Saints Report #8

The First Place New Orleans Saints.  Whew, that took awhile.

With two blow out wins in 5 days the Saints moved into first place with a 4-4 record in the decrepit NFC South. 

The Saints brought their defense and their running game on the road and knocked off the Carolina Panthers 28 – 10.  Two typical road turnovers kept the first half close but the Saints closed strong to lead 14 – 0 at the half.  They put the game away in the second half as they continued their trend of offensive balance.

Finally the Saints inexplicable seven game regular season road losing streak came to an end.  During the streak they found every possible way to give games away, usually with well-timed turnovers.  In this game Carolina matched the Saints turnovers.  Cam Newton looked like Clayton Kershaw, with his fastballs missing the mark, to Drew Brees’ Madison Baumgartner imitation.  Brees tried to force a few, but when clean in the pocket, he threw strikes.  His pitch count of 34 attempts to go with about the same number of rushing attempts, mostly by Mark Ingram who ran for 100 yards, struck that perfect balance that makes the Saints so dangerous.  Sean Payton has gone through a play calling rebirth.  The Saints ran the ball, controlled the clock, and kept their defense rested.

The simplified Ryan defense responded with another good performance, although they were helped by the wildness of Cam Newton, who simply couldn’t find the strike zone.  One last baseball analogy.  The Saints receivers played errorless ball.  Graham and Colston who have both had critical drops, were rock solid, and Graham seems to be rounding into that all-pro form.  Even Robert Meachum caught a pass.

After a long weekend it’s time for a home stand.  But it is going to be a tough one as the teams coming in (49ers, Bengals, and Ravens) are very good teams.  It’s obvious that the Saints would rather play great teams at home than good teams on the road.  Their formula for success appears simple.  The Saints will win the battles with boots on the ground, which will only help their air superiority.  

After a disconcerting start, maybe the Saints are beginning to be what we thought they’d be.  The last two games have certainly been the team we expected to see when the season began.  Too bad it took half a season.  The season has resembled a roller coaster with little hills and valleys, then a big climb to the top of the hill, with the Saints sitting at the top of the big hill, ready to roll down through the second half. 

We hope.

By the way, here's my World Series comment.  If you watched you saw the single most valuable baseball performance of all time.  Madison Baumgartner's pitching surpassed gems of the past like Micky Lolich, Orel Hershiser, and Jack Morris.  Here's why - he was virtually a one man team, which usually doesn't win in baseball.  The San Francisco Giants played a very average Series, and their pitching was none too stellar.  Except for Madison.  The only comparison I could come up with was Sandy Koufax, who remains the best pitcher I've ever seen.  Sandy's games were often 1-0 because Dodger bats were anemic.

Why is baseball the greatest game?  Because the playoffs and World Series are different.  It humbles some (Clayton Kershaw) and allows others to elevate (Baumgartner.)  Baumgartner's slingshot deliver which on TV seemed to come out of right field, not center field, was dominant and it leads me to one question.  Why can a lefthander slingshot it, and a right hander can't?  Something to do with the earth's rotation?  If you can answer that one, please email me.