Saturday 4:30 PM ET: New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers

The unstoppable force meets the immovable object.  Unstoppable is not an overstatement either; Brees and the Saints’ offense have been rolling on all cylinders and show no signs of slowing down.  One piece of information that I have noticed many experts and analysts using against New Orleans is the fact that they have struggled when playing outdoors.  When playing without a dome this year, the Saints were 3 and 2 (13 and 3 overall), which may or not be significant.  You could argue that 60 degree weather may not affect a dome team as much as numbers suggest but the Saints have averaged a full two touchdowns less in those games.  What I keep coming back to are the memories of exciting, high-flying, flashy offenses being stopped in their tracks by a big boy defense (as the Ravens and Steelers have shown us in many recent years).  As incredible as Drew Brees has been all year, I really think that we could see an instance where he actually has some issues throwing those accurate, 20 yard missiles downfield that he has made look so easy.  In a year that has definitely been a breeze for the New Orleans offense, this one looks more like a grind. Continue reading →