NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints shouldn't give up on 2022, throw up the white flag, or try to rebuild for the future. They shouldn't rebuild for a couple of reasons. First, 'rebuilding' is a term created by teams and media to get fans excited about a terrible product based on a promise that it'll be better at some undetermined date in the future.
"Let's be even worse now and in the near future for a bag of draft picks that will be great, pinky swear" No thanks.
We don't accept 'rebuilding' with any other things in life we spend lots of money on, why should we do it with sports?
"I know this $250 dinner was awful and the meat might even be rancid, but they are rebuilding, and in 3 years it's going to be amazing restaurant, and hopefully not send us to the emergency room. Patience."
Miss me with that.
The second reason the Saints shouldn't rebuild or reset, or whatever you want to call it, is because they can't. You want Mickey Loomis to trade the Saints' star players for draft picks?
Trading Michael Thomas would be a $38 million cap hit. Maybe a contender would love to have Alvin Kamara? He'd count $27 million against the salary cap if the Saints traded him this year. Those are just two examples. Any player the Saints have that other teams would want before next Tuesday's deadline will nuke the Saints salary cap until it glows. By the way, the Saints currently have a little over $5 million dollars in cap space.
The solution for the Saints isn't a rebuild, it is in fact the exact opposite. The Saints should go MORE ALL IN FOR 2022. YOLO HARDER as the kids might say. The NFC South is the worst division in the worst NFC of our entire lives. If the Saints can find a way to beat the 2-4 Raiders Sunday, they could be tied for first in the NFC South! If the Saints win, Carolina beats Atlanta, and Tampa loses to Baltimore, the entire NFC South will be 3-5. If the Saints won the worst division in NFL history, it'd be an accomplishment I'd treasure as much as the Lombardi trophy. What can I say, I love football comedy. If the 2022 NFC South is the worst division in NFL history, the Saints just doing nothing while Falcons won it would truly be a travesty.
The Saints are basically stuck with the current roster until 2024 and the Philadelphia Eagles own their 2023 first-round pick, so losing in 2022 doesn't even help them.
There's no way out of the current predicament the Saints created, the only way is through. The Saints should go try and trade for a defensive tackle to help their suddenly terrible run defense and find a safety interested in actually tackling people.
Do whatever they can to get to 8 wins, because that's all it might take to host a playoff game in January.
Besides, it's not a stretch for Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis to continue to do what he's always done, and try to win now. The future is unknowable, so go win the dumpster fire that is the NFC South...by any means necessary.
Saints Fan Mood & Meditation Music: It Ain't Over -- The Black Keys
Despite the Saints' best efforts, they are somehow still in the NFC South race. It ain't over. Yet. I'm flying in for the this game from Houston, which may be a death sentence for the Saints, as they've lost 5 straight home games I've attended since 2019.
Time's running out Saints. Please get it together or at least entertain me on Sunday.
The Games Last Week: 3-2 Season: 22-13
Las Vegas (-2) at New Orleans: The oddsmakers think so little of the Saints the 2-win Raiders are a 2-point favorite in the Caesars Superdome. These are 2 bad teams. Lots of depressing 2s crammed into this contest.
If the Saints can block Raiders defensive ends Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones, they'll move the football no matter who starts at quarterback.
The Saints run defense has become nonexistent, and until that gets improved, they are doomed to get smashed on the ground each week.
Can you name the healthy corners corners currently on the Saints roster? Rookie Alontae Taylor, Chris Harris and ??? For Saints to have realistic shot Sunday they are going to need to get Marshon Lattimore back, otherwise cornerback is going to be fiasco going up against a very nice Raiders receiving corps.
The Saints do what bad teams do by playing their greatest hits consistently on how to lose games. For the Saints, their go to moves to lose games are turnovers, missed tackles, critical penalties, and one that you probably forgot because we haven't seen in in a while -- terrible special teams.
Saints are due some sort of mind-melting calamity in the kicking game. I don't know what will be, I just know, like the neighbor you can't stand, it's time for it to come knocking.
Raiders 31-27
Atlanta (-4.5) vs Carolina: The Panthers with an average quarterback and a good coach could be something. Kinda like the Saints.
/sigh
Falcons 24-13
Baltimore (-1.5) at Tampa Bay: Watching Tom Brady turn to dust every week is the highlight of the 2022 football season for me.
Ravens 20-16
San Francisco (-1.5) at Los Angeles: Please stop telling me the Saints should go get Jimmy Garoppolo to be the quarterback in 2023. He's like a better-looking Andy Dalton.
49ers 27-23
Philadelphia (-11) vs Pittsburgh: The Eagles being good AND owning the Saints 2023 first round pick is infuriating.
Eagles 20-6