Saints’ projected schedule makes lofty goals tougher to reach for 2018

Along with the headline that the Saints play the second toughest schedule in the NFL in 2018, there must be some good news.

Yes! The Cleveland Browns are on the schedule.

Does schedule strength really make that much of a difference?

In 2017, it did.

Of the nine teams with the easiest slates, only the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills made the playoffs. Neither won a playoff game.

Strength of schedule made a huge difference for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were tied with Tennessee for the second worst schedule in the league.

The Jaguars, who added running back Leonard Fournette in the first round to go along with a solid defense, reached the AFC championship game.

The Colts, who had the easiest schedule in the NFL, didn’t make the playoffs. But their season had a major asterisk. Quarterback Andrew Luck, an elite performer, didn’t play a down.

What the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles did in 2017 is only underlined after you consider this fact: they tied with Dallas for the 10th toughest schedule in the league.

So, the Saints have their work cut out for them.

Not to mention plenty of questions.

Can they come even close to replicating what they accomplished in the 2017 draft and free agent class? That will be extremely difficult to do.

Can Drew Brees complete a career high 72 percent of his passes again?

Can Brees average anything close to 8.09 yards per completion, his highest since 2011?

Can running back Alvin Kamara come close to matching per-touch production and his 11 touchdowns scored in the 2017 regular season?

Can defensive end Cam Jordan, who had a career high 13 sacks and defended 11 passes, duplicate those lofty numbers?

The NFL is a league set up to have different teams contend every season.

Jacksonville is a prime example. 

The Jags hire a top football man in former Giants coach Tom Coughlin to run their franchise, draft well and play a weak schedule, and they come within a whisker of a Super Bowl berth.

In his first season as an NFL head coach, Archbishop Shaw alum Vance Joseph had much to overcome. Joseph’s Broncos was plagued by poor quarterback play, and he was up against the toughest schedule in the league.

Denver general manager John Elway was correct in giving Joseph a mulligan.

In 2018, the Broncos are tied for the 25th toughest schedule in the league and figure to be one of the suitors for soon to be free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins.

You can coach e’m up all you want. At the Senior Bowl, Joseph said he had to do a better job of “coaching his coaches.”

But, if Elway gets Joseph a top flight signal caller, the second year coach will suddenly look like one with a lot of football acumen.

On the parade route this past Sunday, more than one Saints fan said they were already missing their black and gold Sundays and they couldn’t wait for the 2018 season to kick off.

I get it.

The Saints were a fun team to watch in 2017, winning five more games that they did the year before. That’s a very big jump in the NFL.

They made the leap, now can the Saints stay in Super Bowl contention?

Their schedule says that will be a difficult task indeed.

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