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Forecast: One position may be best in Saints history; team doomed if Brees gets hurt

The Taysom Hill era may have ended before it even began.

Welcome to the best week of New Orleans Saints preseason football. Week 3 is usually the most interesting because key players actually see game action and as fans we get the added bonus of the Saints practicing this week against Saturday’s opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers.

Before we get to this week, we need to look back at last week’s 20-15 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

My Taysom Hill dreams are dead. I wanted nothing more than the guy who was blasting dudes on special teams to also be the Saints backup quarterback. Alas, his performance Friday conjured up the most terrible of words from Saints fans of a certain age – Billy Joe.

It was maybe the single worse Saints quarterbacking performance of the last 20+ years. I say this as a guy who watched Aaron Brooks throw a ball backwards and Doug Nussmeier start a game where he finished a game with quarterback rating of 28.5. I know terrible quarterbacking; my late 1990’s Saints fandom helped me acquire a PhD in it. It was just preseason and didn’t count, but terrible is terrible.

Poor Taysom, we were all rooting so hard for him. Hill’s performance was riveting in its awfulness, but he’s still great on special teams and we’ll always have his fun Jacksonville game most of us have already forgotten.

MORE: Saints can't overcome Hill's 4 turnovers in preseason loss to Cardinals

Backup quarterback for the Saints is kind of a disaster right now. I shall quote my mother, a Lakeview resident, to describe the Saints quarterback situation since the day Drew Brees arrived: “The Saints without Drew Brees are like New Orleans without water pumps during hurricane season. The question isn’t if it would be terrible, the question is how terrible would it be?”

There is nothing left to do but pray for good health for #9.

The good news about that is the Saints starting offensive line looks as solid as Beyoncé tour date revenue. The Saints were mashing the Cardinals in the run game when all five starters were playing. I know you come to this little column for jokes and the reddest hot Saints takes on the Interwebs so drink this one in; The 2018 Saints offensive line -- if they stay healthy -- will be the best offensive line in team history.

It’s that good.

The Saints invested heavily in it with first round picks Andrus Peat and Ryan Ramczyk, have a top center in Max Unger and pro bowl guard in Larry Warford. The key to greatness as always lies with Terron Armstead. When he’s injured and playing he’s good, when he’s healthy he’s Luke Cage just wrecking fools. The great news is he’s optimistic he’s figured out a routine and plan to stay healthy.

I’m not even worried about Mark Ingram missing a month, although I feel terrible for him because I want him to break all of Deuce McAllister’s rushing records, which becomes harder to do in 12 games. The Saints could go pull any random running back off the street and they’ll be fine behind these five linemen. Basically, the Saints just need a runner better than 2017 Adrian Peterson and they’ll be fine for a month.

2017 Peterson is the lowest of bars to clear; you can practically step over it.

While the offensive line and running back situation looks fine, receiver suddenly looks like the Saints are going to be counting on rookie Tre’Quan Smith even more than we imagined. It’s weird to say he’s second best receiver on the roster, but he’s the second best receiver on the roster. The good news is Sean Payton has no hesitation playing young receivers if they prove worthy. Marques Colston, Kenny Stills, Brandin Cooks, Michael Thomas, and even Jimmy Graham late in 2010 all contributed heavily as rookies.

Drew Brees does for receivers what Rick Rubin does for musicians -- he turns them into stars.

MORE: Tre'Quan Smith steps up: Saints highlights from 20-15 preseason loss

On defense Trey Hendrickson might make the Saints 2017 draft a unicorn with super powers. If Hendrickson turns out to be an above average defensive end, it means last year’s draft netted five starting players. That’s insane and I’m not even counting Alex Anzalone.

You could split the 2017 Saints draft in two and either part would be an A+ draft. Hendrickson coming on strong is great news because Alex Okafor might not be ready for opening weekend after an injury last week and Marcus Davenport is just now returning to practice. If Trey Hendrickson becomes good his jersey sales will fund Saints merchandise store owner’s children’s college funds.

I’m actually very excited about the Saints this week. Checking my Twitter feed 45,000 times for practice updates against the Chargers will make this week fly by.

MORE: Louisiana man makes history as first NFL cheerleader, but haters lash out

Finally, I loved the new male Saintsation, Jesse Hernandez. We should all be as happy as he looked Friday doing something we love. The Saints having a guy dance at their games is totally on brand. I’m not sure if you know this, but they used to let a guy dance on the field with an umbrella to celebrate wins. It was popular. There was even a song about it. Jesse Hernandez being a Saintsation is fun and more fun in football is what I’m here for.

Slowly, but surely, we are inching slowly and safely to fun real football.

Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast or download his podcast at Itunes

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