Someday, when Tom Brady is finally forced to retire by his wife, he will begin a series of shows with Peyton Manning where they reminisce about their rivalry and friendly competition. They’ll probably go game by game easily, because they were never on the field at the same time.
None of those things apply to Marshawn Lattimore and Mike Evans. Their battles are classics, where neither backs down, before or after the whistle. I haven’t been able to attend a game at the dome in a while but the last few Bucs/Saints contests that I was able to attend, I just watched them when the Bucs had the ball, even before Brady came along. Now that’s a rivalry.
Unfortunately, Lattimore can never turn the other cheek. It almost cost the Saints in week 1, and probably cost them in week 2. The brawl got all the headlines, as once again Evans, frustrated with the lockdown of Lattimore, flew off the bench and cheap shotted Lattimore. This is the reason I thought the Saints were going to miss Chauncy Gardner-Johnson. He could bait the other team into penalties, but refrain from retaliation. If only Lattimore would set the trap, but not take the bait. Too Much to ask.
Sunday, the Saints lost to the Bucs 20-10. After seeing Fournette run in week 1 and the Saints get mauled on the line, I was not optimistic going in. But, for 3 quarters, the defense held, putting Brady into one of his temper tantrum phases.
Never, never, never, have I ever wanted a microphone on the field more than Sunday. Wouldn’t you have loved to hear the talk leading up to the “brawl” which really wasn’t much of a brawl?
Anyway, concerns are many. The Saints staged a miracle 4th quarter in week 1, and fell apart in the 4th quarter of week 2. Let’s start with Quarterback play. I think Winston is going to be the QB for 2 years. I think the Saints will pull out all the stops to draft one (hopefully Bryce Young) and let him sit for a year behind Winston.
The Saints will not win many games passing for 100 yards and scoring 3 points in the first 3 quarters. Why can’t they score early? Winston’s mobility in the pocket is just poor. He has what I would generously call heavy feet. And I’m not one of those guys who wants a running quarterback, just a mobile one. Playing QB is dangerous enough without racing around like a gazelle. But it just doesn’t appear that Winston can see the field. He can zip it to a wide open man, and he has good arm strength. But reading defenses, checking out of plays, throwing a man open, and quick releases are just not there. He is a mid to low tier NFL QB and I just don’t see that changing.
Don’t believe me? Well, it was Sean Payton who tipped his hand last week as he was making the talk show rounds. When asked who the best QB in the NFL was, he answered “Patrick Mahomes, and it’s not close.” Then he would go into the story of how close the Saints came to drafting Mahomes, and it was obvious that had they done so, he’d still be coaching and racking up the win meter. One year of the quarterbacks he had to work with last year was enough. Brees to Mahomes would have been epic. Brees to Field, not so much.
On Sunday, the game dissolved when Ingram capped off the Saints best drive of the game with another fumble. Not sure how long this will go on. Dwayne Washington looks great every time he carries the ball. I’m betting 15 carries a game nets 100 yards if we’ll just give him a chance. I haven’t even mentioned the two ridiculous calls against the Saints to sustain the Brady drive he needed the most. The Penalty “unnecessary roughness” needs to be changed to “Insufficient softness.” I officiated a long time, and now I sit in the recliner watching all 3 sports, and the officiating is terrible, and it’s been made worse by replay. I get a kick out of baseball’s coming rule changes meant to speed up the game. Ha, get rid of the 45 minutes or replays a game.
So, the Saints are in trouble. The return of Adebo will help, but when? Not another high ankle sprain, I hope? The defense is playing well enough to win, but changes have to made on offense. Didn’t take me long to go from optimistic to pessimistic about this season. Dennis Allen is about to get tested.
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