Are the New Orleans Saints the NFL's All-Mascara Team?

The New Orleans Saints rank second in total offense (444.1) and 15th in total defense (346) but are 5-3 at the midway point of the season, so you can’t help but wonder why this team is struggling to be consistent.

If you look at the players and look at the numbers this team produces on a weekly basis, one would think the Saints would be one of the best teams in the league, and we all did until last week.

After taking the Indianapolis Colts behind the woodshed and delivering a near-flawless 62-7 victory on Sunday Night Football, the Saints lost to a winless St. Louis Rams team. And to make matters worse, the Rams didn’t even have Sam Bradford in the lineup.

So, do I really have to do this? Do I really have to question the toughness of this Saints team and call them soft for not manning up and taking care of business up front and on the defensive side of the football?

One would presume, but I prefer to take a different approach. In sports these days, you see too often fans and the media jumping all over a team when it hits bumps in the road. Take the Miami Heat, for instance.

I remember when they struggled early last season, all you saw on SportsCenter was how fast the Heat were sinking and if LeBron James and Chris Bosh made a mistake by going there. I didn’t entertain the notion for one second.

What a lot of people fail to realize is that the season is a process, and the main goal/achievement doesn’t occur at the beginning of the season. If a team has peaked at the beginning of a season, that’s not a good thing.

The ultimate goal is to find success in the postseason and gain chemistry with teammates and coaches throughout the season. Because of this, I knew not to fret about the Heat and they ended up making it to the NBA Finals. (We won’t talk about what happened during the finals.)

Because of this belief, I’m not panicking as a Saints fan and you shouldn’t either. The Saints have had their fair share of problems stopping the run on defense and opening up holes for backs on offense, but they’ll get there.

Jonathan Casillas is improving each week at linebacker, Will Smith and the defensive front are starting to get more pressure up front, and don’t expect Jonathan Vilma to remain silent in the second half of the season.

As for the offensive line, it lost Charles Brown to a hip injury, but Zach Strief is more than capable of getting the job done.

Not to mention, this team still possesses dangerous weapons on the outside in Jimmy Graham, Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem and Lance Moore, and with the addition of Darren Sproles, this team is as explosive on offense as it's ever been. Sproles leads the NFL in all-purpose yards with 1,331 yards, and the last time I checked, the offense still flows through Drew Brees.

So, are they the All-Mascara team? No, that’s absolute nonsense.

Any team that has Malcolm Jenkins delivering licks in the secondary, Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram running through tacklers, Jimmy Graham getting in defenses’ faces and letting them know he’s the best tight end in the NFL and the head coach tearing his MCL and fracturing his tibia and barely wincing is far from a team full of softies.

Does this excuse the Saints from losing to a Rams team they should beat nine times out of 10? No, but this team still has a winning record and has eight more games to put it all together.

For you bandwagon fans, the ride ends here. The Saints are no longer a feel-good story and are starting to experience losses again, so sell, sell, sell and find a new team.

As for you hardcore fans out there, turn that frown upside down. The Saints are about to prove to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the entire NFL that they’re still the top dog in the NFC South.