Everyone get your panic buttons ready.
The New Orleans Saints lost their first two games of the season, so all hope of making the playoffs is undoubtedly lost because it’s safe and reasonable to make predictions an eighth of the way through the schedule.
I mean, there’s no way the Saints can work their way up the standings during the next 14 games, especially in a division that’s not as good as it looks on paper, right?
Yes, I’ve seen the statistic — only 23 of the last 198 teams that started 0-2 qualified for the playoffs. Talking heads and disgruntled fans are throwing the number around as if it’s a signed and sealed death warrant, but it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Nearly 12 percent of those NFL clubs that started 0-2 made the postseason, or about one of every nine teams. Those odds aren’t staggering, and I’d argue the Saints are one of the best teams to ever open with two losses.
Just look at the way New Orleans lost its first two games. Sure, the Saints fell to inferior teams in some of the most infuriating ways imaginable, but they lost those games by a combined five points.
Simply put, New Orleans is a fumble and a blown coverage away from an undefeated start. We all know the Falcons weren’t going to keep the Saints out of the end zone in overtime and Cleveland kicker Billy Cundiff is physically incapable of hitting a field goal 50 yards or longer.
Those were fundamental, fixable mistakes that don’t happen often in the first place. New Orleans receiver Marques Colston fumbles once every 61 receptions, and professional secondaries — no matter how awful the Saints’ has been so far — rarely leave receivers as wide open as the Browns’ Andrew Hawkins was on the play that set up Cundiff’s short game-winner.
Speaking of New Orleans’ secondary, it’s time for people to realize that last season was a statistical anomaly.
The Saints posted the second-best pass defense in 2013, making defensive coordinator Rob Ryan one of the most heavily praised coaches in the league despite the bad-to-mediocre units he engineered in Cleveland and Dallas before landing in New Orleans.
Ryan employed exotic packages and blitz schemes last season, but offensive coordinators apparently figured him out during the offseason. His hyped-up multiple-safety sets have worked wonders for the Saints so far — they’re last in passing defense after getting torched by the Falcons and Browns.
Turns out it’s more important for your defensive backs to cover receivers than provide big hits.
But that’s my only qualm with New Orleans. The Saints still have quarterback Drew Brees and an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions. They’re still coached by play-calling wizard Sean Payton, and the newfound rushing attack will make the offense even more dynamic.
There are only a handful of teams that can outscore New Orleans, so it’s up to the defense to provide adequate support for its high-powered offense. But the defense has to get its act together now before the Saints’ slim chance of clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs slips away.
New Orleans struggles on the road, but hosting Minnesota in the Superdome this weekend might be just what it needs to get on the right track. It’ll either be that or an upset by the Vikings that proves the Saints are more pretenders than contenders.
If that happens, only then will you have my permission to push the panic button.
Marcus Rodrigue is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Thibodaux, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @rodrigue_TDR.