The Saints are flying high at 6-2 and need this game to stay ahead of the Falcons in the division.  The Steelers’ Joey Porter has “guaranteed” a victory over the Saints…..what a fool he is!  What in the Steelers play this season has Porter thinking they will beat the Saints on Sunday?  Nothing!  Willie Parker and Hines Ward sounded like beaten puppies this weak in Steelers press conferences already talking about next season…..with 8 games left this year!

The Saints have been throwing the ball to set up their running game and that’s bad news for the Steelers defense.  The Steelers defense has made Jake Plummer & Michael Vick look good throwing the ball in recent weeks, so their are serious doubts that they will be able to deal with Drew Brees and his receivers.  Look for Brees (2,206 yards passing, 14 TDs) to throw the ball downfield to Marques Colston (44 rec, 700 yards) and Joe Horn (30 rec, 507 yards) and have alot of success with it.  The Saints offensive line has only allowed 8 sacks this whole season and should be able to handle the Steelers blitzing tactics and make them pay.  Deuce McAllister (487 yards rushing) and Reggie Bush (207 yards rushing, 312 yards receiving will test the Steelers linebackers all day long.

The Steelers need to get back to “Steeler Football” which means running the football.  Look for Willie Parker to have a HUGE game against a Saints defense that is allowing 115.4 yards rushing and 4.5 yards per carry.  The linebackers of the Saints will have problems with Parker’s speed if the Steelers run some sweeps.  The Steelers would be smart to limit the passes that Roethlisberger throws to the shorter passes so that he doesn’t make bad decisions with the football as he has been trying to hit too many home runs and making HUGE mistakes with the ball.  They should try to throw the ball to the forgotten man….Heath Miller.  Miller is too good of a player for the Steelers to waste.

If the Steelers stick to the running game and Roethlisberger throws the ball less than 25 times, the Steelers will have a good chance to win this game.  The Saints are the better team here though and I’m leaning that way.

Drew Brees has proven to be worth every penny that the Saints gave him to come to town.  Brees has produced despite the lack of a consistent running game.  Brees has completed 65.5% of his passes for 2,206 yards passing this season, with 14 TDs and 7 INTs.  Brees has a QB rating of 95.2 this season which is outstanding, and Brees is good at getting rid of the ball under pressure as he has only been sacked 8 times the whole season.  Brees makes his whole team better and is a born leader.

The Saints won this game on the strength of Drew Brees’ right arm and a stern defensive effort.  Drew Brees completed 24 of 32 passes for 314 yards and 3 TDs.  Marques Colston caught 11 passes for 123 yards and a TD.  Devery Henderson had a huge game, catching 3 passes for 111 yards and 2 long TDs.  The Saints running game didn’t produce much.  Deuce McAllister carried the ball 15 times for 32 yards (2.1 ypc) and a TD.  Reggie Bush carried the ball 11 times for a LOSS of 5 yards, and he caught 4 passes for 22 yards.

The defense played great against the Bucs.  LBs Scott Shanle (10 tackles) and Scott Fujita (6 tackles) led the way of defense.  The Defensive Ends were huge difference makers for the Saints.  Charles Grant had 4 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.  Will Smith added 3 tackles and 2 sacks.  The Saints held the Bucs to 68 yards rushing on 18 carries (3.8 ypc).  The Bucs completed 18 of 31 passes for 158 net yards passing.

The Saints did exactly what they are supposed to do to bad teams…..kick their butt!

This could be an interesting game as these teams played a great game just four weeks ago.  The Bucs had the Saints beat until Reggie Bush returned a late 4th quarter punt 65 yards for a TD.  The Saints are coming off of a tough loss in which nothing went right against the Ravens.  Even though the Bucs have won 2 of their last 3 games, rookie QB Bruce Gradkowski has gotten progressively worse in each game.

Look for the Saints to run the ball and throw deep.  They should be able to run the ball well against a Bucs run defense that is allowing 146.0 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry.  Deuce McAllister (455 yards rushing, 4.7 ypc) ran for 123 yards on 15 carries in the first match-up with the Bucs.  The Bucs LB’s had better be ready for covering Reggie Bush out of the backfield as he caught 11 passes in their first meeting.  Brees won’t be messing around with short passes to his WRs, he’s going deep!  Marques Colston (33 rec, 577 yards) and Joe Horn (30 rec, 507 yards) should have a lot of success against the weak Bucs secondary.

The Bucs should come out running the ball against the Saints.  They should give the ball to Cadillac Williams (414 yards rushing) until he gets tired and then give it to Michael Pittman, as the Saints defense allows 122.1 yards rushing per game and 4.6 yards per carry!  The Bucs need to stick to the run and keep the ball away from the Saints offense, while building confidence in their young offensive line.  Gradkowski should take some shots downfield to Joey Galloway (25 rec, 378 yards) and Michael Clayton.

If the Saints are serious players in the NFC, they will blow the Bucs out.  The thinking here is that the Bucs will give them another tough game and maybe even beat them, as they should have done in the first meeting.