2010 New Orleans Saints Team Preview/Predictions
With NFL football just a short time away, Cappers Picks Football handicappers have been hard at work putting out the team by team NFL previews for those of us who can’t wait. Bet on the Super Bowl winner, plus Conference and Divisional winners.
What are you waiting for use our insider knowledge today to gamble on all the NFL Football Futures in our top online sportsbooks today.
2009 Record: 13-3
ATS: 8-8
Just how much can be said about the 2009 NFL season for the New Orleans Saints and their fans? Super Bowl visions were not in abundant supply when the middle of September arrived.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOP CAPPERS FOR NFL FOOTBALL BETTING THIS SEASON —–>
Yes, New Orleans reached the NFC Championship Game in the 2006 NFL season, but two down years threw “Who Dat Nation” into a state of pronounced doubt and queasiness. Drew Brees entered the season as one of the better quarterbacks in the league, but the Saints needed a lot more than their signal caller to become a special team.
Amazingly, they found the right ingredients and carried their magic mixture all the way to an amazing final destination. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
New Orleans – the organization, but also the city – produced the best sports story of 2009. Long-suffering fans in a city hit hard by Hurricane Katrina have always loved their team with an abiding passion, but that spirit grew into something even more special as the fall of 2009 unfolded. New Orleans won every week – usually with relative ease, but sometimes with charmed fortune, as was the case in a comeback win over the Washington Redskins.
Two weeks into December, the Saints were 13-0. The Super Bowl didn’t just seem possible, but likely, down on the Bayou.
Yet, just when pro football’s biggest game looked like a near certainty, the Saints regressed. A tired and sluggish team dropped each of its last three regular season games. A 13-3 record felt empty, and the NFL doubted the Saints anew. The defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals lay in waiting in the divisional playoffs, and thoughts of yet another dark moment emerged for this oft-tortured franchise.
Yet, just when the demons were in the process of resurfacing, the Saints silenced them. New Orleans throttled Arizona to advance to the NFC Championship Game, and after cornerback Terry Porter intercepted Minnesota’s Brett Favre at the very end of regulation time – with the Vikings in long field goal range – the Saints dodged the biggest bullet thrown their way in the NFC playoffs.
Kicker Garrett Hartley banged a field goal through the uprights early in overtime, and the Saints went marching in… into the Super Bowl, that is. For the first time ever, New Orleans had reached the big stage instead of merely playing host to it (the city has hosted nine Super Bowls). Something incredible had already happened, etching the 2009 season in the hearts of Louisiana residents forever.
And then came the Super Bowl itself. Super Bowl XLIV was a thriller deep into the fourth quarter, and when the Indianapolis Colts – trailing New Orleans 24-17 – drove inside the Saints’ 35 with under four minutes left in the game, the thought of overtime crossed more than a few minds and tripled lightly off more than a few lips.
Then, however, Porter – who picked off Brett Favre just two weeks earlier in a key situation – made the play of his life. The cornerback read a route perfectly, stepped in front of Indianapolis receiver Reggie Wayne, and took a pick-six 74 yards to the house to seal the Saints’ first-ever world championship. The 31-17 win produced a Mardi Gras-style party New Orleans will never forget.
The key in 2010? Play as well as the 2009 team did. In order to do this, the Saints must endure the wear and tear a Super Bowl season brings. They’ll also need to maintain focus and humility.
They’ll also need to beat out the Atlanta Falcons and hold onto the NFC South.
Saints 2010 Outlook
One senses that New Orleans will still make a deep NFC playoff run; Brett Favre’s status with the Minnesota Vikings could well be the factor that, one way or the other, affects the Saints’ ultimate Super Bowl odds in 2010.
Saints 2010 Futures
Super Bowl Odds: +1100
Conference Odds: +485
NFC South Odds: -165
2010 Saints Predictions
Place they’ll finish in NFC South: 1st
Place they’ll finish in NFC Conference: 3rd
Over/Under Season Wins Prediction: Over 10.5 Wins
***** Exclusive 100% Sportsbook Bonus! New BetUS Players Only: Use Following Link! ($100 Min. / $500 Max. – Plus 50% Additional Bonus For Deposits Over $500) Betus Signup – CLICK HERE NOW *****
Dave Golokhov has written for BETUS Sportsbook, Sportsfanmagazine.com, FOX, Askmen.com, Sports-central.org, and the FOXSports.com Funhouse.
