By all accounts, 1500 Poydras is about to be witness to the ultimate test of cerebral fitness. This grips me more than would a muddy old river or a reclining buddha. Thank god I’ll only be watching the game.

This week’s only matchup of unbeatens promises the creme de la creme of the football world in a show with everything but Yul Brynner. The league’s best offense vs. the third best defense. The league’s best quarterback vs. the national media’s Chosen One for this year. A chess match between the league’s most creative offensive mind and the current highest-ranking member of the First Family of NFL Defense. Perhaps the toughest test yet for a couple of 3-0 division leaders who in the early going look to be among the league’s elite. Hard men will be made humble. Tough guys will tumble. My pants are getting tighter just thinking about it. I just hope the the final score doesn’t end up Thai’d. Hiyoooo!

Here’s why I think the Saints are going 4-0. Because, for all the talk of how great the Jets’ defense is, the Saints have already seen a defense that’s right there in the ballpark with the Jets’. And the Saints’ offense dropped 48 on ‘em. In their stadium.

Philly’s defense is giving up a whopping 6 yards more per game than the Jets’. (And Philly’s already had to play the Saints.) Philly’s pass defense is actually giving up 17 fewer passing yards than the Jets’, and while Philly’s scoring defense (24 ppg, 25th) certainly isn’t impressive, it’s pretty much completely a result of having played the Saints. In their two other games, Philly has given up 10 and 14.

Meanwhile, the only defense the Jets have seen that doesn’t completely blow is New England’s. And all the Jets’ offense could muster against them was 16. At home. In the game they had had circled on their calendar ever since Ryan and Sanchez showed up. New England’s defense does currently rank a little higher than the Saints’, but they’re in the same ballpark. In their other two games, the Jets’ offense only put up 24 (both times) against two of the league’s worst defenses.

To summarize: When the Saints faced a defense on par with the Jets’, the Saints won by 26 on the road while scoring 48. When the Jets faced a defense on par with the Saints’, they won by 7 at home while scoring 16. Advantage: Saints

Turning that around, the Jets’ defense obviously hasn’t faced an offense like the Saints’. Mainly because there isn’t one. The closest they’ve come is New England, and to their credit, the Jets held the Patriots to 9. But New England’s offense really isn’t comparable to the Saints’ right now, The Great Tom Brady (currently 22nd in the league in passer rating) and Randy Moss (currently good for a whopping 22.3 more receiving yards per game than Devery Henderson) notwithstanding.

The Saints, on the other hand, have been facing offenses that are basically on par with, or better than the Jets’ every week. Yeah, even Detroit’s, which is scoring less than 2 points fewer than the Jets’ and is producing a whopping 17 fewer yards per game.

Both Philly’s and Buffalo’s offenses are significantly better than the Jets’, and the Saints beat both of those teams by 20+.

On the road.

Sean Payton: One town’s very like another when your head’s down over your pieces, brother.

As for The Great Mark Sanchez, well, his passer rating is lower than Kevin Kolb’s. And he’s only 1.5 passer rating points above Trent Edwards.

Say, not that it’s relevant or anything, but just for shits and grins, anybody wanna take a guess as to who the top rated quarterback in the NFL might be? I’ll give you three shots at it.

You’ll find a god in every golden cloister. And if you’re lucky, then the god’s named Brees. I can feel an angel sliding up to me.

The bottom line? Once again, as was the case when everybody was shitting a brick over the Bills game, the reality is that the Saints are just plain better than the Jets.

Which doesn’t mean the Saints are gonna win Sunday. After all, it’s the NFL, where there’s not much between despair and ecstasy. Sometimes, being better just isn’t quite enough. But I’ll take it over the alternative every time.

If this game is gonna be a chess match, and Ryan and Payton are Kasparov and Deep Blue, then… who ya got? Gregg Williams or Brian Schottenheimer? Drew Brees or a rookie? Have I mentioned that this game will take place in the Dome? And that Drew Brees is pissed off at having been held relatively in check last week?

Yeah. I’ve got half a mind to call another 40+ offensive tally and another 20+ margin. Sorry, but the queens they use do not excite me.

So I will. Saints 42, Jets 10