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It's a mistake to overlook these Saints

Jonathan Comey

jcomey@S-T.com

This has been a strange couple of weeks for the New England Patriots.
First comes a bye week on the heels of a momentum-building win over the Tennessee Oilers. Then, the whole region catches Red Sox fever, and the Pats find themselves enjoying an unusual measure of peace as they prepare for -- what!? -- the undefeated Saints.
Yes, it's an odd time.

And to be truthful, Patriots fans should be a little worried. Everyone that has already put a big, bold "W" next to the Pats name for the game with the Saints should be having at least a touch of doubt.
The question of whether the Saints a legitimate 3-0 team is a ridiculous one. Any team that goes 3-0 in the NFL is legitimate, no matter how weak their schedule might be. And not only are the Saints undefeated, they have won two games on the road and they are among the NFL leaders in both sacks and run defense.
So, let's not write off the Saints just because they got their wins against teams with a combined record of 1-10.
Coach Mike Ditka, who has stopped swearing but still tells the truth, put it nicely.
"In the National Football League right now, there might be four upper-echelon teams, maybe six that are second level, and there's 20 teams that are alike, and we're in that 20," he told the Bloomberg News Service.
The Patriots are in that top 10 group of teams that have proven to be winners, while Ditka's Saints are in that 20-team stew of maybes.
Top teams usually beat the bottom-feeders, and the Patriots are particularly good at doing so.
So, for the Saints to beat the Patriots, they're going to have to force the issue.
As Ditka said, "The difference is mistakes, turnovers, things like that, and that's the only difference in being 3-0, 0-3 or 1-2."
If the Saints want to be 4-0, they're going to have to make Drew Bledsoe make the mistakes he has avoided so far. They're going to have to make Robert Edwards fumble, they're going to have to make Terry Glenn drop balls, they're going to have to get through the cracks in the Patriots' offensive line.
Are they capable of doing so? Yes.
This Saints defense is big-time, a defense that led the NFL in sacks last year and added Tyronne Drakeford and Chad Cota to its secondary. Most people haven't heard of players like Mark Fields, Joe Johnson and Wayne Martin, but they're the best of New Orleans' scary front seven. They will put heat on Bledsoe and hope he puts the ball in front of one of the playmakers in the secondary.
Offensively, the Saints face a steeper battle.
They're likely to follow the pattern Tennessee and Indianapolis tried against the Pats, spending the whole day running Lamar Smith and throwing dump-off passes to the tight ends and backs. In fact, they don't have much choice but to follow that trend. The Saints have allowed 12 sacks, and quarterback Danny Wuerffel has extremely limited arm strength.
Although Wuerffel was able to lead the Saints to a comeback win over the Colts last week, he threw some wobbly passes that Ty Law or Lawyer Milloy would have been glad to get their hands on.
Assuming the Saints play it conservatively, it's hard to see them putting more than 17 points on the board -- and 17 points probably won't be enough to beat the Patriots.
Probably, that is. Bledsoe has looked great, but he's made mistakes in the past and will make mistakes again. If the Saints can get to him and he throws a couple of picks, anything could happen.
Ooooh, there's good insight -- "anything could happen."
If this all sounds too cautious, maybe it is. Sure, the Patriots should be able to dominate the Saints with their superior talent and shut down the areas where New Orleans shines. And when I came to one of those instant polls on the nfl.com website, I clicked on "Patriots win by more than 10 points."
Still, a road game against a 3-0 team is nothing to be overconfident about.
Even if that team is the Saints.
Jonathan Comey is a staff writer for The Standard-Times.