No better place than New Orleans for a nationally televised game on Halloween. But the scariest thing in the Superdome this weekend is probably the Saints’ record. At 4-3, the defending Super Bowl champs haven’t mounted much of a defense. Remember, this is a team that eked out wins over San Francisco (1-6) and Carolina (1-5), so that record could be worse. Not to mention that home loss to the Browns (2-5).Will a game against the Steelers get New Orleans going? Or are the Saints headed back to .500 with a fight on their hands over the final eight weeks just to make the playoffs? “Run offense, run defense, they’re turning the ball over, not getting takeaways on defense and their special teams are screwing up,” NBC analyst Tony Dungy said, succinctly listing New Orleans’ biggest problem areas in 2010.
Their precision offense won’t have it easy against the Steelers. No defense allows fewer points a game than Pittsburgh (13.7). In fact, no one is even close with Chicago (16.3) the NFL’s second-best unit.
