Why The New Orleans Saints, Not The Green Bay Packers Are The NFC Favorite

This could be the scene in February for the Saints, and yes again, in large thanks to this man.

The Saints finished off their 11th with a nice drubbing of the lowly, Minnesota Vikings. No one noticed though. All the hoopla was about the Green Bay Packers and their quest for perfection, imperfected. Perfect. Perfect for the Saints. Perfect for MVP candidate Drew Brees who is well on his way to breaking Dan Marino's passing record. The Saints have won six in a row, and sit atop of the NFC South, and no one cares; that's the best part.

We've seen it before way too many teams. The #1 seed in the playoffs taking a big ol' tumble in the Divisonal game. I'm not sure if we're going to watch the Packers fall to that fate, but I'll tell you what, the Saints are soaring into the playoffs and I'm not sure anyone can stop them, at least not in the National Football Conference. The Saints offense is prolific as their QB Drew Brees is looking to make Dan Marino's passing record an afterthought. Oh yeah, and the Saints aren't too bad at running the ball, ranking 9th in the league thanks to the emergence of Darren Sproles. The Saints have beaten Atlanta, Detroit and New York on their six game winning streak; that means three formidable teams.

But what separates them from everyone's NFC favorite is two things. One, defense. Now, we're not talking about a drastic difference, but there's still a disparity. The Packers D is miserable, absolutely miserable(31st in the total yards), other than the fact they can make plays. The Saints D(24th) is bad, but not that bad. If the two teams were meet in the playoffs I'm not sitting here and telling you the Saints would blow them out, but their defense would make an impact. Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers are practically the same QBs: prolific and proven. So I'm confident the game would be along the lines of 42-39, but the Saints D would make one more stop, and that would ultimately determine the game.

Two, the Saints are flying under the radar. They have no pressure. They aren't defending their title. They aren't even being talked about, even with Drew Brees' new employment with Fedex Air. Pressure can make teams crumble, hence the Patriots' Super Bowl loss in '07. The "repeat that wasn't" Colts in '09. The 15-1 Vikings in '99. It's the Saints title to steal and the Packers to defend. Everyone knows you want to be in attack mode and that's exactly where the Saints are right now. Six in a row and on fire. When your QB is slinging the rock like he's playing Madden, you've gotta be confident. Add that to the fact that your opponent is getting all types of media attention for losing you're going to be feeling really good.

So while we sit here, waiting on Christmas and Week 16, the Saints are sitting in the darkness waiting for that opportunity to sneak up on the Pack and take them down.