Is it unfortunate timing on my part to be going to Disneyland on such an important football weekend as this weekend? Is it even more unfortunate that whenever I take these trips to California, the Seahawks always seem to inevitably lose to some team they have no business losing to?
Hi, meet the New Orleans Saints: some team the Seahawks have no business losing to.
The Saints are 2-4, with wins over Carolina and the Chargers, and losses to Kansas City, Atlanta, the Giants and the Raiders. Are they any good? Tough to say. They’re certainly better than they were last year, but it would almost be impossible to NOT be better. Particularly here, I’m talking about their defense, which went from being among the worst all time, to still pretty bad. They still give up the most points per game in the league, but they only give up the FOURTH-most yards in the league, compared to second-most of last year.
Their worst trait is their pass defense (3rd-most yards given up in the NFL), but they’re still in the bottom third in rush yards given up as well. They’re middle-of-the-road in takeaways with 8, but 6 of those are fumble recoveries, which are flukey as hell. They’re also tied for the 3rd-fewest sacks with 9 on the year.
So, in other words, this defense is literally the exact opposite as the one we saw down in Arizona. If the Seahawks can’t move the ball at will against this unit, they’ve got deeper problems than just a leaky offensive line.
On the flipside, the Saints get the second-most yards per game (behind Atlanta) and the third-most points per game (behind Atlanta and San Diego). It’s neither here nor there that the Saints have played some of the least intimidating defenses in football in their six games so far, in the eyeball test they look like the real deal. Drew Brees is up to his old tricks, and they’ve finally re-loaded their passing game with lethal wide receiver weapons.
Brandin Cooks is an all-around fantastic receiver, who has over-the-top speed. Willie Snead, when healthy, is a tall, physical possession receiver who – if we’re not careful – will have 12 catches before we even blink. Rookie Michael Thomas looks like he was cut from the Marques Colston mold. Then, you’ve got newly-signed tight end Coby Fleener who hasn’t done a TON of damage yet with his new team, but that’s just because he hasn’t played against the Seahawks yet.
Their running game, while maddening from a fantasy perspective, is still good enough to keep you honest. I like Mark Ingram as a power back, even if he’s criminally under-utilized on the goalline. Of course, they brought in John Kuhn (from Green Bay) to vulture those TDs. And the resurgence of Tim Hightower is one of the better NFL stories of the last year. Top it off with a veteran, stout O-line (led by Max Unger and the return of Jahri Evans, once we cut him before Week 1), and you’ve got all the makings of an offense that should be able to do a helluva lot more than the Cardinals last week.
How do the Seahawks win this game? Well, it’s not realistic to expect them to replicate what they were able to do last week on defense, so if the Saints come down for some easy early touchdowns, don’t piss your pants. Granted, they will have to get SOME stops, but this game is all on the offense. I think we need, minimum, 28 points to win this game. And, if we can’t do that – if we can’t get out of our own way with penalties and allowing the pressure to get to Wilson too quickly – then stop the season, because I want to get off!
This would be a great game for the offense to try to get the run game going. Ground and pound early and often, let the run game work for you to open up more opportunistic passing plays. I hate to go all Member Berries on you, but ‘member the Seahawks’ offense from three years ago? ‘Member how awesome it was to control the clock and take calculated risks down field through the air? Let’s do that again.