A Chronicle of the Saints' Struggles With the Other Conference

The Saints have finally got some momentum, having won three in a row. They look to be close to the form they displayed last year. Meanwhile, the Jaguars are starting Quinn Gray, allowing New Orleans to stack against the run. It'd seem that the Saints, playing at home, have the advantage here. But the Jaguars are from the AFC, which has served as the Saints' achilles heel. In the Sean Payton era, New Orleans has gone 1-5 against the superior conference. Here are the ugly particulars:

September 10th, 2006: Saints 19, Browns 16
Payton's first game is a victory, but it's a hard-earned one over a team that went 4-12. The Saints only managed one touchdown -- the first strike from Drew Brees to Marques Colston -- and had to rely on a Josh Bullocks interception with the Browns driving late to save the victory.

October 29th, 2006: Ravens 35, Saints 22
This one was not nearly as close as the score might indicate. Brees threw three interceptions and, in a sign of desperation in both play-calling and execution, Reggie Bush also threw a pick in the endzone attempting a halfback pass. They also lost a fumble. Two garbage time touchdowns to Colston made the score respectable, but the Ravens were able to sit back on the 35-7 lead they brought into the fourth quarter.

November 12th, 2006: Steelers 38, Saints 31
The Saints actually led this one 24-17 at halftime. But Willie Parker absolutely crushed them, scoring twice from short range in the second half on his way to 213 yards after being set up with monster runs, the longest of which went 76 yards. The Saints hurt their own cause, losing three of five fumbles on the game, and John Carney missed a field goal. Whereas the Ravens beat the Saints, the Saints beat themselves in this one. If they collect on all those lost points, the Steelers aren't in the position to bury them with Parker in the fourth.

November 19th, 2006: Bengals 31, Saints 16
Another turnover-filled day in an ugly middle of the season for the Saints. Brees threw three interceptions (one of which went to current Saint Kevin Kaesviharn in the endzone) and Terrance Copper lost a costly fumble. The Saints were able to bottle up the Bengals' explosive offense in the first half, down only 10-7 at the break, but their susceptible secondary (which began to really struggle around this time of the season) was embarrassed in the second half. Chad Johnson caught touchdowns of 60 and four yards in the fourth (two of his three scores as part of a 190-yard day) and Ethan Kilmer returned an interception 52 yards for another score as part of a 21-point run the Bengals made to break open a 10-10 deadlock.

September 6th, 2007: Colts 41, Saints 10
A painful day for Saints fans. After an offseason of legitimate hope and talking ourselves into believing we actually had a chance to beat the Colts in their house, those dreams were crushed. Yet again -- sensing a theme? -- the Saints played tough and close in the first half, tied 10-10 at the break, but the offense was in flux, relying on a Jason David forced fumble and return for the lone touchdown. It was all Indianapolis the rest of the way, as the Colts forced New Orleans to account for Joseph Addai, allowing them to pick on David (who was getting suspiciously little safety help) over the top for three touchdown passes. The high-flying offense we heard about all offseason failed to score a touchdown.

September 24th, 2007: Titans 31, Saints 14
The last truly embarrassing game in the Saints' ugly 0-4 start this season. And (someone contact the Department of Redunancy Department [I think I'll vomit now]), New Orleans was only down 10-7 at half. They took a 14-10 lead in the third, too, but four interceptions by Brees completely derailed all momentum the Saints were building on offense. Almost all of those picks were Brees' fault exclusively, too, as he attempted to do too much with the Titans' mammoth run defense holding Saints backs to just 25 yards. New Orleans lost Deuce McAllister for the season in this contest, leading all to believe 2007 was a lost cause.