The only thing missing Sunday was Steve Spagnoulo as the
Saints reverted to their defensive form of that lost year of 2012 by allowing a
whopping 568 yards to Atlanta. The Falcons’
37 – 34 overtime victory was not unexpected, but still a bitter way to start
the season, especially since the Saints squandered a 13 – 0 lead.
How did Matt Ryan throw for a franchise record 448
yards? The pocket. The Saints surprising approach was to
pressure Ryan not at all. The pocket might as well have been the Great Wall of China.
Quarterbacks have a mental clock running in their head as
they drop back. Here’s what a typical Ryan
sequence had to have been like:
Count one: I see the
safeties are deep, I’m going to have to throw underneath
Count two: Roddy White
should be breaking open pretty quickly
Count three: Julius Jones
should also be open now
Count four: No reason
to hurry here, I’m thinking about pizza after the game
Count five: This is
nice protection and I’m guessing the kids will want pepperoni, but I really
like sausage
Count six: I wonder
if Tony Gonzalez is watching the game.
He’d really enjoy this
Count seven: Let me
move a little here as there’s a little commotion on my left
Count eight: Zip
Lesson 1: Very few
teams have the cornerbacks to cover both Julio Jones and Roddy White, and the
Saints are one of them. The Falcons,
with the addition of Devin Hester have 4 legit wide receivers. If you think you can sit back and play
coverage, you’ve got what we’ll call “The Spags.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the Saints were
efficient, but their two turnovers cost them dearly. Both teams had end zone turnovers. The Saints marched down the field and Brees tried to force a ball into
Brandin Cooks in the end zone and the interception cost the Saints precious
points.
Then in overtime, the normally reliable Marquis Colston had
a rough day, dropping the first pass, then catching and fumbling the
second. Matt Bryant kicked the tie
breaker through from 52.
Other than that, the Saints offense looked sharp. Brees threw for 333 yards and looked primed
for another productive year. Rookie
Brandin Cooks showed great promise, and I’ll bet anyone who wants to bet $1,
that he caught more passes (7) in this game than Nick Toon will in his NFL
career. Toon was inactive after being
kept on the squad, but Robert Meachem was active even though he was cut and
brought back. Just thought I would
mention that mystery. Yep, we kept Toon,
but cut Ryan Griffin, who after a rough opening Sunday for QB’s will
undoubtedly get picked up this week.
Lesson 2: the Saints
offense is probably good for about 34 a day.
Rob Ryan’s defense looked terrible and all they have to do is hold the
opponents under say 30 a game and the Saints will be fine.
So now the Saints travel to Cleveland. One has to get excited about what could be
going through Johnny Football’s mind should he get on the field:
Count 1: Whoa, where
is that linebacker running to?
Count 2: Hey this is
fun and these guys are really fast
Count 3: Where did my
slot guy run off to?
Count 4: I wonder if
my pictures are safe in the cloud?
Count 5: All these
celebrities had their nude pictures stolen from the cloud and published on the
internet but where are they and why can’t I find them?
Count 6: I’ve got to
find Jennifer Lawrence’s pictures.
Count 7: I better run
Count 8: Zip. I wonder if I'll ever meet Miley Cyrus?
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