Bold prediction for New Orleans Saints 2018 Season

The Saints are set to kick off their 2018 Season this Sunday, Sep. 9 against the Buccaneers. Here we predict how the team will do for the full season by quarters.

We’ve (im)patiently waited to have New Orleans Saints football back and that time is finally here! The Who Dat nation was treated to a fine 2017 season. On paper, this season looks to be as good if not better. Unfortunately, they don’t play the game on paper.

However, we can speculate as much as we’d like and have our big game dreams. The past couple of years, I’ve put together a quarter by quarter look at how the Saints season will turn out. As much as I was speculating through Black and Gold colored glasses, I was only one game shy of accurate last season.

My 10-6 prediction turned into an actual 11-5. I surely hope the Saints follow my predictive lead this season.

First Quarter: 4-0

The Saints will jump out of the gate very strong this season, winning their first four games. With two division games early, those wins will be very important.

We open the season this week with Tampa Bay in the Superdome. This team beat us to close out the year last season. We’ll chalk that up to playoff malaise and looking ahead. The Saints are simply a better team than Tampa. Jameis Winston will miss the first three games of the season, so he will be unavailable for the Bucs. Even if he played, the Saints should have their number. We owe them for that last game.

We follow that up with another home game against Cleveland. This will NOT be the Cleveland team of the past few seasons – this team is on the way up. I think it will take them a few games to get there though. Again, this is a team the Saints should handle well, but watch for the Browns making a charge later in the year.

An interesting side note for this game – Gregg Williams, former Saints defensive coordinator and architect of the defense popped for bounties in 2012, is now the defensive coordinator for the Browns. We remember the game the Saints played against the Rams two seasons ago in the Superdome when Williams was their coordinator. We saw more emotion and more verve in the play calling of Sean Payton than maybe any other game he’s coached. He will want to destroy Williams.

Oh, the Dirty Birds… They want to believe they were better than just making the playoffs last season. They want to avenge 28-3 somehow. But with Matt Ryan sucking the financial life from that franchise and Julio Jones gaining a few more dollars this season and the promise of more at the end of this season, the Falcons have their own “win now” movement occurring. We know they are good and they will be at home, but the Saints will be on a mission at that point and the focus will be strong. They beat Atlanta in their own place.

We finish the first quarter of the season on the road at the New York Giants. Much improved with Saquon Barkely and a healthy Odell Beckham, Jr., the Giants could be a challenging offense. The Saints will have to remind themselves of the last time they faced the Giants in New York – a solid defensive performance with no offense – and get a bit angry. But again, the Saints are the better team and will pull out a victory.