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So, lost in the haze of verbal gunfire launched at Jim Caldwell, Bill Polian, Curtis Painter and the Indianapolis Colts is another brewing mess going in New Orleans.

In case you did not notice, the Saints blew a 17-point lead at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and dropped a 20-17 decision in overtime. Once considered an invincible home-field advantage, the Superdome has been the site of consecutive losses for the Saints.

It’s one thing to lose to the Dallas Cowboys, but dropping a game to the Bucs at home? In the immortal words of Carl Lewis, “uh-oh”.

The sudden mortality in the Big Easy has made Saints fans uneasy at best. Is it the looming historical factor of no team ever winning the Super Bowl after losing to Tampa in the same season? Or is it a growing resume of games that should be of concern?

Remember, this team that was foolishly drawing comparison to the ’99 Rams (just an absurd comparison if one goes back and examines exactly how good that team was) has been on the ropes numerous times this season. However, after the blowout win over New England back in November, the Saints backers went all baton down the hatches to voice their support of Saints football 2009. The fervor culminated with Saints fans going Scarface on the TV of a lowly Redskins supporter.

The Saints have multiple problems including leaky pass protection and a defense that honestly is not that good. Folks, they rank 19th in scoring defense. When we do the JMRA NFC playoff preview in a week’s time, you will see that some of the NFC breathren must overcome some ominous historical trends and subpar scoring defense is one of them.

New Orleans does have home-field advantage which gives them a big leg up. During the ’00s, the number one seed in the NFC made it to the Super Bowl on six occasions. Yet, the last two have crashed and burned in the first round

The Saints will be involved in one of the most loaded NFC fields in recent memory in terms of quality. You could come up with a relatively legitimate argument for any of the six NFC playoff teams to make it to Miami.

Saints fans, load up on the gumbo. You may need it.