Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The New Orleans Saints are scary. They are a wounded bear with their backs up against the wall, fighting for their lives. Time to put that bear to rest! But, it won’t be easy.

The Saints offense is still top of the class. When their quarterback, Drew Brees, is looking to break a record for throwing a touchdown pass in 48 straight games, you know that offense is something special.

We know the names! San Diego fans still wish Drew Brees and Darren Sproles were rocking the blue and gold on Sundays. AND why not, they are explosive!

Darren can catch passes out the backfield or squirt through little hole to gain huge chunks of yards on the ground. We know Darren too well in San Diego.

Drew Brees is just Drew Brees! He is a playmaker. He can beat teams with the deep passes. He can beat teams by scrambling around in the pocket. He just beats teams with his awareness and football intellegence.

Also on offense, the Saints have a tight end in the Antonio Gates mold. Jimmy Graham is a monster at tight end and knows how to score touchdowns. We have a long history of getting burned by tight ends. Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez ripped us for 91 yards and a score when he came to town. Graham will get his opportunities.

The depth of our secondary is really shaky heading into the game. We played against the Chiefs with just 3 active corners. We added CB Chris Carr into the mix, but he will be thrown into the fire after 3 days of practicing with his new team. Quentin Jammer and Antoine Cason will be tested. Brees will be sure to pick on Antoine Cason as much as he can.

Against a high-flying Saints offense, the Chargers will need their secondary to be playing at a high level. The whole defense will need to be playing at a high level.

Lastly, the Saints will have the loud home crowd trying to yell their team into a victory. The fans are hungry, the Saints are hungry. Have to deliver that knock out punch.

Any other concerns about the Saints?

The San Diego Chargers needed a bounce back win after the disaster against the Atlanta Falcons last week and they got it. They’ve also gone 2-0 in the AFC West and 3-0 in the conference. That’s great. They need to keep that going, because they’re winning all the tie breakers at this time.

They travel to battle the New Orleans Saints next and you know that Drew Brees is going to play out of his mind (he still wants revenge on AJ Smith), so they needed this win as a confidence builder going into that game.

All those turnovers by the Chiefs were great for the Bolts. Some of those bungles were self inflicted by the Chiefs, so that’s awful for them, but like the Atlanta Falcons the Bolts were there to pounce. Antoine Cason and Donald Butler have great hands. In fact, I don’t remember ever seeing Cason drop an interception.

They need to keep it up next week, because the Saints can explode and they have weapons at all skill positions, plus this will be their fifth game of the season. They’ll be better than they’ve looked over the first few weeks.

Jan 25, 2010; Metairie, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton speaks to the media about the Saints victory over the Minnesota Vikings and preparations for Super Bowl XLIV against the Indianapolis at a press conference held at the Saints team facility. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

On Wednesday, the league dropped these penalties on the Saints management:

• Saints head coach Sean Payton is suspended without pay for the entire 2012 season.

• Former Saints/current Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is suspended indefinitely. (Goodell will review at end of 2012 season and consider whether to reinstate him.)

• Saints GM Mickey Loomis is suspended without pay for the first eight regular-season games of the 2012 season.

• Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt is suspended without pay for the first six regular-season games of the 2012 season.

• The Saints are stripped of their 2012 and 2013 second-round draft picks and have been hit with a $500,000 fine.

This series of penalties is a huge warning to anyone employed by the league to scratch the term “bounty” from their vocabulary.  But is it too much?  I understand Goodells hard line approach, but I fear this will put teams with big defensive hits under the microscope.

Gregg Wiliams is pretty much the guy who should be shouldering the most blame.  I think his indefinite suspension is harsh and expect Goodell to change his mind, but what did the Saints really do wrong?  They asked their defense to go out and beat the crap out of the opposing team.  To hit so hard that guys would not get up.   How is this any different than any teams defensive coaches at any level?

Over 20 players are named in the initial report.  They will feel the impact of their involvement later as the NFL is delaying the punishment to players because of the sheer volume of people involved and the diversity in sanctions that will be applied. In other words, they want to make sure people are properly punished.   Also, the NFLPA asked the NFL to delay discipline toward players until it finishes conducting its own investigation.  I feel so bad for these guys.  They were just doing their jobs.  Now they will be getting fined and possibly suspended.

This is such a waste of time, money and in my opinion good players and coaches.  Payton out for a season?  Might as well not even watch the Saints.  This is football.  Grown men who know the risks and can make their own decisions are playing this sport.  If they did not want to be involved in the “bounty” they said no.

When the Patriots were caught red handed cheating they got minor penalties. I think that was much worse than this and it all started with their weasel of a head coach.  The Saints got into trouble because their DC was tying to motivate the players.

Seems too heavy handed to me.

ChargerGirl Cindi