Last week’s NFC scores were really good news for the Saints.

Washington lost to St. Louis, Carolina lost to Tampa, New York Giants lost at Cleveland, and Dallas fell in Arizona.

After a few weeks it looked like the NFC East would dominate everything and might have three playoff teams and a 10-6 team might be left home in January.

Fear not my friends. Mediocrity rules and since the Saints are clearly mediocre that’s good news.

The Cowboys are about to implode.

Either Tony Romo will try to play with a broken pinky finger and struggle or 40 year-old Brad Johnson will be driven into the ground.

Doubt me? Have you seen the drop off from Tom Brady to Matt Cassell?

Brady got rid of the ball quick while Cassell just sort of waits to get sacked.

Good quarterbacks are just quicker. Sometimes it’s being more athletic. Romo is mobile and can buy time and avoid the rush.

Drew Brees can read a defense and get rid of the ball before the rush can get to him.

Eventually though quarterback’s lose this ability, 98-year old Vinny Testaverde showed this last year.

He just couldn’t get the ball off quick enough.

I’m always amazed that the so called experts always think when teams like New England and Dallas lose their quarterbacks they will be ok.

Wrong.

It might be wrong to be happy when bad things happen to NFC teams but it’s good for the Saints.

After all the injuries the Saints have had I don’t care.

I want the Saints to make the playoffs and if it takes injuries to other teams or Jason Campbell getting abducted by aliens I’m fine with it.
So after six weeks let’s take a look at the NFC contenders. The two wildcards will be from the East and South, so I’m disregarding the West and North. No wildcards will come from those garbage fire divisions.

NY Giants: They aren’t the best team in the NFC much less the NFL. Eli Manning is still only above average. He’s the modern day Jim Everett. I mean that as a compliment. Everett was an above average quarterback but if you pressured him his throwing mechanics went in the toilet. Eli’s that way.

The Giants have a solid running game, really good front seven on defense, and good receivers but Cleveland showed that if you can protect your quarterback and force Eli Manning to win the game the Giants are very beatable.  They only play two teams with a losing record the rest of the season

Outlook: 9-7

Philadelphia: Is it just me or does Donovan McNabb only seem to play really well only against bad teams? The media loves Andy Reid but San Francisco had them on the ropes and couldn’t close. Reid is horrible at end of games. Hey Andy, those timeouts don’t all need to be used in the third quarter.

Schedule is pretty favorable but I’m guessing McNabb gets injured like he always does.

Outlook: 7-9

Washington: I totally thought Jim Zorn would drive this team right off the cliff ‘Thelma and Louise’ style.

Didn’t happen.

They play really good defense and if you don’t believe me watch their game against the Saints. The Redskins are the only team that has stopped the Saints all year. They had Drew Brees and company basically stuffed with their physical corners and tough pass rush.

I’m not a big Jason Campbell fan but they play six teams with losing records the rest of the way. If the Rams lose was just a hiccup and not a trend the Redskins are solid

Outlook: 11-5

Dallas Cowboys: Granted I hate the Cowboys and want them to meltdown like that nuclear plant in that old Jane Fonda movie.

Here’s why I think it happens:

1. Tony Romo’s injury will cripple their passing game and with no passing game TO will do TO like things. Which means creating a circus and if you think Wade Phillips can keep Owens in line, well you need to reevaluate whether you know what is happening in our world.
2. Their secondary is a disaster. It was before Pacman got booted again. By the way, how bad a guy is Jones when he gets into trouble despite 24 hour a day security? That takes a level of bad behavior which functioning people in society like you and I have no concept of.
3. I want the Cowboys to sink like a stone in my pool and I pray each night it will happen.

Outlook: 9-7

Tampa Bay: They still play great defense and Jon Gruden wised up and with Jeff Garcia at quarterback so they are better on offense.

Their schedule is nice and soft the rest of the way.

Looks like a repeat division champ to me.

Outlook: 11-5

Atlanta: They hit a homerun this off-season with Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, and a really good head coaching hire.

If Lovie Smith weren’t a completely inept end-of-game coach they’d be 3-3 though.

Schedule is brutal the rest of the way with only two losing teams the rest of the way.

My guess is they struggle and fade in December but unfortunately they found a franchise quarterback so look for Atlanta to be a serious player in the division from here on out.

That’s awful news.

Outlook: 8-8

Carolina: My nomination for team that starts fast and fades. Brutal closing month of the season: Bucs, Broncos, Giants, and Saints. Wow. I think Jake Delhomme is up and down the rest of the way which means they won’t live up to the early season hype.

Outlook: 8-8

New Orleans: We all know about the tough stretch coming up plus they only play two teams with losing records the rest of the way but they also play three .500 teams.

I only have two questions about the Saints right now. Does Taylor Mehlhaff fix the kicking game and how good or bad is the defense?

On the first one I have no clue and neither probably does Sean Payton. In a playoff race filled with teams all equally flawed if they don’t get it fixed forget playoffs.

The defense has at least shown they can shut down a team’s run game.

Even though they had to play eight in the box to do it, the point is they did it. Just because teams put eight in the box doesn’t guarantee success. The question is when they play a functional quarterback and have to worry about the pass can they be at least ok?

I’m not sure because the Saints dared Gus Frerotte to beat them and he did it. (The funny thing about all the Saints injuries is I think Tracy Porter is the biggest. He was becoming a really good corner. If he’s not injured I think probably in a month the Saints defense would have been really good. They could have played the man-to-man Gary Gibbs favors with Mike McKenzie and Porter and continued to focus on the run. Alas it wasn’t to be…)

I want answers about the defense and Sunday I’ll get them. Cue Delhomme, Steve Smith, and Mushin Muhammad.

Outlook: 9-7

On to the Games

Last Week: 4-1

Season: 18-12

New Orleans (+3) at Carolina: This is the week either the Saints win a close game and begin the playoff push or Taylor Mehlhaff misses a 35yard game winner and the downward spiral begins.

If Aaron Glenn plays I think it really helps the Saints in the secondary because Glenn gives the Saints a big physical corner to match up with Muhammad.

My one concern is how long can Drew Brees keep up this insane level of play?

At least one more week I think.

Saints win a nail bitter but it’s not on a last second kick. No, something even more shocking…Jason David intercepts Delhomme late that means next week we’ll get 457 stories on the Jason David resurrection. I can’t wait.

Saints 27-21

St. Louis (+7) vs. Dallas: This game is right in Jim Haslett’s wheelhouse. Haslett usually had the Saints ready to play against good teams. He’ll blitz Brad Johnson like crazy and the defense will make a few plays. On offense Marc Bulgar will have a big game against the beat up Cowboys secondary. Wade Phillips might want to update the resume.

Rams 27-24

Cleveland (+7) at Washington: I’m not sold on the Redskins and even though the Browns might have just caught lightning in a bottle Monday night I’m taking Cleveland.

I guess the NFC East isn’t the greatest division in the history of mankind.

Browns 25-17

New York Jets (-3) at Oakland: Not that I gamble because that would be wrong but if I did I’d bet on the Lakeview Vikings peewee football team that played at halftime last week in the Dome against the Raiders.  Would a Raider receiver even make the Saints roster?

Jets 38-14

Seattle (+10.5) at Tampa: This pick also makes absolutely no sense except I think the Seahawks will let their fans play receiver against the Bucs because of all the injuries.

This one’s for the fans!

Seahawks 19-17

Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. He can be reached at ralphmalbrough@hotmail.com. He also hosts an internet radio show previewing the Saints/Panthers game at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/forecastradio You can listen live or download archived editions at itunes.