Unproven Saints

john1981cr · Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 111

By Tim Sullivan
Inspin.com/WagerWeb.com contributing writer

When last we saw a game played in this building, it was LSU pounding Notre Dame, 41-14, Wednesday in the Sugar Bowl. In other words, a home team cruising to a postseason win in the New Orleans Superdome.
The Saints hope to continue that trend on Saturday night, when they play host to the Eagles in the NFC Divisional round. New Orleans is -5 on WagerWeb.com.
"It's an important game. I think we'll respond the right way," New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. "You approach it, go through your routine, and get ready to play a football game. Mentally and physically, you want to be sharp when it starts."
And that's the big question as this game nears. The Eagles? We assume they'll be ready. They are playoff-tested and also quite hot at the moment, given their six-game winning streak.
But the Saints? Who knows? Will they indeed be ready? For this group, under this coach, this is the first taste of postseason football. Now clearly, it'll help to be at home with all the playoff emotion and energy still shooting through the 'Dome in post-Katrina New Orleans. Let's face it, LSU felt it. The Saints should, as well.
In the end, though, it comes down to the players. Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, this is your life.
"It's what you try to make of it or don't make of it. It's a postseason game. You're in a single elimination tournament now," Payton said. "If you don't win, you don't play anymore. It is what it is right now. We get back to all the things that we tried to do to date to prepare each week and go from there."
Payton has been there before. He was the offensive coordinator for the NFC champion Giants back in 2000. Given that, along with his tutorials from his mentor, Bill Parcells, it's doubtful anything will throw Payton for a loop.
But this ride that Philadelphia is on cannot be ignored. Sure, the Eagles haven't faced Super Bowl-caliber teams on this streak -- in fact, all of their victims on this run have been eliminated from the tournament. But wins are wins this time of year.
"You want to be playing good football as you enter the postseason. This is a team that is playing very well," Payton said of the Eagles. "That type of momentum brings confidence. Confidence with the players is certainly something that you can see they're feeding off of. I think it's a tremendous challenge for us approaching this week."
But backup quarterback Jeff Garcia didn't exactly light up the scoreboard against the hapless Giants on Sunday in Philadelphia's 23-20 wild-card win. And New Orleans' fast, physical defense is sure to put up a better fight than New York did. So it's more than possible that Garcia's little feel-good comeback story might be close to over.
"You need to credit Philadelphia to be able to make an adjustment midstream, especially with a player like a Donovan McNabb. He's a player that people in our league consider one of its most valuable players every year," Payton said. "They've done a good job of making the adjustments. Jeff's done a great job of executing the game plans that they've put together. He's gotten the ball to his playmakers, he's made good decisions and he hasn't turned it over. As a result, they've won a bunch of games now. That's a credit to them."
The Saints -- the No. 2 seed and the NFC South champions -- deserve some credit too. Especially if they move on to the title game.

FOR PETE'S SAKE: Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll tried. He really did. But it's funny what reporters can gather these days.
Word of a secret Sunday meeting between Carroll and Miami Dolphins officials leaked out Monday despite attempts to keep it under wraps. Those attempts failed, obviously, and all of a sudden a day that was supposed to revolve around the BCS title game became infected with some more college-coach-heading-to-the-NFL rumors.
For what it's worth, Carroll has a monster on his hands with the Trojans. With all due respect to national champion Florida, USC will most likely be the No. 1 team to start next season and should have plenty of talent to get by the Notre Dames, UCLAs and Cals that dot their schedule. In other words, Carroll could clearly win national title No. 3 this time next year.
He's not going to win much of anything with the rebuilding Dolphins in 2007. But then again, that same notion didn't stop Bobby Petrino from ditching Louisville for the Atlanta Falcons on Monday morning.
Carroll, we think, is smarter. But NFL dollars do a lot these days, so who knows.

EXTRA POINTS: Seattle WR Darrell Jackson (turf toe) is likely to practice the rest of this week and could play against the Bears on Sunday. Chicago is -8.5 on WagerWeb.com. ... Expect some high-octane changes in the Jaguars next season. Dirk Koetter, who ignited offenses as a head coach at Boise State and Arizona State before a puzzling dismissal from the Pac-10 school last month, is the new offensive coordinator in Jacksonville. This is good news for the Jaguars receivers, as they will get a lot more work. Koetter was mentioned as a possible coordinator candidate at the University of Miami before settling on the NFL gig.

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