Saints Report #7 - October 30, 2016

Trying desperately to become relevant again the New Orleans Saints played their best game of the season in beating the Seattle Seahawks 25-20 in the Mercedes Benz Superdome on Sunday.  They finally exacted a little revenge for season ending playoff losses in 2010 and 2011.  

The turning point in the game was when the Seahawks scored a defensive touchdown to take a 7-0 early lead by wrestling the football away from Mark Ingram and running it in.  It was the second time in two weeks that Ingram had coughed it up causing great damage.  This time however was different.  Sean Payton had seen enough of “straight line” and finally sat him down, albeit three years too late.  And just like that Tim Hightower took over and the Saints suddenly had a running game.  Hightower would rush for over 100 yards, something Ingram hasn’t down since the Chicago Cubs last won a World Series. 

The Saints battled back from a 14-3 second quarter deficit.  Drew Brees led the Saints to scores on their last 5 possessions, remarkable given the caliber of the Seahawks defense.  The Saints moved the ball all day, but were somewhat stymied in the red zone.  Sean Payton played it uncharacteristically conservatively, settling for field goals against the tough goal line defense. 

Meanwhile, the Saints no-name defense harassed Russell Wilson all day and even more importantly kept him in the pocket.  The defense began to show the progress Saints fans have been hoping for. If the defense continues to play this way, the running game is the slightest of threats (in other words Ingram stays where he spent most of this game) and Brees and his stellar receiving corps continue to impress, maybe, just maybe there's relevancy in the Saints future.

Next week the Saints travel to San Francisco and make another effort to pull themselves to .500 on the year.  At least that would make for an interesting 2nd half of the season.

Saints Report # 6 - October 23, 2016

Much like the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New Orleans Saints season came to an end over the weekend.  By falling to 2 – 4 with a 27 – 21 loss at Kansas City, the hope for a Saints surge into the playoffs is about as likely as Steve Garvey pinch hitting a 5-run home run to tie the Cubs.  The Saints went to KC threatening to make a season out of 2016, but left to the tune of the same old song, the one we’ve danced to for several seasons now.

Drew Brees had his 100^th game with over 300 yards passing, but the Saints again proved unable to translate all those yards into a victory.  I’m just wondering what Brees’ record is in those 100 games?

This was a game the Kansas City Chiefs went out and took with several great defensive plays.  One was a deflection of a Brees pass that was returned for a touchdown.  Then, late in the game, Mark Ingram had a fumble punched loose inside the Chief’s 10 yard line.  I’m no fan of “straight-line” Mark, but this was a real take-away – a great play by the Chief’s defense.  Meanwhile the Saints had enough penalties to dig a Canal Street sinkhole, and wouldn’t know a big play on defense unless it was handed to them.

So, now the Saints must entertain the Seahawks for a nightmare on Poydras street on Halloween Eve.  Don’t get your hopes up, unless you’re betting on passing yardage.  At this point, the Saints aren’t capable of much else.

Saints Report # 5 - October 16, 2016

No Lead is Safe.

There is no one sentence that better describes a New Orleans Saints game.

When Drew Brees is your quarterback, the Saints are never out of a game.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for the Saints defense.  No lead is safe.

The good news from the Saints 41-38 fireworks display Sunday in the shootout dome?

Watching the Saints offense is like watching pinball with Drew Brees in the part of the Pinball Wizard.  He threw for 465 yards.  He has thrown for over 50,000 yards with the Saints.  Remember two years ago, when they were questioning his diminished arm strength?  Ha.  If not for a 4^th quarter interception, this may have been his most impressive game yet.

The Saints receiving corps looks spectacular.  The Saints have so many weapons on offense that they are as stacked as a college football run and shoot team.

They have added another weapon with TommyLee Lewis who although he dropped a critical pass, had a spectacular punt return.  The Saints may have finally found the replacement for Darren Sproles.

By the same token, it looks like rookie Michael Thomas is the Marques Colston replacement he was touted to be.

When Will Lutz nailed a 52 yard field goal with 10 seconds left, it confirmed Payton’s faith in him.  The Saints have their kicker.

The bad news?  The Saints still don’t have the running game they need, thus the pinball.  They can’t protect a lead by pounding the ball and chewing up clock.  So in this game the defense was on the field for a mind boggling 76 plays.  That’s a recipe for exhaustion. 

The Saints defense committed more interference than Russian Hackers and couldn’t stop the Panthers out patterns that the Panthers went to repeatedly in the clutch

Mental errors threatened to derail this game, and the Saints penalties were exorbitant.

But, here’s the real bad news for the whole NFL.  Sunday we got a glimpse of Cam Newton 2.0 – the pocket passer.  He can flick the ball 30 yards effortlessly, accurately, and instantaneously, and the fact that they hung up 38 points with him only running one option play is just plain scary.  The Panthers may have started 1 – 4, but as their new secondary gains experience, they could go on a run.  Recognizing the physical pounding a quarterback takes, it looks like Newton will, and should, emulate Ben Rothlisberger instead of Randall Cunningham in order to have a nice long career.

On the other hand it looks like the Saints run has begun.  They have a chance to pull to .500 next week with a win at Arrowhead stadium which is not an indoor pinball facility.  It’s an outdoor stadium and the Saints should do well there.  It’s no October surprise that the Saints do well in the mild months.  It’s what they’ll do in cold December that is at question with an offense that can’t run the ball.  For now, let’s hope for another October winning streak. 

No Lead is Safe when the digit counters fall.