Enemy Fan Forums: New Orleans Saints

Nothing would surprise me with the current state of the Saints.

For the last couple of games our defense has been less than stellar in the first half...but dominant in the second half.

I'll take that over being less than stellar all game long...but we can't continue to be lackluster on defense in the first half of games.

We really don't know what we're getting with the Vikings offense.

Was it the element of surprise that gave the Vikings the edge over the Falcons this past Sunday?

If so, do we have enough game tape on the Vikings with Dobbs to properly game plan?

As a life-long Saints fan of over 50 years...in my experience, these are the types of games that we lose way too often.

Hopefully we can put a complete game together this week and win in all 3 phases of the game.

Hit Dobbs early, often, and hard. Make him want to go back to AZ.

With our large d-linemen we struggle to contain the run happy QBs.

I hope the Saints game planned for you know who….wait a minute being told he’s on IR. Well there goes months of planning down the drain.

Dobbs has struggled against cover 3 this year, throwing 0 TD’s and 3 picks against the coverage (64.7 rating).

No Jefferson

No Kirk Cousins and we get Dobbs who has only been in the system for two weeks.

Unlike the Falcons we will get to game plan for Dobbs.

I expect the defense will have pretty good day. The main concern will just be stopping Dobb beating us with his legs.

The offense is still a mystery and its just hard to say for sure. The Vikings have a pretty middle of the road defense. They give up 100+ rushing yards a game. So it would be nice to see a run game. They blitz over 50% of the time so getting the screen game going could be nice.

My gut says we pull out another close win, the defense will play good, but the offense still struggles at times to put the game away. Still think we get the win!!!

I think this is going to be a close game and it will come down to a hair.

Who has better eyelashes?

Josh Dobbs or Derek Carr?

That will be your winner.

If the Saints were without their starting QB, their number 1 WR, and RB, how confident would you be starting a newly acquired QB who has a 2-8 record as a starting QB while missing your key skill set players?

Dobbs had a phenomenal performance last week based on only being with the team a few days. Heck, when he was thrust into the game, he had to gather the offense together to hear him go over the rhythm of his cadence. As well as he played, the Falcons gifted the game to the Vikings last week.

Moving forward, the Saints have had the opportunity to look at film on Dobbs and game plan against his tendencies. If the Saints can protect Carr consistently throughout this game, they stand a great chance of winning. I think they will get it done.

Dangerous game for the Saints, even with Dobbs at QB.

The Vikings are on a 4-game winning streak and Dobbs can scramble.

Once again, the Saints will be challenged to contain a QB in the pocket.

This will be another nail-biter.

With a win Sunday against the Vikings, Dennis Allen will move into 3rd place in Saints Head Coach Winning Percentage.

Currently he is 4th behind Haslett. With a win this weekend, that would put him at 13 wins and 14 losses, a .481 winning percentage, which would bring him above Haslett.

There still seems to be a lot of people under the impression that Dennis Allen is a bad Head Coach. However statically as the Saints Head Coach, He's done pretty well.

If "The Coin" turns out correct and we go 11-6, Dennis Allen will be 18-16 as the Saints head coach at the end of his first 2 seasons, a winning percentage of .529 and knocking on Jim Mora's percentage. For Comparison purposes that is virtually identical to Sean Payton's first 2 seasons at 17-15, a winning percentage of .531.

Bill Belichick was 41-55 in his first 5 Seasons (4 with Browns and the pre-Brady year in New England)

Absolutely not saying that DA is Bill Belichick.

Absolutely am saying the vitriol fired his way, even though we are winning, is undeserved.

We are a good team and still figuring things out. Enjoy the ride.

I HAVE A FUNNY FEELING THAT WE BEAT THE VIKINGS.

Call it a sneaky suspicion, an uneducated guess, a hunch, whatever… but through some crazy Juju, which no team can do like the beloved Black And Gold, Carr feeling a bit more secure, ALL Receivers coming to play, AK doin what he do, Taysom on fire in mighty doses, Mr. Granderson doin his thing, Adebo fit to neutralize and become an interception machine again, and not being in a position to rely on field goals to win this one… OK I DID say that it was a FUNNY feeling… That this mismanaged, pi$$-poorly coached group of potential BALLERS might just show up and blow up the Vikings… THAT would turn this Nega-Fan into a Believer… in the Players. Let’s see what happens… WHODAT!

The Saints and Vikings have some bad blood between them that most of the players this week don't understand. I love that the Saints beat them in the NFC Championship game before winning the Superbowl but they've had the Saints number since then.
I want the Saints to win ultimately but a beatdown like they gave the Patriots earlier this year would be precious.

Our offense needs to come to play. The Vikings have been through the ringer with injuries to their offense but they're not letting it derail them. Even if JJ doesn't play it may not matter because Addison has been looking almost as good. Their defense has been on the rise in a big way lately. It won't be easy.

Dobbs is legit. He actually made the Cardinals competitive. An athletic QB is almost impossible to defend. The Saints offense is going to have to be flawless. This game will define the Saints as pretenders or a team with a shot. The division is there's for the taking which means a home playoff game. From there, anything can happen.

Figure out how to contain these mobile, running QBs.

We've already allowed the likes of Baker Mayfield and Bagent look all world @ QB.

We'll see.

Watched the replay of the Falcons/Vikes game, specifically how they use their TE.

T.J. Hockenson vs Baun is a bad matchup for us. Not to mention Dobbs likes to take off. Zach covering any TE for that matter ain't gonna cut it.

Overall, outside of Danielle Hunter & Jordan Addison they are kinda meh. Facing another backup QB. No Cousins, no Jefferson. Gotta capitalize, no excuses.

We'll see.

No Cousins
No Akers - Achilles
No Jefferson
No Jaren Hall (back up QB)

No excuses for the Saints. Put injured riddled teams away, early.

With the Saints roster, there is no way you shouldn't defeat this team by 2 scores.

I have a funny feeling that all our remaining games except against the Lions are basically 50/50. You can argue for a 60-70% chance against the Giants and Panthers or a 30-40% chance against the Bucs who laid a beating us on us previously, but basically we are a mediocre team with a history of playing down to our opponents who only has 1 strong opponent left on the schedule. We are well positioned to win the division at this point but we have yet to show anything that will strike fear in our playoff opponents if their starting QB is playing.

I’m not feeling super confident. We still lack consistency and I think Dobbs is going to run all over us and keep drives alive.

Idk. I sure hope we come away with a W but I’m keeping my expectations low on this team for now. That way I don’t want to drink myself into a coma during or after a game.

I hope we get the win. I think it will a tough, close game in a hostile environment!

The key things IMO, no stupid penalties, can't afford to give them free yards.

Coaches need to scheme up some decent plays on offence! Mmmmm! Not sure if that will happen though?

Defence need to make the tackles!

Be nice if we can get the running game going and wear down the defense!

GEAUX SAINTS!!! . . . . .WHO DAT!!!!

Depending on who the refs like.......we could win this game.

The Saints are back above .500 and have a Grade A chance to get ahead in the NFC South with a win in week 10. The Saints face off against another NFC North opponent in Minnesota this week. The Saints took care of business bear-ly last week but will need to improve this week if they want a win in Minnesota.

Can the Saints go on a run?

The New Orleans Saints face off against Josh Dobbs and the Minnesota Vikings and then have their bye week. Post bye week they play @ Falcons, vs Lions, vs Panthers, vs Giants, @ Rams, vs Bucs and finish vs Falcons. The toughest task will be the Detroit Lions, but all the other games look very winnable. Can the Saints win 5 of their last 8 and finish 10-6? That is the goal.

Can the Saints put together a complete game?

Feels like this is an impossible task. In the first half, the offense looked to have some rhyme, but the defense couldn’t stop the Bears and then in the second half, the defense locks down and the offense becomes inconsistent and can’t move the ball. We also had a great punt by Hedley and a missed field goal by Grupe. The Saints need to be able to piece together a full game, if they want a shot in the NFC.

Why haven't the Saints been able to run the ball this season?

The constant shuffle of linemen and running backs is no excuse. Taysom Hill packages are the only packages that have constant success on offense. Kamara wasn’t a huge part of last game plan, but the run game might be too predictable with the high uses of Lynn Bowden and A.T. Perry/Keith Kirkwood in the run game and not the pass game.

How important is Taysom Hill for the Saints offense?

Without Taysom it is fair to say this team would not have 5 wins right now. His red zone success as sparked the offense. Early in the season his usage was way down but the Saints have finally realized it's time to find any way to get Taysom Hill the football. He had a passing and receiving touchdown last week.

Can the Saints snag a win against Minnesota before their bye week?

The narrative all week is about Josh Dobbs and his quick turnaround success with the Vikings. No excuses this is a must-win for the Saints given the circumstances. Minnesota will be down Kirk Cousins and Cam Ackers who suffered season-ending injuries, and Justin Jefferson is trending towards not playing in week 10. The road warrior Saints shouldn’t need a miracle this week if they take care of business.

Mates, if you look at the defensive adjustments that top 3 defensive coordinator Dennis Allen made for the 2nd half versus Chicago, that will be a key to our strategy at the beautiful US Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Young Bagent was running all over our lads in the first half as the Saints defensive line was coming at him pel-mel. The opposing QB would simply pick a lane and scramble for 15 yards time and time again.

After adjusting, the Saints defensive line no longer went hard for sacks and instead maintained their lanes, forcing the Bears rookie to try and beat them with his arm.

Joshua Dobbs will likely have very few weapons (Akers, Jefferson, and Osborn likely out, the excellent TE Hockenson questionable), and as we saw in Atlanta he won primarily by scrambling. The Vikings have a bottom 5 rushing attack and if we force him to stay in the pocket I can't see us giving up more than 17 points.

Solid post and I agree. Defense killed me in the first half against Chicago when he had them in several 3rd down situations with 7 or less yards to go against an undrafted rookie who scrambles well and has yet to show he can beat you throwing the ball downfield but yet we kept on playing off ball soft zone leaving multiple WRs open at the first down marker with no defenders within 5 yards. Thankfully we adjusted that in the 2nd half.
We should expect about the same from Dobbs, especially being so new to the Vikings. Make him prove he can beat our secondary downfield first. This SHOULD be a game like New England where we should be in control from the first snap and win comfortably, absolutely no reason not to. Butttt knowing us, it'll still be nailbiter with like a 24-21 finish.

Can’t wait to do the skol chant in Minneapolis as we advance to 6-4.

Dobbs is going to slice and dice us.

That’s been the case all year. Our pass rush is pretty much non-existent.

Dennis Allen says that they don't make half time adjustments when you can clearly see it. Actually, as far as the defense goes, that may be the best thing about him. Defense looks like crap in the first half and come out differently in the second half.

I’m just glad they have film on Dobbs now...

You’re speaking with logic, but we mustn’t forget the illogical. Regardless of the personnel or coaches on staff, the Saints franchise has the innate ability every season to make All-Pro QBs look silly while making mediocre to terrible or rookie QBs look like prime Manning.

Based on that alone, I can never write off these seemingly favorable matchups