Saints Loss To Cardinals Breeds Optimism And Concern

Sep 13, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton reacts in the fourth quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Saints 31-19. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

It’s usually good to step away for a bit after a loss by the New Orleans Saints and yesterday proved to be no different.

The performance by the Black and Gold presented a roller coaster of emotions for fans as the team dropped their first game of the season by a score of 31-19.

I had feared that this would be the result going into Week 1 after watching the team during preseason even though diehard Who Dats said that there was nothing to worry about and “it’s only preseason”.

Yeah…that goes right along with “the check is in the mail” and “don’t bring an umbrella because the weatherman said it won’t rain.”

I had predicted on this past week’s edition of Big Easy Blitz that the Cardinals would likely pull out a victory over the Saints but never would I dare dream that Arizona would beat them with what seemed like effortless precision at some points.

Who would have thought that Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer would “out-Brees” Drew Brees?

But in several areas of the game there was shades of both optimism and concern as the Saints move forward into Week 2 of the regular season next Sunday at home against Tampa Bay.

One thing to remember: we probably haven’t seen the “REAL” Saints yet. Yesterday they lost to a team that is better than they are, and this coming week they’ll more than likely beat a team in Tampa (who got embarrassed by Tennessee at home yesterday) that at least on paper, they appear to be much better than.

We likely won’t see the true Saints team of 2014 until Weeks 3 thru 7 — when the Saints play Carolina, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Indianapolis all in successive weeks.

You would imagine the Saints would have to at least win 3 of those 5 games, to be a Playoff team in 2015.

Nevertheless, let’s a look at gave Saints fans reasons for optimism and concern yesterday during their season-opening loss yesterday out in the Arizona desert.

And we start with the most important one that is the most crucial to this team’s success or failure — which is………

Next: Drew Brees