Saints Report #10

The Saints have lost several games this year that could have gone either way, with just a play or two being the difference

This was not one of those games.

In a game that was only briefly in doubt, the Saints got rolled by another AFC North Team.  This time the Cincinnati Bengals came to town and delivered 2 pieces of bad news.  First, a 27 – 10 total domination the likes of which the Superdome hasn’t seen in the Payton era.  Secondly, the Ravens and Steelers are next.

What went wrong on the floor of the dome?  Just about everything.  The Bengals ran the ball at will.  The Saints couldn’t.  The Bengal receivers couldn’t be covered.  The Saints receivers were held in check.  The Bengals offense made several big plays.  The Bengals defense made several big plays.  The Saints offense only made a few.  The Saints defense made none that I can think of.

Bengal big plays?  Well if the Saints had any chance it evaporated on their 2^nd possession of the game after both teams had lengthy drives.  The Bengals put together a goal line stand early in the 2^nd quarter from their own 2 yard line.   A pass on first down fell incomplete.  The Saints commitment to running the ball apparently doesn’t come into play with a first down on the 2.   Two runs then went nowhere, then a 4^th down pass was completed but short of the end zone.

This was just the beginning of a game-long lesson in tackling by the Bengals.  While the Saints were floundering in tackling and coverage, the Bengals kept the Saints receivers in front of them all day, and controlled the line of scrimmage.  It was old-fashioned control-the-clock football, something the Saints, with all their talent on offense can only pretend to, especially when long drives go unfinished.

Meanwhile, the defense was overmatched all day, and when the Bengals needed a big play, QB Andy Dalton just looked to AJ Green, who is going to be a perennial all-pro.  The Saints strategy was to cover him one on one (big mistake) and usually with a rookie (bigger mistake).  The Saints glaring weaknesses at the cornerback position were on full display all day.  If the Saints have 7 draft picks next year, 6 need to be defensive backs.  When your only reliable defender, Keenan Lewis, is injured, choices are few.  Safety Rafael Bush was late in coverage all day, then suffered a broken leg, so he is done for the year, joining rookie safety Vinnie Sunseri on Injured Reserve.  Hopefully Pierre Warren, who was spectacular in pre-season and got cut, has been working out.

By the end of the day all the lessons the Saints had learned were made worse by the fact that they had been caught by the Falcons at the top of the division standings.  Terrific.  A depleted, error-making team is 4-6 with no room for error.