Update: The Saints have learned that they may be missing four defensive starters this week - S Mel Mitchell (lost for season with knee injury), LB Derrick Rodgers (suspended), DE Darren Howard (bruised bone) and LE Charles Grant (strained calf muscle). Particularly with the new injuries to the defensive line, I am increasing Shaun Alexander's numbers and Hasselbeck's remains high with greater confidence.

In 2002, the Saints once again suffered from a late season freefall which is making New Orleans look more like the Big Lazy the past two years. This time around much was attributed to the shoulder injury to Aaron Brooks who had offseason surgery and has shown to be back in form this summer. The Saints lost Jake Delhomme as his backup but picked up Todd Bouman who should be just as good.

Deuce McAllister was a very pleasant surprise at tailback last year, not only for rushing but his progress in the passing scheme as well. Deuce led the NFC with 1388 rushing yards and proved to be durable - something that was a question going into the season. This is a good characteristic for him to have since the Saints quest to find a good backup runner has come up empty every time. They brought in Curtis Keaton last year and just cut him since he had problems picking up the playbook. They brought in Ki-Jana Carter and just cut him as well. If McAllister gets hurt this offense changes dramatically.

The Saints were a high-powered offense last year and should be no less of a scoring threat. Joe Horn returns as the go to receiver and Donte Stallworth enters his second season with very high expectations after scoring eight touchdowns in only thirteen games. He, not unlike many rookies, had problems with his hamstrings but worked out with a specialist in the offseason to improve his strength and conditioning. Adding in Jerome Pathon creates one of the speediest trios of receivers in the league.

Seattle enters the 2003 season with great optimism and expectations. Matt Hasselbeck was on a torrid stretch to end the season last year and Koren Robinson had his breakout season in only his second year. Darrell Jackson was blasted in the Dallas game last year but returned to form when he returned to create a great 1-2 punch with Robinson.

Sean Alexander will enjoy a great rushing schedule this year and even if he gets hurt - and he rarely does - the Seahawks are excited with the development of Maurice Morris and are confident he will present no significant "step down" if they have to rely on him for a stretch. The plan, much like last year, is to try and get him involved in ways that does not detract from Alexander. Walter Jones has just agreed to a one year contract which helps the team tremendously.

The Seahawks downfall in 2002 was clearly their defense, or rather the lack of one. Seattle brought in DT Norman Hand and DE Chike Okeafor and most importantly defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes who should have the unit much better than last season.

This game should produce good points - load 'em up if you got 'em.

Look for this to be the best shoot-out of the weekend - two defenses trying to improve and two offenses that can throw points on the board in all sorts of ways. In the end, the home team squeaks out the win while both teams post nice passing scores.