Saints Report #7 - October 27, 2013

The New Orleans Saints extended their record to 6 – 1 on Sunday with a 35 -17 victory over the Buffalo Bills, but not before they extended their bye week by more than a quarter and a half.  It was late in the first half, with the Saints trailing 10 – 7, and looking lethargic and out of sync on offense, when the urgency of the clock shook the offense out of the doldrums, and the Saints busted loose for 2 touchdowns.  I have to admit that a hint of worry was creeping in when Brees and company began to matriculate their way to a 21-10 halftime lead.

The familiarity of the Saints system was undoubtedly helpful to the Bills staff, many of whom were on Payton’s staff when he first arrived.  The Bills started the game with a read option – quarterback keeper that they would never run again.  Linebacker David Hawthorne, who is making it look like Jonathan Vilma may have a problem cracking the lineup if and when he comes back, absolutely creamed QB Thad Lewis.  It was a “welcome to the NFL” moment for Lewis, who although he fumbled on the play and was down for 3 minutes, came back to acquit himself pretty well.   The Saints failed to capitalize because a) Sean Payton still doesn’t realize 2^nd and 4 is a good thing, and certainly not the down and distance to go to an empty backfield/shotgun play, and b) Garrett Hartley is back to pulling his field goal attempts, which he did twice on the day.  John Carney probably has some missed calls on his iphone.  Are we sure Thomas Morestead can’t place kick?  He seems to drill every kickoff through the uprights, and it just seems like he’s got a 70 yard attempt in his future.

Every QB has a rough time with pressure, but while he makes an occasional mistake, nobody is better under duress than Drew Brees, and his 5 touchdown passes while he was getting clubbed around was pretty impressive.  The Saints biggest evolving weakness and thus their main playoff obstacle is their offensive line.  Even though Pierre Thomas is a reliable 4 to 5 yards a carry, no one is going to mistake the Saints for a running team.  Brees set an NFL record by throwing 5 td's for the 8^th time, and someday I hope to have grandchildren on my knee so I can tell them I saw him play.  He's the ticket.

So, like the Super Bowl march of 2009, the Saints get to preview the stadium where the “Big Game” will be played.  They travel to play the New York Jets who are on the standard week-off/week-on program of many .500 teams.  They upset the Patriots, then got embarrassed by the Bengals and sit at 4-4.  The Ryan Bowl should be interesting.