Saints Look Like Early Favorite in the NFC

Those of you who really know me know this. I am a life long Brett Favre fanatic. Favre has the Minnesota Vikings off to a 3-0 start and I would love to think that the Vikes are the team to beat in the NFC. But I do not think that they are the team to beat. With each passing week it's looking more and more like the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC will go through New Orleans.

The Saints are now 3-0 for only the sixth time in 43 years of existence after Sunday's 27-7 win at Buffalo. And this year it looks like the Saints don't have to have a monster stat game from quarterback Drew Brees to win.

On Sunday Brees only threw for 172 yards. That was his lowest passing yardage total in a game since 2006. Brees was backed up by a Saints rushing attack that produced over 220 rush yards including 126 (all in second half) by Pierre Thomas.

Did you know this? After three weeks the Saints rank second in the NFL with 170.7 rushing yards per game. If you can run the ball like that in the NFL, you will be successful even without a great quarterback. It doesn't matter who is toting the rock either. Mike Bell looked great against the Lions and Eagles. Thomas was fantastic against Buffalo, and for crying out loud, even Reggie Bush is running the ball well!

I wonder, if you are and NFL defensive coordinator, how do you gameplan to stop the Saints offense? If you focus on the run then Brees will burn you all day long. And if you try to contain Brees then Thomas, Bell and Bush will run with ease.

Before the season started I said that I thought the Saints defense would be much improved under new coordinator Greg Williams. The Saints defense didn't need to be top notch this season for the Saints to make the playoffs. Just middle of the pack and I thought Williams could get them there. After three weeks, that's exactly where the Saints defense ranks, 12th out of 32 teams.

I'll leave you with two more tidbits. In 180 minutes of football this season, the Saints have yet to trail in a game. Also, under Sean Payton the Saints are now 12-0 when allowing 14 points or less. With the way the defense is playing, I can certainly see the Saints holding a few more teams to 14 points or less.

This Sunday the Saints host the red hot New York Jets and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez. He's the first rookie QB to start his career 3-0, but something tells me that Mark will have his rookie "Welcome to the NFL" moment this Sunday in the Superdome.

WHO DAT!!!!!!!!!