ESPN'S Mike & Mike Say a New Orleans Saints Repeat Not Likely

"The New Orleans Saints a three-point favorite over the Giants this week in New Orleans...ha ha ha ha...that's going to be one of my stone-cold lead pipe locks this week big guy...yuk yuk yuk yuk...thanks for beating me to it Greenie...ha ha ha ha."

ESPN's Mike & Mike, October, 2009

ESPN's Mike & Mike, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, say the New Orleans Saints will fall victim to the Super Bowl curse and slide to a 10-6 record in 2010. Golic says the Saints have a "great shot" to get back to the playoffs while Greenberg feels New Orleans will finish in second place behind Atlanta in the NFC South.

New Orleans went 13-3 en route to a Super Bowl championship last season.

Neither Greenberg nor Golic are big believers in the Saints. Neither man picked the Saints to beat the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl and both men picked them to lose to Arizona and Minnesota in the NFC playoffs.

"The (NFC South) is really good," said Greenberg on ESPN Radio Monday morning. "I like Atlanta to win that division. I have the Saints in the playoffs as a wild card but 10-6 for the defending champs."

This in spite of the fact that Atlanta failed to mount much of a pass rush in 2009 (only 21 sacks by the D-line last year) and are counting on aging defensive end John Abraham and unproven defensive tackle Kroy Biermann to provide pressure this season.   

Yet, it is the Saints defense that concerns Golic, who stated repeatedly last year that he thought the Saints 47 defensive takeaways were more a product of good fortune than skill.

Guess he's not a believer in the adage that luck is the residue of hard work.

"The (Saints) defense, that part worries me, as far as the opportunities (turnovers) that they can create" said Golic on his morning radio show. "If they can do that (create turnovers) again, they could be right where they were but I'm going three wins less and I'm going to go 10-6 (as the Saints record.)

Is Drew Brees the league's best quarterback?

Mike & Mike stopped short of saying Brees is the game's top QB but they both agreed he belongs among the game's elite signal callers.

Said Greenberg on ESPN: "I'm going to say Peyton Manning is the best quarterback...so, I can't say Drew Brees is... but he's awfully, awfully close. You're splitting hairs when you get to that level."

Added Golic: "Look at what (Brees) did. If you're not going to say he's the best, he's put himself up there in the conversation with Peyton Manning, with Tom Brady, with Aaron Rodgers...(Brees) is an elite quarterback in this league. 

How Rodgers belongs in the same conversation as Brees is baffling considering the promising Packers quarterback has yet to win a single playoff game while Brees was the Super Bowl MVP and had the highest passer rating in the league, the most touchdown passes and a 70 per cent completion percentage in 2009.  

As far as the New Orleans running game, Golic told ESPN viewers that while Pierre Thomas is the "main guy," keep an eye on Reggie Bush this year.

"Always, you have to keep your eye on Reggie Bush. What is he doing out of the backfield? What's he doing in any return game? What is he doing as a versatile athlete that he's supposed to be?" said Golic.

While Greenberg says that the Saints don't possess an elite running back per se, he likes the versatility of the team's backfield

Greenberg adds, "What they have is a good group of weapons...they've got a lot of different guys who can make a difference both out of the backfield and split out wide and that's why Brees puts up the numbers that he did because you can't just focus on taking one guy away." 

Can the New Orleans Saints defense duplicate last season's opportunistic showing? 

Golic feels that it's unlikely the Saints defense can generate anywhere close to the 47 takeaways of a year ago and he says that will ultimately be their undoing in 2010.   

"Opportunistic is the perfect word...they set their offense up with a very, very short field or they (the defense) scored themselves...to expect that to happen again..to go into a season needing that..to ask (the defense) to do that again this year is tough." 

Greenberg says he thinks the Saints defense is better than their #25 ranking would suggest.  

"Sometimes I think numbers become skewed,"said Greenberg. "(the Saints) offense was so good last year that I think that skews some of the defense's numbers. You give up more yards because you have a comfortable lead, because teams are taking themselves out of their norm to try and keep up with you because your offense is so prolific and, at the same time, those teams are taking chances so they're throwing interceptions."

As for Indianapolis this season, Mike and Mike take a more opportunistic view.

The sky is the limit for the Colts, they say.