Previewing Lions @ Saints: 10 questions with Saints Nation

To preview the Lions' appearance against the New Orleans Saints on the football-palooza known as NBC's Sunday Night Football, I did Q & A with Andrew of Bloguin's Saints Nation. His answers are below, click here to see what I had to say about the Lions.

TWFE: What is an outsider’s take on Ndamukong Suh? Do you believe he’s the “dirtiest player in football,” as some would have you believe? Do you think the meme is overblown, or is there something to it?

Saints Nation: Yeah, I think he's dirty, but so what? This is football. We're not talking about ballet here.

I'm one of the old school fans that loves a physical, winning in the trenches, big hits type game. Don't get me wrong, I love watching the Saints' aerial assault offense and Drew Brees is awesome, but the NFL has gotten so soft. Part of that is player's health which is definitely important, but the refs have gotten out of hand with flags. Just last week, the Saints got 3 "roughing" penalties for hitting/tackling a player. There was no helmet to helmet. I mean, if you can't hit a player, what are you supposed to do?

More specifically w/ Suh, there is no place for intentionally trying to hurt someone. I don't see how you can watch what he did and not think "wow, that's pretty dirty". That said, dirty players are part of the NFL. I want some on my team. I'm not sure that term always needs to be taken negatively. I have respect for Suh as one of the best and nastiest trench players in the NFL - the kind of guy you have to game plan for and you never want to face. I'm not going to lie, I'm relieved he's not playing in this game. When something like that happens I think you deal with it swiftly and move on, but the nationwide shock is definitely overblown. He's a football player that gets hit on every single snap, what do you expect? Emotion is part of the game.

What he did was wrong and he should pay a price for it, but it's not like a player's emotion getting the best of him is unheard of. Hardly. Football is a physical and emotional game. S$%# happens.

TWFE: I’ll ask you the same question you asked me. Do you think Suh’s a 2 game suspension was fair?

SN: I'm kind of with you, 1 game would have been enough to send the message that we don't tolerate emotional outbursts like that. How many times have we seen a player sucker punch another in a game and get ejected? In my three decades of watching football I see it AT LEAST twice every single season. I guess the stomping has a higher risk of injury but I don't think it's that different.

But Suh has a bit more of a negative track record with the league, so I don't think 2 games is overly harsh. I think it's fair overall. I think it could have been 1 or 2 games. He definitely needed to get suspended for at least one, though, to send the message that cheap shot-ing players after the whistle like that will never be tolerated.

TWFE: Be honest. After ANOTHER loss, would you want to see the Lions lose their Thanksgiving Day game?

SN: I'm not sure I fully understand your question here but I've always been one of those guys where I hate facing good teams coming off a loss. I like them feeling good about themselves and overconfident. I'm sure the loss will have the Lions pissed off and coming into New Orleans playing with emotion. At this point in the season every game is a must win. I was definitely not rooting for the Packers in that Thanksgiving game.

I've always liked the Lions dating back to the Barry Sanders days. I also feel a bit of a connection with you guys because our franchise for DECADES suffered through the exact same thing. Years after years after years of losing. I want you guys to experience what we did as fans. It's that much more special reaching the top when you've suffered a long time to get there.

Fans of teams like the Yankees, Lakers and Packers just don't understand. They will never have that feeling, but you guys can and hopefully will - and it's really special. It's special to win regardless, sure, but when you're not supposed to I think the accomplishment has heightened awesomeness.

TWFE: Who’s bigger in Saints lore, Drew Brees or Archie Manning? (I have to admit a soft spot for Manning, a great QB who had the misfortune to play for the Saints when they were the Lions of his era)

SN: No doubt Brees now. He walks on water. As much as Manning was loved he was part of an era that never had a winning season. People view him as the guy that played hard and well despite being on horrible franchises. They gave him no help. Brees has a given a completely different passion, belief and pride to the city.

TWFE: The Saints looked like they might be in trouble midseason after losing 2 of 3, the 2nd loss to the God awful Rams. But the Saints have rolled since, and looked like Super Bowl contenders in dismantling the Giants last week. What’s changed?

SN: Nothing really other than a heightened sense of urgency.

That Rams game was shocking. One thing I've noticed is the Saints are infinitely better at home than they are on the road this season. That Rams games was the epitome of the cliche "any given Sunday". The Rams blocked a punt for a TD, then got a pick six right before halftime. Pretty much everything that could go wrong in that game did, and then Steven Jackson just decided to go off and gash the Saints repeatedly even though the Saints put 8 in the box.

I definitely went into that game thinking the Rams had ZERO chance with A.J. Feeley behind center. Just goes to show, you never know. I think the Saints just didn't take them seriously and went into the game flat thinking they'd roll over the Rams with little effort. That was a good wake up call for the Saints though and they've played seriously ever since.

5 questions down, 5 to go...after the jump.