"1,351 days without owning a winning record"

Deadspin's Barry Petchesky has the most cutting analysis of last night's Saints season opener.  The factoid above was what stood out the most.  There's more. I've got a "preview" post that is late but should keep well enough to publish later. But for now, the reality is this is where things are.

Brees will want to be paid next year, wherever that is, and he deserves it. With the likes of Derek Carr and Matt Stafford inking deals that will functionally pay them more than $28 million a year, Brees is in for a significant raise, even if at age 38 it would likely be for just a couple of years. The franchise tag for a quarterback in 2018 is expected to be around $24 million, so slapping that on Brees would represent a discount for New Orleans—but that’s off the table, thanks to the clause in Brees’s contract. The Saints may well decide this team will be better off letting him walk, and finally entering a real rebuild. And that’s probably the smart play: A “win now” strategy is pretty self-defeating when, for the fourth year in row, the Saints likely aren’t going to win.

I should point out Petchesky is wrong to blame Brees's contract for the "cap hell" scenario.  That's always been money well allocated. But it's true that his presence encourages the "win now" urge to trade draft picks and make foolhardy commitments to Junior Gallette, CJ Spiller, Jairus Byrd, etc. etc.  So, yeah, "cap hell" but not specifically because of Brees. Maybe that's a distinction without a difference, though. The effect is the same. Ultimately, for "win now" to make sense, you have to.. you know.. win.

Today I guess the most disappointing thing is this. After all the reshuffling of personnel, the Saints could have at least found a new and more entertaining way to suck.  Instead we saw yet another episode of Opposing QB Is A Hall Of Famer For The Day thanks to the Saints' apparently irreparable, defense.  That's boring now so we're going to have to find ways to entertain ourselves on the way to (hopefully) an historic fourth consecutive 7-9 finish. Guess we should get to work on that.