypc and 4.9 ypc just last year. 

[Jlowe22]

4 hours ago, SWATcha said:

Nobody has said anything, and everyone is being optimistic, but he's done. As I stated in a previous post, torn pecs are usually season ending. He came back and lasted less than 30 minutes. Nothing major is going to change between when he re-injured it and next weeks game. Those things take a long time to heal and recover.

Barring a miracle, he’s done.  It might feel better with some rest but it’s gonna get re injured if he puts pressure on it.  Hopefully I’m wrong, but I can’t imagine 3 weeks rest being enough.

We were led to believe earlier in the year, or at least I was, that the injury wasn’t that serious and he could have played if he absolutely had to.  Apparently that’s not the case.

[Fray32]

Well for another parallel to our last superbowl win, we had a pretty good LT go down injured and Jermon Bushrod filled in admirably during the season and playoffs soooooo

[Jlowe22]

2 hours ago, Fray32 said:

Well for another parallel to our last superbowl win, we had a pretty good LT go down injured and Jermon Bushrod filled in admirably during the season and playoffs soooooo

It's the filling in admirably part we seem to be missing.

[Mid Iowa]

9 hours ago, Fray32 said:

Well for another parallel to our last superbowl win, we had a pretty good LT go down injured and Jermon Bushrod filled in admirably during the season and playoffs soooooo

Bushrod did well, and that's our only hope to win. He didn't face Khalil Mack.
That's my concern, the edge rushers + interior our team will face. We already saw the Cowboys D-line shut down our offense. Now we have the possibility of the Rams, or Chicago, and possibly the Cowboys again. That's no joke.

If Payton will quit with the "cute plays" on 3rd & 4, and just do his job the way it was intended, then we'll do okay.

I'd much rather face the Chargers (team) or Chiefs (team) if we hit the Superbowl than the Rams, Bears, or Cowboys.

[SWATcha]

21 hours ago, tyler735 said:

That is very possible, but at this point none of us know if he will play or not. Not all pec tears are the same.

No, they're not, but the fact that he came back and lasted less than 30min should tell you everything you need to know. Means his injury was more severe than they led everyone to believe.  You see the way he was holding it after he re-injured it? He was practically holding one arm up with the other, which I took as just the weight of his arm hanging down was enough to cause pain and discomfort. He's most likely sitting on a grade 3 tear which results in complete loss of muscle function and a significant loss in strength. It's going to take him all the way until next season to get right and get back to 100%.