The New Orleans Saints are back on top

By Dan Salem | Nov 2, 2014

Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Saints are back on top. Atop their division and shooting up the NFC. Should we be surprised, relieved, or dismissive? Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate the NFL and sports.

DAN:

Is it safe to say that the New Orleans Saints are back? I may have questioned myself, Drew Brees, and the entire Saints’ offense after a month of the season, but I never lost hope in my pre-season prediction for representing the NFC In the 2015 Super Bowl.

The Saints are coming, coming on fast and poised to rip through what remains of their division and make the playoffs. It seems foolish to even entertain an alternative outcome. Carolina, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay have all lost three or more games in a row. None appear formidable, let alone of playoff caliber.

But what really seals things for New Orleans is not divisional weakness, but how improved the offense was last month. They rank 2nd in pass attack and 7th in rushing attack. You’d certainly think that team won more than four games. The schedule doesn’t do the Saints any favors, but it won’t matter.

The Saints are back and the NFC now must take notice.

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TODD:

I’m not sure how confident I was about the Saints early on, but they seem to be hitting their stride and may run away with this division now.

The easiest key to point to early were the road games. Although it hasn’t always been the case, recently, Drew Brees and company have struggled away from the Superdome. There is no logical explanation since some of those road games were still played in domes, like week one against Atlanta.

Nevertheless, the road struggles from last year continued through the beginning of this season. New Orleans started 0-4 on the road and didn’t win one until this week’s victory at Carolina.

However, the road aspect is only part of the explainable early struggles. The other factor is luck. Look at those final scores: three-point overtime loss week one, two-point loss week two, one-point loss week seven at Detroit. A single play in any of those games could have been the difference between a 4-4 Saints squad and a 7-1 Saints squad.

The stats show that teams’ records in close games tend to vacillate greatly year to year. One season’s worth or, in this case, half a season, isn’t nearly a large enough sample to tell us anything about a team. It could take weeks or months or more before the luck turns, but that’s what one-possession wins and losses usually are: luck.

With eight games remaining and five coming at home, New Orleans is set up thanks to its schedule but also because the offense is improving. And that may be because of Mark Ingram.

Mark Ingram is a draft bust. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2009, entered the NFL in 2011, and in his three professional years prior to 2014, he ran for less yardage in the NFL in three years combined than he did that one Heisman season in college.

However, 2014 may be a sign of changing times for Ingram.

In the first two weeks of the season, through a timeshare in the backfield, Ingram was running well, averaging 5.96 yards per carry on 24 attempts. Then he got hurt, returned after the team’s bye, and managed nothing against the potent Detroit rush defense in week seven.

With RB teammates dropping like flies, Ingram was then given full reins in the team’s past two games. Ingram ran for 172 on the ground in week eight and tallied another 100 in week nine. If anything close to this level of production continues from Ingram as the team faces a tougher group of run defenses in the next few weeks, the Saints’ offense will be unstoppable.

And that is really where the defense gains its confidence from as well.

So thanks for coming NFC South peers, but this thing is in the bag.

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