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Tonight is Do or Die for the Saints Against the Chargers

There has been a ton of talk spent this week on New Orleans Saints' quarterback Drew Brees having a chance to break Johnny Unitas 47 game streak with a touchdown pass. Currently Brees is tied with the late hall of fame quarterback Unitas.

I'm sure if you asked Brees, he would give up every record he has ever achieved in the NFL for a couple of wins this season. At 0-4, New Orleans is sitting on the brink of disaster this season.

The 1992 San Diego Chargers are the only team that has started 0-4 and went on to make the playoffs. A win to night by New Orleans will give them a chance to repeat history.

A loss tonight and any hopes this season will go up in smoke. To say tonight is do or die for the Saints might be the biggest understatement of the year.

There is no tomorrow for New Orleans, as far as playoffs are concerned, with a loss tonight. The Saints need to just win one game to turn this season around and feel good about themselves as a team.

To win tonight, New Orleans must find a pass rush from somewhere. There needs to be pressure in Phillip Rivers face all night on passing downs.

The Saints will have a chance to get turnovers if they cover receivers, because Rivers has some gunslinger in him and he will try to force balls particularly down field. Chargers running back Ryan Mathews has been a fumble machine this season and a good hit will cause him to put the ball on the ground.

On offense, New Orleans needs to run the ball a lot more. The Saints are barely running the ball and there is no real threat of a running game late in ball games.

Brees is a great quarterback but more of a running game would help him more than any receiver. The Saints' offensive line is being over powered by their opponents pass rush because they do not respect the run.

Against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans has been very close to a victory. The Saints need to play 60 minutes of football tonight to get win one of the 2012 season.

Sean Payton will be in the building tonight in anticipation of Brees setting a new record but can't have contact with any of the players. New Orleans need to play with a ton of heart and pride with their coach in the building.

San Diego is beatable and the Chargers are a very streaky team under Norv Turner. New Orleans and their fans just have to believe that tonight is the night and be determined to make it their night.

The formula is very simple, run the ball and be extremely physical on offense and find a pass rush from anywhere on defense. New Orleans must punch the Chargers in the mouth on offense and defense, something the Saints haven't done all year.

We will learn a lot about this Saints team tonight. If they believe they can make the playoffs it will be a close hard fought game but if they are already planing for next year expect a San Diego blowout.

I believe tonight is the night New Orleans turn around the 2012 season. I think the Saints are tired of hearing about not having their coach, about bounty gate, about interim coaches and all the outside noise that has been a distraction this season.

New Orleans 31 San Diego 28

Comments

tstauffer 11 years, 5 months ago

You got the NOLA score right; final was 31-24.

My question... I wonder how much of that game Drew called from the line last night. It did feel like once they got into a rhythm and Pierre got a few yards on the ground (plus a lot of yards on a screen pass) they were back to their old selves.

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