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Forecast: The fun of Taysom Hill, 2 Marcus Williams and what jersey to buy

The Saints face the Arizona Cardinals Friday in the first home game of 2018. Feel the excitement of paying full price for practice football and buying overpriced concessions!

It’s Week 2 of the New Orleans Saints preseason which is usually a traditional time in our football calendar where we either have irrational excitement (Hello Tre’ Quan Smith!) or irrational panic (Why isn’t Marcus Davenport practicing? Is he still alive?).

The Saints face the Arizona Cardinals Friday in the first home game of 2018. Feel the excitement of paying full price for practice football and buying overpriced concessions! Those lucky enough to have season tickets know it’s a thrill to return to your seats in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome after 8 months away. This excitement wears completely off the moment Tom Savage and not Drew Brees takes a snap from center.

So what exactly should those at the game and those of us watching on TV be looking for?

1. Taysom Hill

Caring about who the Saints backup quarterback is a lot like asking me , “Ralph, if your wife gets hit by a meteor, do you have a plan to water and care for her fancy flower garden?” Even if I had such plan would it really matter at that point? That poor flower garden is doomed.

Watching Hill is the best preseason Saints television we’ve had in a while and God forbid #9 isn’t taking a snap come games that count, I’d prefer watching Hill. Not because I’m sure he’s any good, but because if Brees ain’t playing then winning is really secondary to entertainment and comedy. Hill will deliver both by the truckload. He’s just as likely to throw three interceptions as he would be to run for 100 yards and 2 scores. If the meteor hits the 2018 Saints give me the entertainment please. I’m rooting hard for you Taysom.

2. The NFL’s Plan to Eliminate Flying Tackles

Lots of fans, media, and experts seem to not understand the confusion over the new NFL rule about leading with the helmet isn’t a bug but a feature. The NFL wants to eliminate guys leaving their feet and lighting offensive players up. The NFL wants to wring as much violence out of their product as possible, without losing viewers.

So how do you get less of something? You make the rule around it so ambiguous and confusing players just stop doing it all together. Even if a player makes a great tackle or pass breakout while leaving his feet and it’s ‘legal’ by definition, if it’s particularly violent to look at, guess what? He’s getting flagged.

It’ll take a bit, but soon enough we’ll see less violent collisions. There was a famous saying that goes something like, “If you want less of something, tax it.” Think of this as the violent football tax. It’ll have desired effect, but it’s going to take a downpour of flags to do it.

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3. Sean Payton’s Annual Mid Training Camp Rant

It’s an annual summer tradition. The Saints have a bad practice, ton of penalties or turnovers in a game and Payton gets all salty with the media to send a message to his players. My prediction this year is it will be over the running backs vying to replace the suspended Mark Ingram. Somebody is going to fumble or miss a blitz pickup and then Payton is going to make some snide comment in the post-game press conference. I can’t wait. Salty Preseason Sean is overdue to make his yearly summer appearance.

4. Dueling Marcus Williams

The Saints now have two defensive backs named Marcus Williams! This will be fun. Why is Williams playing the fourth quarter? Oh it’s the new Marcus, not the old Marcus? Confused yet? I wish one was #43 and the other was #34. The preseason could be spiced up with mass bewilderment.

5. Jersey Buying Time

I’m considering purchasing a new Saints jersey to update my viewing experience. Who should be the lucky winner? Ideally I’d like a Saints player, who is not star, but will be on the team long term. I want to buy David Onyemata, but what if he leaves after next year? Maybe Max Unger? Then I could get a toddler jersey for my son Max and we could have Max overload. Tough decisions. If somebody could do something cool in the preseason to help make up my mind I’d greatly appreciate it.

The preseason is all about surviving – for fans and players – until September arrives. The Saints need to grind through and survive it without injuries and fans need our eyes not to melt from watching so much bad football. After Friday we are halfway home.

Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast or download his podcast at Itunes.

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