Saints have no answers for disappointing 0-2 start

Ike Hilliard and the Bucs' offense sliced right though a Saints defense led by Scott Fujita (55) last Sunday. Cliff Welch/Icon SMI

The text messages keep coming, but Scott Fujita has no shorthand answers to pound out. The Saints linebacker knows there's no way to convey in cell phone keypad-speak just how lousy 0-2 feels.

"I'm getting tons of texts saying, 'When are you guys going to wake up? What's wrong with you guys?' '' said Fujita, driving home from practice on Wednesday. "A lot of people are pissed off right now, including me. I'm frustrated as hell, but we're not going to freak out at this point.''

Such is life in the NFL when September is two-thirds in the books and the goose egg remains in the left-hand column of your won-loss record. Even all that tempting food that New Orleans is known for doesn't hold the same appeal about now. The Saints' slow start has transformed the city into the Big Queasy.

"In this league, whenever you lose two in a row, people on the street think you're doomed,'' Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said. "But I would say we're a little bit shocked to be 0-2.''

New Orleans is not alone in that club, of course. All told, five teams that made the playoffs in 2006 have started this season 0-2 (the Jets and Chiefs in the AFC; the Eagles, Giants and the Saints in the NFC). But among that winless group, nowhere were expectations higher than in New Orleans, where coach Sean Payton's Cinderella Saints survived all the way to the NFC title game last season before meeting their match in Chicago.

The consensus preseason opinion about the Saints was that they were a young team still on the rise, reeking of Super Bowl potential. But if they've got a ticker tape parade in their future next February, they'll have to carve out a little history. Only the 1993 Cowboys and 2001 Patriots have fought through an 0-2 start and gone on to win the Super Bowl.

Any objective look at New Orleans' troubles must begin with mention of their schedule. For the third consecutive year, the Saints opened with two road games in a row: at Indianapolis, at Tampa Bay. Three teams in the NFL this season had that fate -- New Orleans, Atlanta and Kansas City -- and all three are 0-2.

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