Can the Saints reverse their September swoon of recent seasons?
The NFL season got off to a rousing start for the Super Bowl-minded New Orleans Saints and they didn’t have to lift a hand.
The defending league-champion Philadelphia Eagles unwittingly helped the Black and Gold on Thursday night, scoring a huge 18-12 victory at home over the red zone-deficient Atlanta Falcons on national television.
I suspect the Saints were intently scoreboard watching or camped in front of their TVs right to the exciting end when Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones failed to hook up in the end zone from the Eagles’ 5-yard line as time expired deep into the night.
So, now the Saints head into their own season opener at noon Sunday against Tampa Bay at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, knowing they can put a full game between themselves and their biggest obstacle in the competitive NFC South.
Apologies to Carolina but that’s the way I see it.
On paper, the Saints are a prohibitive favorite against Tampa Bay (9 1/2 points), due largely to a stacked roster and home field advantage. In addition, the Bucs will be without franchise quarterback Jameis Winston, who must serve a season-opening three-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
Backup Ryan Fitzpatrick is battle tested and shouldn’t be taken lightly but he’s not Jameis Winston. Exhibit A: In Week 17 last season, Winston engineered an 11-play, 95-yard TD drive in the final two minutes to rally the Bucs to a 31-24 victory and nearly cost the Saints the division championship.
That said, the Saints have struggled the past four seasons during the month of September and they will be without running back Mark Ingram (PED suspension) and left guard Andrus Peat (quad).
Consider:
▪ They are 0-4 in season openers dating back to the 2014 season, including a 35-34 loss at home to the Oakland Raiders in 2016.
▪ They are 2-11 overall in the last 13 games played during September.
Thus, if the Saints hope to make good on their preseason slogan “Prove Them Right” — a not-so subtle reference to their own lofty expectations which are shared by many national pundits — they need to start fast, finish strong and don’t muddle up the middle.
A quick start is there for the taking.
After the Buccaneers, the Cleveland Browns (losers of 17 straight games and 1-31 over the last two seasons) pay a visit to the Superdome in Week 2 followed by challenging road games against the Falcons and the New York Giants to round out September.
But first things first.
The Bucs stop here.
This story was originally published September 7, 2018 at 12:50 PM.