Sunday, the Saints travel to Northern Cuba with the intention of reminding us all that they’re still a contender, and a game against the only NFL franchise officially endorsed by the International Lesbian and Gay Association ought to be just what the doctor ordered.

Heads are still exploding all over these here internets after the Saints’ skulldragging two Thursdays ago at the hands of Peyton Manning and the Colts. The carnage will only cease once the Bucs roll over and take it Ybor City style, which is exactly what’s going to happen.

The best part, for me anyway, is that this game is actually scheduled for Sunday, 1:00 Eastern / 12:00 Central, which is the only proper time to schedule a Saints game.

Combine that with what should be a fairly dominant Saints win, and Sunday has the potential to be a fine, fine day. (Ashley, I see your Donnie Iris and raise you one Tony Carey.)

Fabulous Jeff Garcia notwithstanding, I don’t understand where all this sentiment is coming from that the Bucs are so improved from last year.

Their offense still blows, as it has for the entire history of their franchise. Last week vs. Seattle, a team who last year boasted the 19th-ranked defense in the league, the Bucs racked up a whopping six points on 194 yards passing and 90 yards rushing. Fabulous Jeff is 37 years old and already hurting. One quarter of his passing yards last week came on one play. One non-scoring play.

Defensively, it’s not much better. Last year the Bucs were 21st in the league in points allowed, 14th in the league in yards allowed. Granted it’s been only one game, but so far this year they’re still 21st in points allowed, but the yards allowed have dropped to 21st too.

I know it’s a small sample size, but hell, it’s not like they were playing the Colts. Seattle is a good team, but "good" is about it. They beat the Bucs by two touchdowns. Each of the Bucs’ corners were once spanked by Grover Cleveland on non-consecutive occasions. Last year they gave up more passing touchdowns than a certain defensive backfield that featured Fred Thomas.

Chucky is on borrowed time, and it’s quite possible that his team has already tuned him out. This team is going nowhere, except possibly to the bathroom of an Ybor City dance club.

The Saints are going to be out for blood. They were straight up embarrassed by the Colts in week one, and you can tell that they’ve got a huge chip on their shoulder right about now. This group of men doesn’t shrug off losing like past Saints teams. Only once last year did they lose two straight.

The Saints are better than the Bucs on both sides of the ball, and certainly won’t be intimidated by the Bucs like in my opinion they were against the Colts. I expect to see a very businesslike, methodical dismantling of the Bucs, as the Saints focus on executing the basics and finding rhythm.

That ought to take about 20 or 25 minutes. Then once that rhythm is established, the Saints should pull away in the second half.

Just what the doctor ordered for a fan base that is teetering on the edge of full-blown widespread panic.