“I’m Going To Max Out At 10”
July 18th, 2022
Joe already has documented one massive weakness in the NFC South.
And a prominent Saints writer underlined another.
Larry Holder is a respected dude who has been on the Saints beat since 2006. He now writes for the pay-per-read site called TheAthletic.com. Beat writers there don’t write very often, but they do cover the team daily and seem happy to be interviewed on radio.
Last week it was Holder’s turn to sit in with The Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio and talk all things Saints.
Joe was happy to hear Holder speak with certainty that all-world running back Alvin Kamara will get at least a four-game suspension (Tampa Bay faces the slimy Saints in Week 2). And Joe also got a laugh when Holder said he’s confident former head coach Sean Payton quit, in part, because of the Saints’ quarterback situation. #Jameis.
But perhaps most enjoyable was Holder’s response to being cornered to predict the Saints’ 2022 record. “I’m going to max out at 10 [wins].” Holder said.
Joe sure hopes Holder is accurate, and Joe thinks Holder is.
If the Saints indeed win 10 games and the Bucs don’t win the division, assuming Tom Brady stays healthy, then Joe might have a bonafide meltdown. That just can’t happen.
If the Bucs under Todd Bowles stay healthy at QB and win just nine games, Joe might even lobby for Payton’s next coaching stop to be in Tampa.
But Joe is not worried about the NFC South. The Bucs should cruise to at least 11 or 12 wins. Like the Bucs, the Saints have a rough schedule. The Bucs got a home game against the Chiefs for their “17th game.” The Saints got the loaded Raiders.
July 18th, 2022 at 4:47 pm
10-7 or 11-6 is what I figure the Saints will do. I believe they’ll basically coast for a year before the fall off comes from Payton leaving. The closest thing I compare it to, I think, is when Gruden left the Raiders after ’01, they didn’t miss a beat since everything else stayed the same. Then in year 2, the wheels fell off.
In any case I’ll wait until the Bucs actually beat the Saints before dancing on their graves.
July 18th, 2022 at 4:47 pm
I’m still wanting a pick-6 to win the game on the last drive. Is that too much to ask?
Go Bucs!!!
July 18th, 2022 at 4:56 pm
I think the Saints will be lucky to end the season with 8 wins…
HC change, Kamara’s distraction, unstable QB situation, strange lengthy injury with top receiver…
AND YES surely Sean left partly because of the woes at the qb position….
why would any sane Coach abruptly retire if they have a true talent at the QB position since they are so hard to come by… Saints were lucky to have a level of talent such as Drew Brees…
July 18th, 2022 at 4:59 pm
Winston is Fitzpatrick 2.0….will give flashes of ability but ultimately too inconsistent and when the wheels come off it’s generally 2-3 turnovers in a game. Super hard to overcome that.
July 18th, 2022 at 5:04 pm
With the Bucs schedule, they’re not cruising to anything. I would take 11-6 right now and be happy about it. Too many great offenses. Todd can’t beat the Rams, and others will follow their blueprint. Todd better figure out how to make sure his guys know how to play zone well or 9 wins starts looking pretty good.
And then there is the issue of the pass rush. Hope is the strategy.
And then there is the issue of no depth behind LVD and DW.
The people that are happy to see BA step down and Todd take the wheel, I hope you still feel that way after week 4.
July 18th, 2022 at 5:05 pm
No Gronk, no Brown, potentially no Godwin for a game or two. I dunno. Im currently seeing the Bills Bucs from a couple yrs back. If Brady and Leftwich find this production without Brown and Gronk Im nominating them bith for the Hall of Fame. I mean…G Dmm*t the Bucs look soooo good with Brady throwing to Gronk and Brown. Those two dudes are just next level…which is why Brady got em I suppose.
July 18th, 2022 at 5:24 pm
I wish Edelman would come play the slot for us.
And mentir our Smurfs for a year.
July 18th, 2022 at 5:28 pm
VATom – Godwin is probably going to be out for 6 weeks I’d think, I doubt he’ll be back early. If he only misses a week or two, that will be fantastic.
Not having Gronk is the biggest issue, not just for the passing game, but as a blocker, and counting on rookie TEs is a huge leap of faith.
With that said, the Bucs signed Gage, who is a capable #2, not elite, but isn’t going to hurt you like if you had to start Tyler Johnson there or something. Also if Miller really was hurt last year, and he’s healthy now and back to where he was, that will be a big upgrade from a depth perspective.
I agree that losing AB is big, but he isn’t getting any younger and had started to miss a number of games for various reasons, it’s not like the Bucs had to rely on him. Personally I’d resign him now, or maybe Julio, not that the Bucs will do either. But you can’t have everything and if Godwin isn’t out as long as expected, they got the best WR room in the NFL.
July 18th, 2022 at 5:29 pm
Goatfarmer – yeah, that Bucs schedule is brutal, and I think 11-6 is likely where the Bucs will end up. I’d love to be wrong and see them go 17-0, so I’m not rooting for 11-6, but realistically, I think that’s where they’ll end up. Still, they should be in the playoffs, and that is all that matters, they can win on the road if need be.
July 18th, 2022 at 5:53 pm
I have them 10-7 finishing 2nd in the division
July 18th, 2022 at 6:25 pm
Right about that if the Bucs can’t win the division or go to the playoffs its time to go all in for Payton at least ot won’t affect the salary cap.
July 18th, 2022 at 7:09 pm
I read somewhere that kamara’s own camp thinks it will be 6 games
If that is the case watson should be way worse….even the some of ladies that didnt sue said he asked for sexuual favors. Dude is a creaper
It should cost him an entire year but nfl will give less
—-
Anyway. Until the bucs can beat the saints , no one on here should talk smack that we are running table on them. I agree that the saints wheels will come off more for them next year
I am ready for some football
July 18th, 2022 at 7:31 pm
The Saints are going to start in a hole with Jameis worrying about his knee and no Kamara.
Then Jameis will get desperate, and we know what happens then.
I can’t see ten wins, eight maybe.
July 18th, 2022 at 7:39 pm
Interesting read from SicScore.com on their wide receivers. They feel that Mike Thomas will play less games than Chris Godwin this year.
July 18th, 2022 at 8:51 pm
Definitely losing to the Saints. Keep out the starters and go all Hanson brothers on them.
July 18th, 2022 at 8:54 pm
It’s not the Saints offense that gives us problems. Until our offense can produce against their defense they will continue to own us. They beat us last year with a nobody QB and a gadget QB. Our offense has got to become more physical to beat them and The Rams.
July 18th, 2022 at 8:57 pm
@Tye: “why would any sane Coach abruptly retire if they have a true talent at the QB position”
I don’t know, but maybe Bruce Arians can provide some insight.
July 18th, 2022 at 10:47 pm
I can understand why yall would never give Jamies credit for nothing regardless how good he played against us . He threw 2 touchdowns against us and we couldn’t stop the saints offense when Jamies was the quarterback. But I get it with some of yall the hate yall have for Jamies will always blind some of yall. But if can recall Brady played a bad game against the saints both times. And that’s ok with me ain’t no quarterback in the history of playing quarterback regardless of the level plays good every game. Defense wins championships and a championships team will always be judged on their defense. Just like us our offense is good enough to win a superbowl but the defense will determine if we can win a superbowl. The 1992 playoff game the oilers against the Bills that game changed my view about football winning and losing. Our defense will be the determine factor of us winning a superbowl or not.
July 18th, 2022 at 11:52 pm
I have the Bucs going undefeated this year and winning the Super Bowl. I’m being cautiously optimistic
July 19th, 2022 at 12:55 am
Coaching change and JW at quarterback… We shall see but they still have a damn good defense and Alvin Kamara. They’ll still play the Falcons and Carolina twice. I can see them just missing the playoffs with 10 wins but more likely it’ll be 9
July 19th, 2022 at 2:02 am
As a reminder, Winston had the Saints 5-2 last year, and was tied for QBR with Tom Brady — and he did that with complete garbage at WR. This year he’s going to have some legit NFL WRs, and another year in that system.
The issue with Winston was he had the worst defense, and the worst kicking game in the NFL from 2015-2019, while playing the hardest schedule from 2016-2019. If the Tom Brady wasn’t available, he’d still be the QB for the Bucs, and they’d likely had been a playoff team (although not a SB winning team).
If you don’t want Winston throwing INTs, there’s a simple solution, don’t run a gunslinger offense. Tom Brady tied his career high in INTs in this offense, and those numbers would have been higher had he not forced Arians to change up the offense to use more of a short passing game.
With that said, I don’t, and never did, care about the INTs. You win by scoring more points than the other team, and the majority of those INTs came in one or two game bursts, and when the team was already down by 21 in the 2nd quarter because you had Ryan Smith and Chris Conte in the defensive backfield.
July 19th, 2022 at 4:27 am
Lmao at Sean Payton quitting because he doesn’t have a qb. Dude gave how much money to Taysom Hill? He dragged Bree’s carcass along for the past 4-5 years. He runs the saints through and through. Who else does he have to blame for this?
Maybe the fact he looks like he’s put on 50 lbs over the past few years might be contributing to his stress. Pucker lips went from looking like Ellen to eating her.
The saints will be good. They have a good roster and good coaches. The fact he quit while Florio and the other conspiracy goons talk exclusively about BA is amazing. There’s clear smoke to this story but the media only talks about his next gig.
Thank god Andy Reid got Mahomes and leapfrogged the saints. We’d be toast