Larry Holder's TP article of 7/23/14 titled, "High Expectations" is a fairy tale continuation of last years Saints season which saw the Saints finish the regular season weak instead of strong as predicted. We were told finishing strong was Payton's and Bree's strong suit but it did not happen.
Holder now tells his readers the Saints 2014 roster is better than the Dome Patrol era, the 2009 Super Bowl team and the 2011 team and that this years roster is the best ever and that the expectation of Super Bowl glory is warranted. That is a long shot prediction based on the Saints roster and smacks of apple polishing.
He goes off the deep end when he says, if the 2011 season taught Saints fans anything, its that the best team doesn't always win the Super Bowl. He relates that to the Saints loss to Frisco in the playoffs that season with their five turnovers and jumps to the conclusion if they had won that game they would have won the Super Bowl. The fans do not buy that and neither do I.
The better team actually did win that game on that particular day causing five Saints turnovers. A team can not be the best team based on the roster or on their record. They have to be the best team on the day it counts and it counted that day in 2011 against Frisco. The 49'ers won on that day and the Saints lost.
Sports journalists for the Times Picayune, Radio and TV have been so wrong on their predictions about the Saints it is almost laughable. Does any one remember the year Payton sat out and they said the Saints would be fine because they were Pros and knew their jobs. Yeah, right. One TP writer even thought Payton should have been the NFL's coach of the year last year.
Don't be surprised if last years finish by the Saints, loosing 4 of their last 7 games is a prelude to how the Saints preform this season.
This commentary written by John Lucia
