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New Orleans Saints: Predicting the first loss on 2021 schedule

By Leigh Oleszczak

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 10: Alvin Kamara #41 of the New Orleans Saints walks on the field between plays during the first quarter against the Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 10, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 10: Alvin Kamara #41 of the New Orleans Saints walks on the field between plays during the first quarter against the Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 10, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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The New Orleans Saints‘ schedule was released last week and for the most part, it’s favorable. If the Saints had Drew Brees returning for a 16th season, fans would feel pretty confident about their chances to contend this year, but Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill will be the quarterbacks fans are talking about this year.

As favorable as the schedule might be, the Saints aren’t going a perfect 17-0. It’s tricky deciphering the first quarter of the Saints’ schedule and trying to determine where the first loss of the season could come.

Week 1 is against the Green Bay Packers, who hosted last season’s NFC Championship Game. Even with this game being at home for the Saints, this would be a good candidate for New Orleans’ first loss of the year because of how dominant the Packers have been in recent years. The problem, however, is that no one knows what’s going to happen with Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers is the reason the Packers are a scary team. Without Rodgers, that intimidation is no more. No offense to Jordan Love, but he hasn’t proven himself to be a wizard at the quarterback position like Rodgers has. If Love is starting, the Saints should be able to win this game, but if Rodgers is still in Green Bay, this could be New Orleans’ first loss.

When will the New Orleans Saints suffer their first loss of the 2021 season?

After hosting the Packers, the Saints hit the road for two straight weeks, traveling to Carolina and then New England for a date with the Panthers and Patriots respectively. It’s likely that the Saints drop their first game of the year to one of these two teams.

While the Saints are a better team than that of the Panthers and Patriots, road games can trip up anyone and the Saints are no exception to that rule. Traveling to a division rival in just the second week of the season is going to be tricky and it’s never easy to escape Foxborough with a win. Plus, Cam Newton is familiar with the Saints and that will give him the edge in this matchup.

When predicting when the New Orleans Saints’ first loss will come, it could very well be in Week 1 if Rodgers is still the Packers quarterback. He’s just so good at making something out of nothing and the Saints’ offense might not be able to keep up with him. That’s why the Saints would lose to the Packers.

A loss in Week 2 or 3 would be because road games can be taxing. The Panthers might be a sneaky team this year and if the Saints sleep on them, they could be upended in their first meeting of the year. The Patriots are a team known for their sneakiness as well and after posting a losing record last year for the first time in two decades, teams aren’t as intimidated by them.

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The Saints are a difficult team to peg this year because they don’t have the stability of Drew Brees at quarterback anymore. That makes it tough to predict when the first loss might occur.