Fujita out, let the rushing commence

Scott Fujita. FA-JI-TA. Why does his name make my saliva glands start pumping and my mind start wandering towards my favorite Tex-Mex hangouts? Anyway, Fujita is likely out again this week for the Saints, and that’s great news for the Panthers. As anyone in the NFF South knows, Panther QB Jake Delhomme can be as bad behind center as the RB combo of DeAngelo Williams and James Stewart can be good. Basically, if you can make Delhomme (it pains me to rag on Delhomme, as I feel he’s one of us) go to the air, the games in the bag. But that’s the rub…for the year, the Panthers have averaged over 150 rushing yards per game, and have rushed for at least 133 yards every week. On top of that, they have 14 rushing TDs.

Looking from a glass-half-full point of view, our Saints have been very stingy on opposing rushers. Part of that can be attributed to the fact teams are playing from behind and they are only rushing 23 times per game on average, but generally rushing against our newly vamped offense is not a good way to make a living.
But over the last two games we have allowed opposing rushers five TDs and 298 rushing yards. The last two games are coincidentially the two that Fujita has missed. So the stage is set for the Panthers to have some success rushing. And don’t look now but that much-aligned Panther defense has been playing better lately, giving up an average of twenty points a game, and only allowing 176 yards a game though the air.
So this Sunday could be a tough game, especially if Brees and company can’t jump out to an early lead. The Saints should still be able to handle the Panthers, but it may be a lot closer and scarier than you may think.