Say, here’s something you might not have thought about lately: Did you know… that the Saints are 2-1 and have scored an average of 27 points in games without the services of Marques Colston?

Feel any better? Yeah, me neither.

It’s true though. Back in 2006, Big Number Twelve missed weeks 11, 12 and 13. In the first game, the Saints had their asses handed to them by Cincinnati. In the next two games, it was the Saints who were handing the asses, beating Atlanta and San Francisco by a combined score of 65-23.

In the first game vs. Cincinnati (Colston actually started this game, but injured his ankle on the first drive, posted no stats and did not return) Drew Brees set it off to the tune of 510 passing yards.

Now Message Board Guy will be quick to point out that most of those passing yards came in "garbage time" and don’t really count. After all, the Bangles won 31-16, and everybody knows that once a team has a big lead, they completely stop trying to defend against the pass, right? The problem with that is that Message Board Guy is full of shit.

See, the thing is, there was only 7:41 remaining in the game by the time the Bangles built a two-score lead, which is when I’d consider the official start of "garbage time" – your mileage may vary.  With 10:34 remaining, the score was 10-10. Drew had already put up 330 yards passing by the time the game was out of hand.

Sure, "garbage time" was the difference between very good and batshit insane, but the point is that the Saints didn’t have any trouble passing the ball that day regardless. Five Saints receivers had 50+ receiving yards that day, led by Jack Hunt with 169, Hollywood with 93 and Terrance Copper with 87.

The following week at Atlanta, Drew put up 349 yards passing. 158 of those went to Jack Hunt. Then against San Francisco, Reggie Bush had 131 yards receiving and Dulymus put up 136 on the ground.

What do all of those guys have in common? None of them wear #12.

Oh sure, the Saints don’t have anybody wearing #87 these days either. Instead, they’ve got some dude wearing #88. And legend has it that once upon a time the Saints drafted a guy in the first round and put #17 on him, but then nobody’s really sure what happened to him after that. But word on the street is that for some reason the Saints have arranged to have a couple of #17 jerseys shipped to D.C. this weekend. Nobody’s really sure why, but I can’t imagine it’ll do any harm.

Look, I’m not going to sit here and try to assert that losing Marques Colston isn’t a huge deal. Of course it is. Hell, I’m pretty sure I’ve completely lost control of my bowels since having heard the news. I’ve ruined at least six pairs of pants since Wednesday morning. And then in an effort to not lose any more pants, I switched to assless chaps, at which point I ruined a chair. Probably should have thought that through a little more carefully. I’m sure I’ll be getting a demand for restitution from the fine folks at Barnes & Noble.

Alls I’m saying is that, as good as Marques is, there is precisely one guy who this offense can’t do without. And as valuable as #12 is, it ain’t him.

It’s Devery.

Sorry, just a quick break to make a few heads explode. Of course I’m talking about the guy who pretty much doesn’t give a shit who he’s throwing to. Jamal Jones? No problem. John Owens? Piece of cake. Ronnie Ghent? Sure, why not. Mike Karney? Save it for Dallas. Robert Meachem? Wait… do I know you? You sure you work for the Saints? Meh, fuck it. Go deep.

Of course we’d rather have him than not. Of course the Saints are weaker without him. But when it comes to this offense, "weaker" doesn’t mean weak. After all, Drew Brees has won numerous international awards for his chicken salad recipe. As big a loss as it is, the Saints offense has been built to withstand it. This offense is Cat5 rated (and state funded.)

Meanwhile, most everyone is convinced that the next few weeks qualify as the soft underbelly of this year’s schedule. There are some people who are asserting that we ought to sweat the Native Americans this weekend, but I’m not buying it. In fact, I’m pretty sure they suck.

I don’t really have a lot to offer in the way of "analysis" of the Redskins. Then again, I don’t think much is needed. They have weapons, no doubt about it. Clinton Portis is a formerly-great tailback who has slipped a little lately, but he’s still very good. Antwan Randle-El and Santana Moss are a decent set of starting wideouts. The names could be intimidating if you’re vulnerable to intimidation. But the fact is that this was a middling offense last year (15th in total yards, 18th in scoring.) Or in other words, they’re Tampa.

Jason Campbell may have potential, but so far, he’s a middling kind of quarterback. He’ll show flashes, but he’s good for an interception or two more often than not. He’s quite sackable, and he’s a fumbling machine. 19 turnovers last year in 13 starts. Oof. And another 5 fumbles on top of that which were recovered by the offense. He’s the antithesis of "clutch" (if "clutch" were an actual thing.)

He’s also from Auburn, which makes him an asshole. Clearly he’s had Tommy Tuberville giving his offensive lineman tips on how to protect an Auburn QB.

On the other side of the ball, the Native Americans have a B-/C+ kind of defense. Certainly not as good as Tampa’s. They were 8th in total yards and 11th in points allowed last year, and last week they got their asses handed to them by a C+ offense. That won’t cut it against the Saints, with or without Colston.

We know that sometimes the Saints offense inexplicably goes into hibernation for a quarter or two at a time. We know that Drew Brees isn’t above the occasional head-up-your-ass moment. We know that there’s no telling what you’re gonna get from Reggie Bush on a given week, and these days, the same applies to Dulymus. And some of us aren’t quite ready to buy into the hype just yet re: the "new and improved" defense. (And for the record, I’m not making any plans to jump on the defensive bandwagon after this game either, barring a shutout or something.)

But in this case, I’m pretty sure all of that is just the difference between a 3-point win and a two-score win.

Prediction: Saints 31, Native Americans 17

From there, it’s Denver, San Francisco, Minnesota and Oakland. Either Jay Cutler or Adrian Peterson is gonna bone us something fierce. My money is on Peterson.

But how does 5-1 sound with Colston and Hollis due back any minute? Yeah, I’ll take it too.