Posts tagged New Orleans Saints
NFL Is Back In Abundance
Sep 10th
Special Report from Joshua Modaberi:
After seven months away the NFL was back last night with the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings in a repeat of last years NFC Championship match.
The Saints came out on top in that encounter which they won in overtime 31-28. New Orleans then went on to win their first Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts in Miami 31-17.
Sean Payton’s side continued from where they left off last season by beating the Vikings 14-9.
The NFL is a bit like a London double decker bus – having been away since February, this weekend in the UK there are still another five games on TV.
Joshua Modaberi has caught up with Kevin Cadle from Sky Sports and Dan Arkush from Pro Football Weekly to discuss the remaining television fixtures over the opening weekend.
Kevin Cadle on
Carolina @ NY Giants Live on Sky Sports 4 Sunday from 17.30:
“I don’t think you can look past the New York giants in this one, they are going to be opening the brand new stadium.
“Eli Manning is probably coming off his best season ever as a pro. Wide Receiver Steve Smith really came out and did a great job last year receiving the ball and Ahmad Bradshaw has established himself as the number one running back.
“You are still going to have to look at what the Giants are going to do defensively and that will be the key to their season. On Sunday they are going to have to go out there and do something with Carolina’s dynamic duo – they had two guys running 4,000 yards last year so you know they are going to be looking to run the football against the Giants.”
San Francisco @ Seattle Live on Sky Sports 4 Sunday from 21.00:
“We don’t know a lot about Seattle, right now you don’t know if Pete Carroll thinking is as a head coach of this particular team.
“What kind of team are the going to have, you have Justin Forsett as the top running back, and he’s only about 5’6 on a good day. With Seattle I think the betting will be out for them until teams can see exactly what they emphasise and what they are doing on both the offensive and defensive edge.
“As for San Francisco we know all about them, Mike Singletary has put a stamp on that defence and the defence is going to get better and better.
“Offensively I think the San Francisco organisation has done a tremendous job as far as trying to assist the role of Alex smith. Last year they brought in Michael Crabtree and now this year you have two new offensive linemen who where the top two draft choices – so they are trying to do whatever they can to get things in order for Alex Smith to be as successful as he can possibly be.”
Dan Arkush on
Dallas @ Washington Live on Channel 4 Monday from 00.55:
“Dallas in terms of pure talent probably have the most talented team in the league. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will get to the Super Bowl by any means.
“I think in this game they match up well against their opponents the Redskins. Nobody can really get a firm reading on what the deal is going to be with Washington.
“They have a new head coach in Mike Shanahan, who was a very successful head coach with the Broncos. By all accounts he seems to be heading in the right direction with the Redskins. Donovan McNabb is another great addition to Washington, but I think Dallas is going to win this game with the Super Bowl in Dallas they are going to want to have a good season and get off to a winning start.”
Thirteen, Forty-five, Ninety-Seven…
Jul 26th
No, that’s not a snapcount. It’s a countdown to some key dates in the forthcoming NFL season.
In thirteen days the Bengals face the Cowboys in the Hall of Fame game. It’ll be the first chance to get a look at Dez Bryant, Jermaine Gresham and the other rookies. Antonio Bryant in a Bengals uniform and the always entertaining Chad Ochocinco.
In forty-five days, the mouth-watering matchup of the Minnesota Vikings at the New Orleans Saints. That’s a heck of a way to open the regular season and a game I suspect we’ll be staying up for it.
And in ninety-seven days we’ll be at Wembley (for the forth year running!) as the NFL comes again to the UK. This year the Broncos visit the 49ers. We get to see Alex Smith, Frank Gore and the rest of Mike Singletary’s 49ers as well as the Broncos. We’ll be keeping an eye on both of these teams in the build-up to October 31st.
Coming up in the next few weeks we’ll gear up for our in-season mode, which features predictions on every match as well as in-depth looks at three matches a week. Before then we’ll make our predictions on the post-season and keep our eyes on the big stories and how they’ll affect our predictions.
Keep visiting!
First Look 2010… NFC South
Jun 10th
The run that the Saints went on took us by surprise. Indeed, from the pre- and off-season Graham and I both fancied the Panthers to be the err, big dogs of the division. As it happened, they were pussycats and the Saints went marching on and it’s now history. But enough of me murdering metaphors…
This NFC South has been particularly well balanced in recent years, with all four teams making the post season and each team has made the championship game and all but the Falcons made the Super Bowl since 2002. That could make things hard, but could make them fun too!
So let’s take a look…
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NFL News Round-up Monday 14th Sep
Sep 14th
A great night of football last night! It was a shame about the Gampass problems (for those that use it), lets hope they get it right for next week and give everybody some kind of compensation.
Philadelphia Eagles
Donovan McNabb suffered a broken rib during the game against Carolina. It is not yet known how long he will be out for, but Michael Vick must be getting on edge now.
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So Far In Pre-Season…
Aug 14th
As we mentioned before, we’re keeping an eye on what’s happening in the pre-season. In case there’s anything that will affect our predictions for the 12 post-season teams (coming soon!)
Well, there have been a whole load of injuries… here are just some that could have wider impact.
Note that this update does not cover the four games that took place on the 13th August.
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Second Look… NFC South
Jul 14th
Our second look at the NFC South Predictions, now just a few weeks before training camps open.
Favourite Four: Defensive Linemen #2 – Will Smith
Jul 6th
Continuing our series to look at our favourite players in each position, we take a look at our second favourite of the defensive line.
We can’t vouch that these will be the best players in absolute terms, have the biggest fantasy foootball upside or even be any good (though they might be)… but they’re players that we like to watch.
Number 2 in our list is Will Smith.
Favourite Four: Defensive Linemen #1 – Renaldo Wynn
Jul 3rd
Renaldo Wynn – Defensive Lineman
In the first of an ongoing series to look at our favourite players in each position, we take a look at good old D-line.
We can’t vouch that these will be the best players in absolute terms, have the biggest Fantasy Football upside or even be any good (though they might be)… but they’re players that we like to watch.
We start this series with… Renaldo Wynn.
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Gossip: Deuce McAllister, sorry Deeeeeuuuuuuucccceeeee!!!!!
May 16th
www.nfl.com ran an article this week and unfortunately the writer was not credited, but I loved the article all the same. They stated “Certainly, McAllister remains popular with Saints fans”, but I think it is fair to say that McAllister remains popular with fans the world over.
New Orleans Saints Look to Plug the Holes in Defence
May 13th
To me the Saints were one of the most exciting teams to watch last season. Going forward they were fantastic, but they always struggled in defence.
This year they have taken steps to tighten things up by taking on former Jaguars defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Williams’ input on turnover strategy could turn things around for the Saints…