Week Two of the NFL season pits the New Orleans Saints against one of the angriest and most determined teams of this young season, the defending champion New England Patriots. The Saints were expected to be in a close game in their season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, but they were pretty much handled easily by the Purple People Eaters. The Patriots were not expected to even come to close to losing to the Chiefs in their opener, let alone give up a record setting performance to Alex Smith and the Chiefs offense. Needless to say, with how both teams fell hard in Week One, this game has a lot riding on it and it will determine a ton for both teams.
Just like pretty much every season under Sean Payton, Saints fans focused on the first four games as the big deciders on how the team would end up performing overall this year. The four games, at Minnesota, home versus New England, at Carolina, and in foggy London town against Miami had most people saying 2-2 is what you want, but 1-3 can easily be the case. Unfortunately for the Saints, they squandered game one which might have been the one of the more winnable of the four games. Now they have three of these four pivotal games remaining and they are in a hole. New England is the last home game for a month with the Dolphins game needing to take place in another country due to NFL greed. The scenario is not ideal which has a lot of people wondering whether this season is over for the Saints before it begins.
While the focus has been on the first four games, knowing how it will be nearly impossible to beat Belichick and Brady when they are coming off of a surprising loss, and knowing how a rivalry game at Carolina will take a special effort, maybe more of the focus should have been on that Week One matchup against the Vikings? Did the Saints already lose their most important game of the season?
The task the Saints have at hand is already arguably the most difficult in the entire league. Beating New England and a resurgent Carolina just to stay afloat has the Saints season on the brink of chaos and it has hardly begun. Just like any NFL season though, these type of hurdles get put in front of all teams. Some earlier in the year than others. The Saints are playing with two backup tackles, there is a media circus surrounding their newly acquired Hall of Fame running back, and their defense looked as anemic as ever. If you look at it all that way, then yes, the Saints season is already over before it really starts. But if you look at Week Two against New England the way you should be looking at it as a member of the organization and as someone who believes in the Power of Positivity, then no, the Saints did not already squander their biggest game of the year and their season hasn’t ended before it really started. In the NFL, you choose your own adventure and you control your destiny. The Saints have not squandered their season and they have not lost their most important game of the year because they haven’t even played it yet. It’s fun to put emphasis on the first four games or the very first game but in reality, as long as there is a next game and the Saints are mathematically alive, the Saints haven’t blown anything.