I cannot prove you wrong xyn. I never said that the SAINTS are >>> packers. I said their defense MIGHT BE > green bay's, or at the very least are in similar stratospheres.
The packers O > the saints O. BUTTT, don't act like the saints have some shmuck offense. They broke most of the records sent be the early 2000 ram teams.
They are a dangerous team and overlooking them would be stupid
Here were both teams' standings as of week 16 (before yesterday's meaningless games):
Saints' D:
26th in yards allowed
32nd in forced turnovers
15th in points allowed
23rd in opposite QB rating
Packers' D:
31st in yards allowed
1st in forced turnovers
12nd in points allowed
8th in opposite QB rating
So, they're very similar defenses. The Saints are a little better in allowing yards, while the Packers are a little beter in points allowed, in opposite QB rating, but A LOT, and I mean A LOT better at forcing turnovers (which affects QB rating in a big way).
Another stat that I'd found interesting is redzone efficiency. Here're the numbers (again, as of week 16), and I included the 49ers. One caveat: those numbers are calculated if the game was to be (and it will) at Lambeau (a.k.a. home redzone efficiency for the Packers and away redzone efficiency for the 49ers and Saints).
Offensive RZ efficiency (percentage of TDs scored per trip. I'm using TDs and not scoring, because we all know that if a team is held to FGs against us at the RZ, they're gonna lose):
GB - 1st in the league
NO - 24th in the league
SF - 30th in the league
Defensive RZ efficiency:
GB - 7th
SF - 9th
NO - 31st
That gives validity to some common perceptions. First, that GB is an "opportunistic" defense. Second, that the 49ers offense is terrible in the redzone. But more importantly, that NO, indeed, is another team outside of the Superdome. They go from being the 4th best redzone offense at home and 6th overall, to being 26th. We saw that quite clearly in GB, where the Saints ultimately lost the game because they were unable to convert in the RZ. And their defense is second to last.
All that to say that I like our chances very much. Any given Sunday, and there's no questioning the Saints' talent. But if both teams are able to move past their divisional opponents and reach the NFCC game at Lambeau, the Packers are much more probable to force a turnover than the Saints are, and the Packers are much more probable of holding the Saints to FGs than the Saints are.
As for the Saints x Lions game, I can't see how the Lions can even compete with the Saints, after watching them play against our backups. I had that notion even before, but it only got stronger after sunday. Like I said before, any given sunday, but I expect the game to get out of hand by the middle of the 4th quarter.