The Saints went to Charlotte and got beat 17 – 13, in another on-the-road-again egg laying. They did the same thing the Panthers did two
weeks ago. They drove the ball early and twice
settled for field goals to lead only 6 – 0.
The game was pretty even, but sloppy.
Each defense had one bad series, and each offense had one good
series. The rest of the game was a rather
ugly wash, no detergent. Unfortunately,
the Panthers only decent drive of the day came at the end of the game.
So, it’s not bad news that the Saints probably will have to
go on the road in the playoffs. It’s not
bad news that they made the road to the Super Bowl a game longer. It’s not bad news that the offense looks
sloppy. It’s not bad news that the
Panthers have come out of nowhere to catch the Saints.
It’s not bad news that the Saints are struggling away from
the Superdome.
No, here’s the bad news: The NFL appears to have caught up
to the Saints offense. NFL defensive
coordinators don’t get fooled for long, and the Saints offense has had a good
long run. But now, they’re not fooling
anyone. The screen passes are easily
anticipated. The running game doesn’t
scare anyone. The defenses are filling
the passing lanes on the mid-range stuff.
And defensive coordinators have figured out that with pressure on Brees,
there’s no time for the bombs. Face it,
the Saints offense is now middle-of-the-pack.
So Sean Payton, who allegedly reconstructed the playbook
last year while on Goodell Sabatical, isn’t surprising anyone anymore. Protection problems, no deep threat, an
untrusted running game, it all adds up to one simple fact: the Saints aren’t scaring anyone, and that
does not bode well for a long playoff run.
When the season began, I thought the Saints defense would
not be good enough. I was wrong. They are.
It’s the Saints offense that isn’t good enough. One thing I was right about was that this stretch of games to close the season was brutal and the Saints have not met the challenge. Can Payton straighten all this out in time
for the playoffs? We can only
guess. Can they beat Tampa to insure a
playoff berth? I guess we’ll find
out. A Superdome game that shouldn’t
have meant anything next Sunday now looms very large. Drat!
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