Fan Pulse Week 1: Is New Orleans headed in the right direction? Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse Authentic Vonn Bell Jersey , a survey of fans across the NFL powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Saints fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.Will the Saints win or lose in Week 1?Since the 2011 season, the Saints have a 7-1 record against the Buccaneers at home. They’ve outscored them 227-124 in that stretch, with a lone loss in 2015. As of Thursday night, Bovada had Sean Payton’s squad as a 10-point favorite. It goes without saying, New Orleans hasn’t won a season opener since the 2013 season (Falcons). In fact, their first three games of the year since 2014 has been quite abysmal, as the Saints are a combined 2-10 in the past four seasons.The Saints did go 7-1 at home last season (8-1 if you count the Wild Card win against the Panthers), and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome should be rocking with excitement to help fuel the black and gold on Sunday.How confident are you in the direction of the Saints?Very confident: 88 percentSomewhat confident: 12 percentMeh: 0 percentNot very confident: 0 percentNot confident at all: 0 percentAfter several killer draft classes and riding the high of last season’s successes, things are definitely looking up for Mickey Loomis and Sean Payton. There’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic, as this team is looking to make the most of what looks to be the final window for Drew Brees to win another Lombardi Trophy. Had this been a poll from last season, there would have likely been some negative opinions.What is the worst NFL rule?There’s not much else to say here. The helmet rule is pretty crazy. To put it into perspective, the NFL Competition Committee met just after two weeks of the preseason to discuss the rule. That in itself tells you how bad this can be for the league. Retired offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz had a different take on it, which is worth taking a look at.3 Ups and 1 Down from yesterday’s win over the New York Giants Now THAT is the New Orleans Saints team we were expecting out of the gate.In what was another roller-coaster of a game with plenty of ups and downs along the way, here are a couple that stood out.Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY SportsUp: Alvin KamaraLet’s get this one out of the way.Alvin Kamara was absolutely incredible this game. He finished the afternoon with 181 yards from scrimmage and all three Saints touchdowns. His biggest run came on a 49 touchdown run to ice the game with two minutes left to go in regulation.For as much as the Saints rushing attack has faltered through the season’s first four weeks, Kamara impressed as a runner in Week 4. With Mark Ingram set to return for Monday Night Football next week, the Saints rushing attack should only get better.Brad Penner-USA TODAY SportsUp: Saints defenseThe Saints defense took a big step forward in Week 4, sacking Eli Manning multiple times, causing and recovering two fumbles Youth Thomas Morstead Jersey , and holding the Giants to under 20 points.Saquon Barkley was held to under 50 rushing yards, Odell Beckham Jr had only 60 receiving yards, and, outside of Sterling Shepard, the New York Giants largely struggled on offense.PJ Williams, filling in for the injured Patrick Robinson, played well for the Saints, and if New Orleans can expect this level of play out of their defense (I mean, did you see that tackle for a loss by Marcus Davenport?), this Saints team could really end up going on a run.Brad Penner-USA TODAY SportsUp: Taysom HillFor the third week in a row, Taysom Hill made the “Ups” for the Saints, and this time he provided the spark that helped the entire offense get moving. After what appeared to be a second quick, three-and-out series, Taysom Hill connected with Justin Hardee on a fake punt to extend the Saints drive.His second pass attempt of the game was a would-be touchdown that was dropped by Alvin Kamara, Kamara’s only real blemish on the day. In addition to throwing passes, Taysom also caught a pass as a wide receiver, rushed as a halfback, ran the read-option multiple times as a quarterback, and blocked as a tight end. For the world seeing Taysom for the first time, this was as close to a “coming out party” as you can get for the Saints electrifying #7.Photo by Elsa/Getty ImagesDown: Special TeamsThe Saints struggles early in the game in the red zone and on third down almost made the list http://www.saintsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-michael-thomas-jersey , but those issues seemed to work themselves out as the game went on. On the other hand, the Saints play on special teams almost appeared to just get worse.The Saints brought back Brandon Tate before Sunday afternoon’s game, and he was back to return a punt for New Orleans early in the game. the punt was a low and short kick that Tate had to run forward to catch - normally, this forward momentum is helpful for a return, but Tate fumbled the ball forward, and only by the grace of the football gods, had the ball take a lucky bounce and end up back in his hands as Tate continued forward.Then on the Giants final kickoff of the game, late in the fourth quarter, with New York down just one possession, Ted Ginn Jr was back to return the kick. The “hands” team was on the field, in anticipation of a possible onside kick, leaving Ginn as the lone Saint deep. The kickoff went Ginn’s way, and Ginn erroneously decided to field the kick at the one instead of letting it roll into the end zone. Ginn had absolutely zero blockers out in front of him, so even if he fielded the kick cleanly, would likely have been dropped well short of the twenty-five yard line. Instead, Ginn botched the catch, stumbled to pick the ball up, and then was dropped inside the five yard line.You could see Sean Payton fuming on the sidelines, so special teams will surely get some attention before Week 5.
