Saints plenty good enough to place clunker versus Raiders behind them

Let’s see.

One week, the Saints were going to the Super Bowl. The next, they are in trouble.

Which one is it?

Welcome to life in the NFL. Hero one minute, goat, sometimes collectively as a team, the next.

So, are the Saints the team that handled Tampa Bay fairly routinely or the team that got handled by the Raiders?

Who knows?

I know this. We will find out about the Raiders this week against New England. Las Vegas wins, and they are 3-0. We can assume they are pretty good.

ASo maybe the Saints loss to the Raiders looks much more palatable in the rearview mirror.

Who knows?

What happened to the Saints against the Raiders?

Well, to me, it looked a lot like the Saints’ loss to the Vikings in last season’s Wild Card Playoffs.

The Raiders kept the football. They ran 76 plays; the Saints ran 57.

After the game, Saints quarterback Drew Brees remarked that the offense has to do more with limited opportunities.

He’s correct.

The most disappointing part of the loss to the Raiders might have been that the Saint were whipped physically. The Las Vegas offensive line blocked a lot better than a healthy Saints one.

Even though the Raiders didn’t record a sack, they had seven quarterback hurries. Vegas made Drew Brees uncomfortable. Any quarterback out of rhythm is a less effective one.

And there was another thing that I think was overlooked. The Raiders played the Saints at exactly the right time.

New Orleans had to travel out west, after a physical affair against the Bucs. Both the Saints and Bucs put a lot of effort into that first game.

It was the opener with no preseason. Emotion was high.

There was no way to replicate that eight days later. No way.

I hate to use that word flat, even for a team that jumped out to a 10-point lead early in the game. But I will. The Saints were missing a little something Monday night.

Once the Raiders, hyped about playing in a new stadium for a new city, gained some in-game confidence, the Saints were on their way to their first defeat of the season.

So, it is time to turn the page.

A funny thing happened this week. The Saints, as bad as they were on Monday night, are a field goal favorite against the 2-0 Packers. New Orleans is still real good, and Brees is far from finished.

That’s just one man’s opinion.

Last season, the Black and Gold were whacked in Los Angeles by the Rams, who didn’t make the playoffs. Weeks later, the Saints lost badly to an average at best Falcons team in a dismal performance at the Superdome.

Everyone once in a while, very good Saints teams under Sean Payton throw in a clunker.

Then, they get their sea legs and run off a bunch of wins in a row.

The Saints were expected to be one of the best in the NFC, and three lousy quarters in Nevada isn’t enough of a measuring stick to say that has changed.