Does beating NO without Thomas = Credibility?

[DeadRinger]

So, does this mean we can play with anyone?

No, Thomas wasn't there but Brees still threw for 312 yds and their O scored 3 TDs against us. Kamara absolutely trashed us with 79 yds and 2 TDs on the ground, and another 95 receiving yds, and this dude Smith stepped up nicely in Thomas's absence and had 86 receiving yds.

BUT, Brees seemed out of sync a lot of the game, like he was REALLY missing Thomas. That INT he threw was a major head-scratcher. I think he was having communication problems with his 2nd string WRs. His problems might also be attributable to the crappy offseason we all had.

People always say "a win is a win, doesn't matter how you get it," but I disagree. HOW you win says a lot about what your team is capable of and how they'll do against other opponents. For instance, in 2016, even though we were 12-4 in the regular season, I had NO faith in that team. Because we were winning UGLY and we were getting LUCKY far too often. It just wasn't a legitimately good team, and we would have gotten bounced in the first round even Carr hadn't been injured.

I think this team - or this offense specifically - could be a legitimately good to great offense as we continue to grow and get the younger guys more involved. You can't just rely on Waller and Jacobs al season long, because history tells us they're going to miss some games. So I expect the team to get better and better every week, working our new guys into the game plan more and more.

So how good is this team?

Good enough to beat the Pats? I think so, but depends on whether or not we can force Newton to throw. Based on what we've seen in our first 2 games, I don't have much faith that we can do that. I wouldn't put money on either team in this matchup, I have no idea who will win.

Good enough to beat BUF? That's a TOUGH team with good DBs, but I think we're just a little bit better.

Good enough to beat KC? I watched their game against the Chargers and they looked pretty anemic on O for most of the game. unfortunately, they only need about 10 min on the clock to score 21 pts, so I don't think there's any way we can beat KC. I can see them hanging BIG numbers on our D if that unit can't tighten up between now and then. If we continue to give the QB all day to throw, Mahomes will destroy us.

TB? CLE? LAC? DEN? Yes. We should beat every one of those teams. That should be a 4-game win streak right there.

I believe KC is the only team on our schedule that's beyond our ability to beat. BUF and LAC will be tough. Pats are a wild card, they came within ONE YARD of beating SEA, who I think has a great shot to be in the SB this year.

10-6 this season should be our absolute floor, with 12-4 being the goal. 2 losses to KC, maybe a loss to LAC, a loss to either BUF or NE or both if we really shit the bed.

We shouldn't lose to anyone else on our schedule, barring critical injuries of course.