NFL Schedule Preview: New Orleans Saints

It’s 41 days until the new NFL season begins but for a football mad guy like me that’s just too long so I’ve taken it upon myself to go over each NFL schedule and try and predict for all of you what may happen once the season rolls around.

This week’s look at scheduling moves onto the NFC South beginning with the beleaguered New Orleans Saints who went 13-3 in 2011. Here’s how I think their season will go:

• Week 1 vs Washington Redskins – Win
• Week 2 at Carolina Panthers – Win
• Week 3 vs Kansas City Chiefs – Loss
• Week 4 at Green Bay Packers – Loss
• Week 5 vs San Diego Chargers – Win
• Week 6 BYE
• Week 7 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Win
• Week 8 at Denver Broncos – Loss
• Week 9 vs Philadelphia Eagles – Win
• Week 10 vs Atlanta Falcons – Win
• Week 11 at Oakland Raiders – Win
• Week 12 vs San Francisco 49ers – Win
• Week 13 at Atlanta Falcons – Win
• Week 14 at New York Giants – Win
• Week 15 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Win
• Week 16 at Dallas Cowboys – Loss
• Week 17 vs Carolina Panthers – Win

Overall Record for the New Orleans Saints in 2012: 12-4

You can’t do any sort of prediction post about the New Orleans Saints without addressing the biggest story of the summer – Bountygate. Many people are of the opinion that the suspensions of coaches and in particular the loss of head coach Sean Payton means this team is ripe for the picking. Balderdash in my opinion. This is still one of the strongest teams in the league and quarterback Drew Brees is more than capable of leading this offense himself in much the same way Peyton Manning does – for more on this read the article I wrote on the situation.

As for the schedule itself it helps that there isn’t a really tough set of games on the cards for New Orleans this season. Facing the NFC East can be a difficult proposition but the relative weakness of their own division and the weak defenses of the AFC West makes up for this. The critical stretch for the Saints this year – the three games prior to their early bye will be a challenge facing the Chiefs, Packers and Chargers.

Next up on our scheduling odyssey – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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