Saints Poised For a Big Year

I have been a follower of the Saints since the age of 4, and every year have found something to be positive about amongst the perennial negatives.  This year however, I have found myself on the search for a negative in among all the positives.  Quite a turnaround after 41 years on the other side of the equation.

This years New Orleans Saints have a level of talent, depth and coaching on both sides of the ball that have never, EVER been seen before.  They've had years of amazingly efficient offenses, and yet others of incredibly powerful defenses, but they've never been put together in the same season the way they have now.

Yes,  this defense is young (in a philosophical sense) and is still growing into it's golden cleats but it IS growing. It IS showing signs of constant improvement in the trenches and in the defensive backfield.  As a fan, not an analyst I give them a pre-season score of 70%.  "Not all that great, guy." you say, and I don't disagree really.  But considering last year's defense ended their season with my personal overall rating of 45% it's an incredible improvement.

If you'll look at the Saint's losses from a year ago, 55 points throughout the season (16 games) were in the minus, and over half of those minus points were from one single game. (Meaning, there was only one real 'blowout' of the team. Carolina in week 7)  So, they lost a lot of very close games that would likely have been won had the defense had the posture and weaponry it now possesses.

So,  I'm looking forward to this year more than any other.  The pieces are all in place, the board is set, the players are prepared, so...

LET'S PLAY SOME FOOTBAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!