After 10 straight weeks of football, the New Orleans Saints finally get their bye week. The Saints enter their off week after a 26-23 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons, grabbing the NFC South lead. The Saints are a game ahead of the Falcons and two games ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, the Saints get a week to heal their injuries. New Orleans has several players who are trying to get back from injury or heal up for the stretch run.
Running back is one position hit hard by the injury bug. Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory all missed time this season with injuries.
Drew Brees' most reliable target, Lance Moore, has been hurt this season. Even head coach Sean Payton has not escaped the wounded list. Payton was hit on the sideline after a Jimmy Graham catch in the week-six loss to Tampa Bay. The coach suffered a leg fracture and torn MCL tendon, and spent the St. Louis loss in the coach's box.
The biggest injury of all has been to linebacker Jonathan Vilma who had surgery last week. Vilma is the defensive quarterback and makes sure the rest of the defense is their correct positions. The team missed Vilma when the Falcons went no-huddle-down late in the fourth quarter. Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan moved the ball at will to force the game into overtime.
The extra week off might give Vilma a chance to get ready for the final playoff push. New Orleans will need all hands on deck after the bye, when they play the New York Giants and Detroit Lions at home. Then they hit the road to face the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings. The Saints finish the season at home against division rivals Falcons and the Carolina Panthers.
That is not a daunting schedule by any means, but New Orleans has had issues this season. The team has tackled poorly and has been bad in pass coverage in spurts.
The Saints can be great on defense at times, so this week off would be a great time to work on defensive issues.
Once the running backs heal up, the Saints' offense should be clicking on all cylinders heading into the stretch run. New Orleans is in a good spot—not great, but good.
They just have to go out and take it in the final six games.
Follow Bryan Flynn at http://www.jfpsports.com, Facebook and @jfpsports.
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