Cinderella Saints

Seeing as how the Saints have made it to the NFC Championship game and could very well be on their way to the Super Bowl with a win over the Chicago Bears this weekend, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back to a thread I posted on the CBS message board back in September right after the they defeated the Falcons in week 3. I said they could go 10-6 in the regular season and be in the Playoffs...who would have guessed how close I was.

September 26, 2006 2:53 pm

Are the Saints for real? I, for one, am not ready to jump onto the Saints bandwagon, but after last night the NFL has to take notice. The 2000 season was the last time the Saints had a decent record in the NFL with a 10-6 record and a first place in the NFC West. It was also the last time they made a Playoff appearance. Since then they have gone 7-9 and 3rd in 2001, 9-7 and 3rd in 2002, 8-8 and 2nd in 2003 and 2004. Last year was the worst having gone 3-13 and placing last in the NFC South.

Can you blame the Saints for thier record last year? After Hurricane Katrina left devastation in New Orleans and all down the Gulf Coast. They were forced to play all their home games in distant stadiums. How can you have crowd support when your no where near your crowd? Their first home game was at the Giants Stadium. They called it a Saints home game, painted the field Saints, but the crowd noise was so obviously Giants! Not to mention that back home, homes where in ruins, families were seperated, and an entire string of communities were wiped out.

So here we are in 2006 and still New Orleans is still in disrepair. But the folks of New Orleans are beginning to show signs of life and the repair of the Superdome has only brought more excitement to the community. So the Saints start out the season 2-0 with victories over the Browns 19-14 and the Packers 34-27, but who notices? No one outside of Saints fans, these aren't considered big games or wins. In fact, everyone(and this does include me, I picked the Falcons)expected the Falcons powerful run offense to dominate the Saints. Sports journalist were heard saying all week the the perfect script would be for a Saints Victory, but they picked the Falcons to win feeling it a script that would never be written.

So where are we now?
Drew Brees threw 20/28 for 191 yards
Deuce McAllister had 19 carries for 81 yards/ 4 receptions for 13 yards
Reggie Bush had 13 carries for 53 yards/4 receptions for 19 yards
Devery Henderson had 2 receptions for 15 yards and 1 carry on the end around for an 11 yard TD!
Marques Colston had 7 receptions for 97 yards
and Joe Horn had 3 receptions for 47 yards
All while the Saints Defense held the Powerful Falcon Run game to 117 yards

Saints win 23-3 over the Falcons!!!

So what about the future of the Saints? Could this be a Cinderella year? All the Home games in New Orleans have sold out for the first time in team history! The Fans are in to it! Drew Brees was capable in San Diego with the Chargers, why not the Saints? McAllister looks good, drafting Bush was a huge positive, and Joe Horn has been of the injured list this year. If the Defense can stop Atlanta then they may have hope. So how do they look now? It's very possible they could beat the Panthers next week. Taking the Buccaneers may be easier than everyone thought at the beginning of the year. That's a possible 5-0 start!!! The Eagles will post the next big game on the schedule. Over the next three weeks, is it possible to build enough momentum to win that game, at home I might add?

So could the Saints be Superbowl bound? Well, maybe that's getting a little ahead of things. I wouldn't go that far yet. How about Playoff bound? Does that suddenly seem plausible? I think it's possible for the Saint to go 10-6 this year if thier momentum doesn't change...maybe even 12-4 if they can rise to the task of beating the Steelers and the Giants who are good, but looking a little shakey these last two weeks. Those are both away games too. What do you think? Cinderella Saints or another year for the New Orlean aints?

Silver Dragon