Here we go. Hopefully both Manning and Brees can do better against the best defenses next season.

EDIT: Updated thread title to include college football talk.

Both appear to have hopeless defenses. Denver's pass defense in particular is about the worst I've seen in a playoff team (this year and last).

I know that the Broncos' defense sucks, but the Saints? They were rated in the top five.

Here's my thoughts on what the Broncos can do in terms of personnel next season. They will be playing the NFC West next year, so they will have a tough road next year with a substantially harder schedule than this year, provided all the teams remain as good as they are now or better.

DEFENSE

I haven't done a lot of deep research but I feel the priorities should be to fix the pass coverage with some better safeties, better cover linebackers and a solid nickelback. Obviously, they need to re-sign DRC but if Chris Harris isn't ready by the beginning of next season, they made need to find a good CB since Champ has obviously lost a step. (Sorry Champ, you belong in the HOF but every great has to hang 'em up at some point.)

They also need a little help with the pass rush. Getting Von Miller back will help but if a good young pass rusher is available in the draft, I think the Broncos should go for it.

I think other weaknesses will be fixed with players on IR returning next season.

OFFENSE

This offense showed that while their pass-first specialty can beat most NFL teams, it can't beat all of them. Sometimes there will be teams that either scheme too well in the secondary or just have a pure talent advantage in pass rush and coverage like the Seahawks did.

I think Plan B for this offense in these circumstances is to run the football out of two tight-end looks with plenty of play-action mixed in. They lost both times, but there's no denying the Saints did better in their run-first offense than they did the first time around in their pass-first offense. Hell, they might even want to have a fullback on the roster for these situations.

It was one of the greatest offenses of all time and they can probably continue to do what they did last season, but there will come a time next season (since they're playing all the NFC West teams) when they must be much more balanced or even focus on running the ball better.

With this in mind, they might want to draft or hire some good zone blocking linebackers for the run game. Montee Ball is a solid RB, so they'll probably want to draft someone in the same mold. Who knows, maybe CJ Anderson will be ready to go next year as the power back. Or maybe interest in Knowshon Moreno won't be as high as people expect and Denver can retain him at a good price. Who knows.

Other than that, re-signing or finding a replacement for Eric Decker is obviously important... I think the market will determine whether or not that happens.

He's thinking of the 2012 Saints Defense.

The few times I saw them this past season it looked like a sieve. Maybe they were just terrible in clutch when it mattered, or maybe they just had an off day (3 times) when I saw them.

What about the teams you guys follow?

I also root for the local team, the Redskins in the NFC, but I'm totally lost on how to improve that team with a new coach coming in. They could see a massive improvement next year, with around $15 to $30 million in cap space finally coming back after being penalized by the NFL for the past few seasons in the awful Haynesworth debacle.

Which games did you watch?

Rams, Seahawks, and...I guess that's it. I saw the Carolina game they lost, but they only gave up 17 points there. They were better than I thought, overall. I just assumed that was typical. Now, a more informed opinion: based on the stats I just saw, they need some running back help.

The Bengals need a new power back to complement Gio Bernard. One who can average more than 2 ypc. OK, the law firm managed to creep up to 3.4 ypc by the end of the season, but he got stuffed a LOT all year long.
They also need Andy Dalton to be consistent. If he's able to overcome whatever it is that makes him stink it up in big games, or when they are on national TV, he could still be the answer. But another year of bad Andy when it counts means he's got to go.

All in all, when you have a playoff caliber team, there aren't a lot of changes you feel need to be made. I think with the guys coming back healthy next year they lost on defense, things are pretty solid on that side of the ball too. Biggest question marks are the new coaches (and Dalton).

Jeff only watches the Saints when they lose.

The Saints lose when Jeff is watching them.

Jeff kept the Saints from getting the #1 seed.

Jeff, Please stop watching the Saints.

All that losing probably was another factor in my judgement!

The Saints need help in their running game, their kicking game, and Jeff.

Sometimes it's not the RB, sometimes it's just committing to the run game itself and giving the RB more carries. In the playoffs, the Saints finally did that against the Eagles and Seahawks. Despite another loss, it seemed like they did better than second time around.

Also, I read something a while back that a running game's success is more from the linemen and their run blocking ability rather than the RB himself. If I see an RB get tackled in open space by a cornerback, I will blame him -- if he picks the wrong hole, I will blame him.

If he's getting hit in the backfield before he can really do anything, I can't blame the RB. That's a offensive line failure.

This is true. In the 90s, Denver could turn out a 1000 yard rusher from any half decent back, and turn a good back into a superstar (see Terrell Davis). It was all in their great line. Unless you're a Raider fan, in which case it was all in their cheating, cut blocking line.

It's also an offensive scheme decision. There are linemen that can run and pass block very well on a regular basis against good defenses-- those guys don't grow on trees.

So when they design their offense and pick their personnel, they may have to decide between good run blocking/okay pass blocking linemen or okay run blocking/good pass blocking linemen. They have to decide what's more important to offensive success, making it tough for teams to do everything effectively.

I'd still say if you can't get a 1000 yard back in a 16 game schedule, you either need a new back or a new running game plan.

This is something Shanahan brought to the Redskins as well. In the past few seasons, they had a strong run game with that stretch zone-blocking scheme -- with 6th round pick Alfred Morris. It'll be interesting to see if he can succeed in another scheme.

In the Saints/Colts Super Bowl, my buddy bet on the Colts. Last weekend, he bet on the Broncos.

Ian, stop betting on Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl. Thanks.

Was this his fault for making bad decisions on picking the hole or was he greeted by a defensive tackle or end whenever he got to the hole he was supposed to go through? I can't expect any RB to beat a DT or DE inside of a small space.

It's a little of both, with every back, honestly...but a lot of him just not getting the job done. Look at his career numbers, including his time with NE. Other than one season, he's always been pretty mediocre, but his big selling point was that he got the tough yards. He got stuffed on short yardage too much this year. I know he had fewer carries than the last season because of Bernard, but that's not the problem.

The Jets need receivers badly.