The New Orleans Saints will make the playoffs next year.

I hope it will be enjoyable for both of us. My opponent says that he hopes to test the debate. org community with this debate. I am glad to partake and I only hope to enforce his liking of this site. >I would like to observe that my opponent has the burden of proof to prove that the New Orleans Saints will make the playoffs next year. If he fails to do this, your vote should be for CON. >My opponent's first contention addressed recent success in the NFC South, and its correlation to the results from the year before. He cites examples from the six most recent seasons. I accept all of my opponent's evidence as valid, but it proves absolutely nothing. He has failed to show us why this means that the New Orleans Saints will have any success next year. My opponent cannot adequately prove that the same trend will repeat next season. >In his second contention, my opponent addressed the needs of the New Orleans Saints. I agree that the largest problem for the Saints is currently their defensive unit. This does not, however, justify my opponent's claims. He says that off season focus will be on the defense, and that defensive players will be drafted. He cannot prove this, it is merely a prediction. >I found my opponent's third contention rather confusing. He cited perfectly valid reasons for a lack of success for the New Orleans Saints this year. We are discussing the next season, how is problems from the current season (in which the Saints failed to make the playoffs) relevant? To put this bluntly, it isn't. >My opponent essentially repeats his third contention in his fourth contention. He says that player health would have promoted a better offense this year. I agree, but the debate topic clearly reads: The New Orleans Saints will make the playoffs next year. Not this year. Next year. >Again, my opponent addresses the current season in his contention. This time his fifth. He cites the margin of victory in the games played by the Saints. He also says that the Saints will work on late game performance in the off season. Though he provides a quote, his logic is faulty. If we are to go by this season's statistics to predict next year, we must look at the margin of victory for all NFC teams. The average margin of victory/defeat in Saints games was 4.3 this year (. http://sports.yahoo.com...). That is very close. But what about other teams? The margin for the Atlanta Falcons was 4.1 (. http://sports.yahoo.com...). For Tampa Bay it was 2.4 (. http://sports.yahoo.com...). 1.5 for Chicago (. http://sports.yahoo.com...). 2.9 for Minnesota . http://sports.yahoo.com...). By my opponent's own logic (teams who play in close games will make the playoffs the next year), the Saints cannot make the playoffs. Six total teams make the playoffs from the NFC. Four total NFC divisions. Since the Falcons played in closer games than the Saints, they would win the division. Any team could win the East or West. Chicago would win the North. This leaves two wild card spots. These would go to Minnesota and Tampa Bay. My opponent's own logic sees the New Orleans Saints not making the playoffs next year. >For my opponent (unrelated to the topic): Resolutions are not needed in free form debates (which this is). They are for LD, Policy, Public Forum, etc. We'll make do, I just wanted to let you know. >I eagerly await my opponent's next response. Thank you.