Finally the Saints will see someone other than their teammates line up across from them as both New Orleans and Arizona play their first pre-season game.
Both teams will be without some of their top flight offensive players Thursday Night in Glendale. The Saints will be without WR's Marques Colston and Devery Henderson, RB Deuce McAllister, and TE Jeremy Shockey among others. Arizona will not play WR's Anquan Boldin or Early Doucet.
The main thing I will be looking for is how the Saints offensive and defensive lines hold up against Arizona. The Cardinals are not world beaters on defense, but it will be interesting to see how the O-Line does as they've been outplayed by the defensive line during camp thus far.
On the other hand, I think all coaches, players and fans alike want to see if the Saints defensive line really has the potential to be good this season. The Cardinals are well coached upfront and they will provide a decent challenge to the new Saints D-line.
Another thing to look for is how the Saints defensive backs match-up with a pretty well core of Arizona receivers. Although Anquan Boldin will not play, the Saints will have trouble matching-up with Larry Fitzgerald, as QB Matt Leinart will more than likely try and go deep once or twice while he is in the game.
The battle to see who will be the Saints punt returner heats up this week as Skyler Green will get his chances along with Reggie Bush and Lance Moore. Green could move one step closer to making the roster with a couple of nice returns against Arizona.
Finally, I am looking forward to seeing how disruptive Sedick Ellis can be and how improved last year's top pick, WR Robert Meachem is, after being a major disappointment as a rookie.
I never make predictions on pre-season games, but it is safe to say that we will see if the Black & Gold have made progress in the off-season, and if this defense is headed in the right direction or back to the drawing board!
Thursday August 7th @ University of Phoenix
4:00 PM First Take / 7:00 PM Kickoff on WWL 870 AM & FM 105.3
Series Record: Arizona leads Series 12-13
Last Meeting: December 16th 2007 Saints 31 Cardinals 24
The Cardinals Breakdown
Conference: NFC
Division: NFC West
Head Coach: Ken Whisenhunt
2007 Record: 8-8
Projected Starting Offense
WR Larry Fitzgerald
WR Steve Breaston
LT Mike Gandy
LG Reggie Wells
C Lyle Sendlein
RG Deuce Lutui
RT Levi Brown
TE Leonard Pope
QB Matt Leinart
FB Terrelle Smith
RB Edgerrin James
Projected Starting Defense
DE Antonio Smith
DT Darnell Dockett
NT Bryan Robinson
DE Bertrand Berry
LB Chike Okeafor
LB Gerald Hayes
LB Karlos Dansby
LCB Rod Hood
RCB Eric Green
SS Adrian Wilson
FS Antrel Rolle
The Saints Breakdown
Conference: NFC
Division: NFC South
Head Coach: Sean Payton (2nd Year 18-16 overall)
2007 Record: 7-9
Projected Starting Line-Ups
Offense
WR 81 David Patten
LT 70 Jamal Brown
LG 67 Jamar Nesbit
C 76 Jonathan Goodwin
RG 73 Jahri Evans
RT 78 Jon Stinchcomb
TE 83 Billy Miller or 80 Mark Campbell
WR 16 Lance Moore
QB 9 Drew Brees
HB 25 Reggie Bush
FB 44 Mike Karney
Defense
LDE 94 Charles Grant
NT 98 Sedrick Ellis
DT 96 Antwan Lake or 71 Kendrick Clancy
RDE 91 Will Smith
SLB 55 Scott Fujita
MLB 50 Mark Simoneau
WLB 58 Scott Shanle
LCB 20 Randall Gay
RCB 42 Jason David
FS 43 Kevin Kaesviharn
SS 41 Roman Harper
E-Mail Story
Print Story
