NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 2022 WIN PREDICTION

BY ADAM GREENE

In what turned out to be head coach Sean Payton’s final season with the New Orleans Saints, he might have done his best work as a head coach. And he had to do it without future first ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer Drew Brees, who traded in his spurs for what might have been the best hairpiece on television in 2021.

The team rushed out to a 5-2 start that absolutely should have been 7-0. Their wins were big ones over the Green Bay Packers (a shocking 38-3 curb stomp), the New England Patriots (28-13) and the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers (36-27). Their losses were inexplicable and stupid, falling 26-7 to the Carolina Panthers led by Sam Darnold and 27-21 to the New York Giants in overtime. That team was coached by Joe Judge, who I would have loved to have seen pass a drug test at some point last year.

The team hit a huge speedbump. Already without All-Universe wide receiver Michael Thomas for the season, the squad lost its new quarterback, Jameis Winston, in Week 7. They managed to beat the Bucs with Trevor Siemian under center, but they dropped their next five straight to the surprise of no one. Taysom Hill got a couple of starts, beating the New York Jets and, shockingly, Tampa Bay again (that one a 9-0 shutout) on their way to a 4-1 finish over the last five games.

It was too late to save their postseason hopes and New Orleans watched the playoffs from Bourbon Street.

In his seven starts, Winston completed 59 percent of his passes for 1,170 yards, 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Alvin Kamara rushed for 898 yards and four touchdowns, adding 47 catches, 439 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns. Marquez Calloway led the team with 46 catches for 698 yards and six TDs.

The defense finished the season ranked No. 4 in points allowed and No. 7 in yards allowed. Cameron Jordan led the team with 12.5 sacks and Marcus Davenport shook off his bust moniker with nine sacks.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

Last season: 9-8

Odds: Over 8.5 wins (-140), Under 8.5 wins (+110)

2022 NFL Draft: Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State (Round 1), Trevor Penning, OT, Northern Iowa (Round 1), Alontae Taylor, CB, Tennessee (Round 2), D’Marco Jackson, LB, Appalachian State (Round 5), Jordan Jackson, DT, Air Force (Round 6)

2022 Additions: Tyrann Mathieu, Safety (free agent), Marcus Maye, Safety (free agent), Jarvis Landry, WR (free agent), Andy Dalton, QB (free agent), Kentavius Street, DE (free agent), Malcolm Brown, RB (free agent), Nick Martin, Center (free agent), Jon Bostic, ILB (free agent), Chris Herndon, TE (free agent), Eric Wilson, OLB (free agent), Jaleel Johnson, DT (free agent), JP Holtz, TE (free agent), Brandon Dillon, TE (free agent), Scott Patchan, LB (free agent)

Projected Starters

Offense

QB: Jameis Winston

RB: Alvin Kamara

WR: Michael Thomas

WR: Jarvis Landry

WR: Chris Olave

TE: Adam Trautman

FB: Adam Prentice

LT: James Hurst

LG: Andrus Peat

C: Erik McCoy

RG: Cesar Ruiz

RT: Ryan Ramczyk

Defense

LDE: Cameron Jordan

LDT: Shy Tuttle

RDT: David Onyemata

RDE: Marcus Davenport

WLB: Pete Werner

MLB: Dameria Davis

SLB: Kaden Elliss

CB: Paulson Adebo

CB: Marshon Lattimore

SS: Marcus Maye

FS: Tyrann Mathieu

Special Teams

PK: Wil Lutz

P: Blake Gillikin

PR: Deonte Harty

KR: Deonte Harty

PREVIEW

The only thing that kept the Saints out of the playoffs a season ago was bad injury luck. That was, of course, with Sean Payton running the franchise and there’s no way to look at the hiring of Dennis Allen as anything other than a serious downgrade.

Now, Allen had been the Saints’ defensive coordinator for the last six seasons and it was a pretty solid unit. If you knew nothing else about him, you would think this was the natural hire to replace Payton. Then you’d Google him and feel very differently. Like when you searched WebMD after taking too hard a look at that mole on your back shoulder.

See, this isn’t Allen’s first shot at a head coaching position. He was the head man of the then Oakland Raiders from 2012 to four games into 2014 and he amassed a ridiculous 8-28 record. He was fired a month into the 2014 season after the team started 0-4.

There’s a big difference in this Saints team than the Oakland squad that Allen was tasked to build. Mainly, that this one is already built and filled with star players. Former Offensive Player of the Year Michael Thomas missed all of last season and I feel pretty safe in saying that, if he’d played, they would have won a couple more games even with starting ex Subway Sandwich Artists and Fudrucker’s Grillmasters.

They open the year with three straight NFC South match ups at the Falcons, hosting the Buccaneers and then at the Panthers. Considering they swept the Bucs in the last two regular seasons, you can’t really count that as a loss and they should dominate both Atlanta and Carolina, who has one of the worst rosters in the NFL.

They get a break with playing the Minnesota Vikings at home before hosting the Seattle Seahawks. The Cincinnati Bengals show up to the Big Easy on Oct. 16 and that could be the Saints’ first loss.

A lot more will be coming as the meaty part of their schedule shows up with games against the Raiders, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and another square off with Tampa Bay. While they’ve dominated the regular season match ups with the Brady Bucs in the previous two seasons, I can’t see them enjoying a sweep three years in a row.

NOLA gets a couple of tough ones over the last month of the season at the Deshaun Watson-led Cleveland Browns and at the Philadelphia Eagles, but that’s sandwiched between the Falcons and Panthers. I’m going with 10 wins, but I might be low.

Final record prediction: 10-7

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

Connect with us our socials on Twitter and Instagram for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.