Deke: No matter how Saints play tonight, major concerns loom large

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You play how you practice, right? Well if that is the case then the media has once again been fooled to the hip regarding how to gauge the Black and Gold this pre-season. Shoot, I don’t have to remind anyone how the entire world missed the boat on calling the truth about the 2014 Saints.

Maybe, hopefully, we are all missing it again two years later as it is the complete opposite, as the Saints looked (seemingly) so title-ready two years ago at this time. And now this team looks "drafting towards the top of the first ten picks"-ready right now!

Simply put, the Saints have shown us that no matter what takes place in their final preseason game against the Ravens, this team has major concerns, a lot of big question marks and a lot of people feeling not so good about the 2016 season.

So it all comes down to one preseason game? No way, but to the Saints, the Ravens game is far from meaningless, and that itself to me is a sign of what we seen and where the '16 Saints are right now!

Deuce says

Saints Color Analyst Deuce McAllister says that the Saints will play their starters for some length of time tonight because they need to! “I think this comes down to execution and confidence. The Saints want to go into the season coming off a performance in which the team maybe put together somewhat of a complete performance. I think Drew and the offense want some consistency in running the football and getting good timing down in the passing game. I mean, we all know they can do it, and they have done it at the highest level for over a decade. But you still want to go out and have some good series in some of the preseason games.”

Good strategy or desperation?

The Cajun Cannon sees the Saints not just wanting to go out and have a good showing, or at least the first team players - but the former signal caller says that the Saints NEED to look good. “Listen, the last time Drew Brees played in the final preseason game was his first year here back in 2006. And he Drew did so then because he was coming off a shoulder injury. I think the Saints are still unsure on who’s going to be on the O-Line, which players are the right starting combination and there may be a few roster spots on the line in the Ravens game as well. I think if the first team offense looks good they may play one series and that’s it.”

The Big Chief’s Final Analysis

To me, the Saints are not in desperation simply because a coach and a QB like Drew Brees would never say to anyone, perhaps not even to each other, that the Saints are that bad off needing a few good series in a meaningless preseason game to get ready for an entire NFL season.

With that said, I think the word "urgency" has been used far too many times this camp to have the same meaning. The current state of the 2016 New Orleans Saints is not one that is very good, and that is according to no one other that the coach and the team themselves.

Just go back and listen to each of the post-game pressers that Payton and Brees had, and in those tones, dialects and words you will find all you need to define the current state of the Saints. Whether you agree it is desperation, good move to play the starters, sending a message about how important all games are to his team, or simply having too many tight battles for roster spots, the Saints have not looked good overall and time is out after the Ravens game as far as the preseason is concerned.

If the Saints ran the ball well, stopped the run, played well in coverage, did not let the Ravens TE go off, and got after the Ravens QB, would any of us change our minds on what the whole preseason has presented before us? NO! And neither would the Saints.

The final game is about the process and how things play out. And if anyone from any part of the universe goes by what they have seen from the Saints so far, "concern" would be a mild term on how things are currently looking!

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