Quick and dirty on the 0-3 Saints

We all kind of knew this would be a transitional season. Lots of rookies, especially on defense. To our credit as a fan base, we adjusted our expectations accordingly.  Just about every "season preview" from local commentators in the press and on the internet had them winning between 6 and (a few on the sunny side) 9 games.  So we were ready for this.  It makes Monday morning Twitter cooler discussion easier when people aren't out on the ledge.

And it's playing out according to expectation so far. The Saints are good enough where we thought they would be good enough. Even without their starting quarterback, they can move the ball well enough. The defense is downright terrible but will probably improve slightly as the young players mature, as Keenan Lewis returns to playing status, and... if Jairus Byrd ever returns to this dimension.

This team is incomplete. But you can kind of see them building something that might compete in a year or so. That makes people anxious because the quarterback is going to be 36 years old soon and his shoulder is, in football years, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  But that special anxiety aside, we already know what this team is going to be like. They're young, they're flawed, but they'll probably improve a bit as the season goes along. At some point they'll win a game or two they "aren't supposed to win" and we'll enjoy that. It will still be fun. Just hang in there.

Update:  Here's Malbrough's column. Pretty much the same theme. 

Saints played about as well as they could on offense, but the defense couldn't pressure the quarterback or create turnovers consistently, so what we saw in Carolina might be their ceiling and that's not comforting at all. The 2015 New Orleans Saints are officially like your five-year-old's tee ball team; They try hard and can be entertaining if you aren't worried about results. I'm weirdly at peace with this, probably because the alternative would just make me miserable.