Saints Look to Continue Winning Ways at Jets
The New Orleans Saints will visit the New York Jets today at a stadium they hope to return to in February for the Super Bowl. New Orleans has been outstanding all season long and their quarterback Drew Brees is as good as he has ever been. Brees already has one Super Bowl win to his credit and he is looking like he is well on his way to another one this year.
The Saints do have one loss on the season and it was on the road at an AFC East team. So this may give the Jets some hope going into this one. They really need to rebound this week after an absolutely terrible game at the Cincinnati Bengals a week ago in a game they lost 49-9. Their rookie quarterback Geno Smith was so bad we was benched in the second half.
The Saints have been whipping teams lately. They whipped the Buffalo Bills last week 35-17 in their first game since losing a heartbreaker at the New England Patriots. In the three previous wins before the Pats loss, they beat the Arizona Cardinals 31-7, the Miami Dolphins 38-17 and the Chicago Bears 26-18.
The Saints main competition in the South this year was supposed to be the Atlanta Falcons. But as so often happens in the NFC South, the defending champions run into all kinds of problems the following year. Atlanta has had a ton of injuries and some very close losses and now it appears they are on the verge of tanking. They sit at 2-5 going into this week’s game at the Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers are two games back in the South after winning their last three games to go to 4-3. It is the first time Carolina has been over .500 in the Cam Newton era. But while the Panthers are looking good, this may be a bit of “fool’s gold” The Panthers are fattening up on a weak schedule to start the season. The best team they’ve beaten so far is the St. Louis Rams who have a 3-4 mark. Their other three wins are over the 0-8 Tampa Bay Bucs, the 2-6 New York Giants and the 1-6 Minnesota Vikings. The Panthers also have losses to the Cards and Bills. After the Falcons game this week, their schedule toughens up for the second half where they will play the Saints twice, the Patriots, the Dolphins, the Jets and the 49ers.
So for the Panthers, beating the Falcons today is almost a must-win game. They cannot afford to squander this weak first half of the schedule with a 4-4 mark when they have at least four almost guaranteed losses in the second half. The Falcons can get a but healthy with a win at Carolina today. They could get back to 3-5 which is a whole lot better than 2-6 for a team’s psyche. At 3-5 and coming off a road win, a team with recent playoff history like Atlanta will still feel like they are in the race.
So this is a big week in the NFC South. The Saints can really put a stranglehold on it with a win at New York and the Falcons can climb back in with a win. But a Jets and Panthers win and suddenly the Panthers are right there with their upcoming game with the Saints next week.
