New Orleans Saints' Matchup Advantages and Disadvantages for 2009

Advantages:

The Saints will be facing off against the team who didn't win a game at all during the 2008 season in week one, so the matchup advantages for New Orleans will be plentiful. Last year, these two teams played each other in week 16 and the Saints dismantled the lowly Lions, 42-7.

The reason behind this blowout was the fact that Detroit boasted one of the, if not the weakest, secondary in the NFL and they didn't do much to improve upon that.

So expect players like Marques Colston, Lance Moore, Jeremy Shockey, and Reggie Bush to take advantage of this weakness and have a big day against the Lions and extend the losing streak of the worst team in the NFL to 18 consecutive losses.

Disadvantages:

As much as the Saints will have an advantage in the passing game on offense, they will be facing a HUGE matchup problem in the passing game on defense.

That problem goes by the name Calvin Johnson.

This 6'5", 230 pound beast will have all eyes on him in week one and he is one of the few players in the NFL that is completely unstoppable, due to his unbelievable physical gifts.

The Saints secondary isn't exactly one of the strong points of this team, but they held Johnson to four catches for 64 yards in last season's game and the Saints' secondary heading into this season appears to be light years ahead of where they were last year.

But still, Johnson is quite an intimidating figure.

Advantages:

The major weakness for the Eagles team over the past few years has been a lack of talent in the linebacker corps. But after middle linebacker Bradley Stewart tore his ACL early in camp, that weakness became a gaping hole in their defense.

Expect Reggie Bush and Jeremy Shockey to exploit this weakness and have a big day in a game that is expected to be one the first big-time games between playoff contenders early in the season.

Disadvantages:

The Saints have been known for giving up as many big plays as they have made over the past two seasons, which resulted in having the No. 1 offense for two straight seasons but not making the playoffs either season.

While the additions of Jabari Greer, Malcolm Jenkins, and Darren Sharper should be a big help in reducing the amount of big plays given up by the defense, this defense is still very vulnerable.

The Eagles have arguably drafted the two fastest receivers in college football the past two seasons. DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin will be a touchdown waiting to happen every play they are on the field matched up against the Saints secondary.

Advantages:

The Buffalo Bills will be heading into next season with a completely revamped offensive line. This will probably be the Saints first chance for their new defense to get their shine on.

New Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams is known for applying as much pressure on the quarterback as he possibly can. So expect players like Sedrick Ellis and Bobby McCray to wreak havoc on Bills' quarterback Trent Edwards, and you might even see Darren Sharper, Terry Porter, and Roman Harper in the Buffalo backfield a few times.

Disadvantages:

The same type of mismatch that the Saints saw in week one against Calvin Johnson will be present again in week three, except with a different No. 81.

Terrell Owens was probably the most talked about free agent acquisition of the offseason and it is well known that the Bills plan to put the ball in T.O.'s hands as much as they possibly can. He has played against the Saints three times in his career and he racked up nearly 250 receiving yards and four TDs in those three games.

Expect him to have a big game when the Saints visit Buffalo, if not this might be the first time we see a T.Outburst. Either way, it will be quite entertaining.

Advantages:

For the second straight week, the Saints will be facing an AFC East opponent, and for the second straight week I will be expecting a big performance from the Saints maligned defense.

The Jets will be boasting either their first round pick from this year's draft (Marc Sanchez) or his lesser-known opponent in the competition for the Jets starting quarterback job Kellen Clemens. Clemens may get the nod due to his experience in the NFL, but over his career he has accumulated twice as many interceptions as he has touchdown passes.

Gregg Williams will be salivating heading into this game.

Disadvantages:

If there is one weakness the Saints offense possesses, besides their well-reported shortcomings in short-yardage situations, it is the fact that they seem to have trouble against 3-4 defenses.

This isn't necessarily the fault of Drew Brees or Sean Payton, the fact is the Saints simply haven't played against teams who run this defense that often over the past few seasons.

With Rex Ryan bringing his aggressive and very confusing defense to New York, the Saints will have to watch a lot of film of other teams playing against this defense in order to prepare for this game.

That's never a good sign.

Advantages:

Ever since their Super Bowl victory two seasons ago, the New York Giants have been known for having one of the most ferocious pass-rushing defenses in the NFL. They have the distinction of having Pro Bowlers at each defensive end spot and a slew of defensive tackles that blitz the quarterback in nearly every passing situation.

The good news for the Saints is that they have the distinction of being one of four teams to allow less than 15 quarterback sacks in 2007. So this will be a battle of strength against strength.

Also, the Giants are known to be quite vulnerable in the passing game if they don't get pressure on the quartberback. We all know what Drew Brees does against vulnerable passing defenses.

Disadvantages:

The Saints aren't used to seeing running backs like Brandon Jacobs—and teams that are used to seeing him still can't stop him. He is enormous and has the quickness to get in the hole and make big things happen.

Too often last season, the Saints defense relied on Jonathan Vilma to make plays in the running game all by himself. While Vilma is a great player, he will not be able to handle Jacobs by himself.

Advantages:

The Saints go into their week seven matchup against the Miami Dolphins being able to say something they usually can't. They will be facing a team with a passing defense that is worse than the one that resides in New Orleans.

The Dolphins ranked 25th in the NFL last season (Saints were 23rd) and they did very little to improve their below average secondary.

This is very bad news for a team that has to matchup with the likes of Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Reggie Bush, Jeremy Shockey, etc.

Disadvantages:

This will be the first time the Saints will go against a legitimate "Wildcat" offense, and for a defense that hangs their hat on their aggressiveness, this isn't good news.

The Wildcat is designed to take advantage of a teams over-agressiveness with misdirection and if the Saints jump to hard on some of the fakes that will be coming from Ronnie Brown, they will be vulnerable to some big plays.

Advantages:

Drew Brees played well in both of the Saints' matchups with the Falcons last season and I expect to see the same thing in both of this year's games.

The Falcons have, undoubtedly, one of the weakest secondaries among all of the contenders in the NFC and they did very little to improve it.

If the Saints can keep all of their offensive pieces healthy this deep into the season, expect big numbers for Drew Brees in this game.

Disadvantages:

One of the major acquisitions in the NFC this offseason was the Atlanta Falcons trading for tight end Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is arguably the greatest tight end in NFL history and he will be a nightmare for the Saints' defense.

New Orleans' linebackers are well known for being among the slowest in the NFL and Gonzalez will surely take advantage of this matchup and probably have one of his best games of the season against the Saints.

Advantages:

For the first time in years, it is expected that the Carolina Panthers will be heading into this season with one of the weakest defensive lines in the NFC South this season.

With the Saints supposedly haviing a newfound commitment to the running game heading into this season, I fully expect for the Saints to have a big game on the ground from the likes of Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas agaisnt the Panthers' D.

Disadvantages:

If there is one player that Saints fans always dread to play against every season, it's the Panthers' All-Pro wide receiver Steve Smith.

He has absolutely run circles around this Saints secondary the past few years and we should expect nothing different this year.

Advantages:

For the second straight week, the pass-happy Saints offense will be in a position to get their ground game going down the home stretch heading into the playoffs.

The Rams finished 29th in the NFL last year in rush defense, so if Sean Payton commits to running the ball they should be able to get Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas going early and often against this Rams defense.

Disadvantages:

Steven Jackson is without question one of the best running backs in the NFL, when healthy. He possesses the rare size and speed combination that separate the good running backs from the great ones.

On any given play, he can run over a defensive back and then turn around and burst up the sidelines for a touchdown.

If the Saints want to win this game, priority No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 should be to try to do something to stop Jackson.

Advantages:

The Buccaneers got rid of a lot of their veterans this offseason that routinely torched the Saints including Derrick Brooks (who might be joining the Saints pretty soon), Warrick Dunn, and Joey Galloway.

More than anything, the absence of these players will benefit the Saints more than the presence of any current Bucs.

Disadvantages:

After reviewing the Bucs, I really can't find anything the Saints should be scared of on this team.

The Bucs will be lucky to win six games this year.

Advantages:

Just like I didn't see any disadvantages for the Saints going into the Bucs game last week, I don't see any possible advantages they have over the Patriots.

While it will be a quarterback matchup for the ages between Tom Brady and Drew Brees, the Patriots are a dominant team with Brady at the helm and they will continue their dominance next season.

Disadvantages:

The Patriots will be employing, arguably, the greatest passing offense in the history of the NFL next season with Brady throwing to Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Joey Galloway (who we mentioned earlier as a Saints-killer), and Ben Watson.

Dominant passing teams are the last thing the Saints want to see. Especially one as dominant as this team will be.

Advantages:

These two teams faced off in a thrilling game that ended with the Redskins making a furious comeback to defeat the Saints 29-24.

In this game, Reggie Bush was a huge playmaker for the Saints, and I expect to have the same impact in this year's game.

The Redskins have a very slow linebacker corp and Bush should be able to absolutely abuse them in the short passing game.

Disadvantages:

The Redskins big free agent acquisition this offseason was signing Albert Haynesworth to a $100 million contract and I expect him to show why they gave him this huge contract against the Saints.

Not saying that the Saints are lacking talent at the guard and center position, but Haynesworth is an absolutely dominating player in the interior and I expect him to wreak havoc in this game.

See slide seven

Advantages:

The Saints played against the Cowboys a few years ago and absolutely torched them with the deep pass and I expect to see more of that this time around.

The Cowboys are a very blitz-happy team and Drew Brees usually kills the team that make the mistake of leaving his receivers in one-on-one situations.

I fully expect Brees to have one of his better games of the season in week 15.

Disadvantages:

One of the Cowboys' most potent weapons on their offense is tight end Jason Witten and I expect them to use him quite a bit in this game.

Witten is a very crafty player with the ability to make linebackers who aren't good in coverage look very bad.

To say the Saints linebackers are bad in coverage is an understatement.

See slide 10

See slide eight