How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the (Deep) Bomb
The 2021 New Orleans Saints could be the franchise's most pleasant surprise since 2006, or the worst team since that year's rebirth. Embrace the chaos.
Watching the New Orleans Saints every week after The No-Call was like slowly suffocating inside a room with the world’s tiniest gas leak. Most days you couldn’t even comprehend that the end was coming, but once finality became a reality, it was impossible to breathe.
We all know why there was so much tension in Drew Brees’ denouement, and it wasn’t just because of Yahoo Finance. For the first time since he floated down to New Orleans from the right hand of God, Saints fans were dealing with their legend’s mortality—and doing so amidst the worst possible circumstances. After three consecutive 7-9 slogs, coach Sean Payton and Brees engineered one of the most impressive seasons in modern Saints memory. That it ended in an ultimately meaningless miracle play after a ferocious second half comeback led by Brees himself made everyone on Airline Drive hungrier for another bite at the golden apple before Brees hung up his cleats. Shortly after, the most heart-wrenching farce ever witnessed in organized sports history devoured the organization, a flag untossed that tossed a football franchise into the waiting maw of Moloch.
Every second that ticked by after Bill Vinovich swallowed the spit dripping from his whistle that afternoon marked the slow, cruel passing of the franchise’s greatest era before our very eyes. We all knew how hard getting back to that spot would be, and it’s what made each game heading into the playoffs less like a party and more like a funeral afterparty for a person who isn’t dead yet. The tension was just too much. We wanted another Super Bowl for Drew so badly that wins turned into the expectation, and a single loss morphed into an inexcusable outcome risking the permanent puncture of the team’s carefully inflated Super Bowl bubble.
Good news, weary Saints fans: That part of your life is now over. The gas leak has officially killed you! Now it’s time to see if you’re headed to heaven or hell.
We’re back to the fun part of being a New Orleans fan once again. This Saints team could be insanely good. The defense has some of the most skilled pass rushers in the NFC, a potential lockdown corner in Marshon Lattimore, and one of the deepest linebacking corps in the NFL. The offense, on the other hand, still maintains superstars at every unit. Alvin Kamara is easily the most electrifying player in the NFL, and he’s protected by the most complete offensive line in the NFC.
The Saints could also be pretty damn bad, especially if injuries start to peck away at a roster that doesn’t quite have the same depth as in years past. There’s the obvious question of Jameis Winston, the face of the NFL’s infamous 30-30 club who will use Payton like Alfred as he works to be Bruce Wayne up until he needs to be Batman. The perception of Jameis is perhaps the most accurate personification of this Saints team writ large: half the country thinks it’s going to be a hilarious flameout, while the other half thinks there’s plenty left in the tank to make a serious run. This insane oscillation, this inevitable choice between a Popeyes chicken sandwich and some Ezekiel bread smeared in shit, is, after all, the most fun part. It’s how you learn to stop worrying and start loving the (deep) bomb.
The volatility that defines this team’s 2021 outlook makes this season the most exciting since Payton and Brees took over in NOLA more than a decade ago. You can finally exhale.
Genie, you’re free!
There are major question marks that may have been answered in preseason, and others that keep Saints Happy Hour Podcast callers drunker than normal as the early morning light slices through the blinds.
Can Marquez Callaway morph into a potential No. 1 receiver as he leads the air attack until Thomas heals? Is that too much to ask a guy who caught less than 300 yards last year in the first place? Will an elite offensive line and the most explosive offensive player in the NFL be enough to continue producing at a top tier offensive level? Will injuries and lack of wide receiver depth burn it all down?
The defense looks to slot into the top half of the NFL once again with the addition of Houston Texans cornerback Bradley Roby, but is it enough to shore up the secondary? Defensive tackle is extremely thin with the six-game suspension of David Onyemata, and the Saints are still hoping for a Cam Jordan resurgence coupled with a Marcus Davenport breakout year to keep up its predatory pass rush. None of this is set in stone.
We obviously knew this team’s identity with Brees at the helm. It may have changed as he entered the twilight of his career, but it always gravitated toward what he could do under center. Now we get to see the team’s personality molded and shaped in real time as Payton begins his second act. Exciting butterflies of what could be replace the painful stomach ulcers that stabbed your insides as Brees’ career faded into black.
The dread of potential success and the exciting pangs of failure await.
Here’s to another gas leak starting soon.