The Atlanta Falcons smell blood in the water. With all of the
turmoil that the New Orleans Saints have experienced this offseason, it will be
hard for them to repeat their stellar performance from last season when they
went 13-3 and advanced to the Divisional round of the playoffs before losing to
the San Francisco 49ers.
The Saints only lost three games during the regular season
last year and two of those games came while head coach Sean Payton was out with
a knee injury. Payton won’t be coaching at all in 2012. The Saints are too
talented of a team to drop to the bottom of the standings but it will make them
a more vulnerable opponent.
It is hard to fault New Orleans’ assistant coach Joe Vitt
for both losses that the Saints suffered when he replaced Payton. Sure he is to
blame for them losing to the lowly St. Louis Rams in Week 8 but he was thrown
to the fire in their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Payton sustained his
knee injury during the first half of the game.
Vitt did lead the Saints to a win over the Buccaneers when
they faced off again three weeks later. Although Payton was missing physically,
Payton still stayed in communication with Vitt giving him input and advising
him on how to prepare for their opponents.
That won’t be the case this season though since Payton is
barred from having any communication with the team during his year-long
suspension for his part in the bounty program. Vitt will also miss six games
due to suspension so the Saints coaching situation will be even further
strained for a portion of the season.
And it’s not like the Saints were going to have it easy
against the Falcons this year even with Payton around.
The Falcons lost both
games to the Saints last season and likely would have made a change at
defensive coordinator even if former defensive coordinator Brian Van Gorder
hadn’t left for another coaching position.
Bringing in a defensive coordinator with a track record like
the one Mike Nolan possesses was specifically made with their losses to the
Green Bay Packers and the Saints in mind.
Despite how stagnant Atlanta’s offense was at times last
year, they still scored enough points in four of their six losses to have won
the game if their defense would have held up. The only game where the Falcons
were really blown out was their second meeting against the Saints.
No matter how well Atlanta does against the rest of the
league though they can’t truly call themselves the team to beat until they can
consistently beat the Saints. The Falcons hope the changes they are making this
offseason will give them an edge not only this year but for the foreseeable
future.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
Really, is this all you have? Really? It wasn't the DC's decision to go for it on 4 and 1 from you own 29 yard line, that decision falls solely on your head coach. Do you honestly think that all this turmoil is going to change things in your favour?
ReplyDeleteBrees is an extension of Payton. No need for communication, he already knows what is expected of him, and if you dont think that Brees has the luxury of calling the offense in certain situations, you're lost.
I also seem to recall another team changing DC's. Oh yeah, the Saints. We got a pretty good DC ourselves, a Superbowl winning DC. The blood they are smelling in the water in their own from last year. Expect more of the same this year. In fact I'll do you one better and say that Carolina will surpass you in the standings.
Good luck. You'll need it.