Who Dat Nation
Take a Sedative
Things are never as good as they seem, nor as bad.
It would be easy for the perpetually negative Saints fans to start talking like Buddy D today, after a stunning 20 – 17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There’s no need.
The Saints are the same good football team they’ve been all year. The wheels haven’t come off. They’re just wobbling a little, and at a distressing time. In the NFL it’s a 4 month season, with a 5th month if you’ve survived the first 4. There's no way a team can be flawless for that long a time period, no matter what the record shows. There will be ups and downs. The Saints have clinched that they’ll be playing in January, and we should enjoy that. Let’s discuss:
First the bad news.
I said at the beginning of the year the key to the Saints having a great year was Pierre Thomas. The Saints, like every team, need to have some threat of a running game to keep the passing game going, and Pierre is the guy. When he went out with bruised ribs Sunday, I thought the Saints changed significantly. They couldn’t pound, and the Bucs spread the field with coverage. Teams are doing that to the Saints now. NFL defenses catch up with the offenses, always have. It’s the running game threat that the Saints need to open up the field.
Second, the Super Bowl is won by teams that are hot and healthy. The Saints are neither.
But, they have 3 weeks to get healthy. Let’s hang our hat on that for the time being.
The defense is so depleted with injuries, that they just can’t get off the field. Just watch the replay of the punt return that sliced the Saints yesterday and you’ll see a lot of names you don’t recognize getting up off the ground, like game day practice squad signees.
Bill Parcells says a great cornerback is an asset, but a good cornerback is a target. Right now Malcolm Jenkins is a target. The Bucs threw at him all day and he appears to suffer from being a) a rookie, and b) a step too slow to play corner. Now, it may take him a year or two to improve, or I suspect he’ll eventually play safety, but right now he’s not making anyone forget Jabari Greer.
The Saints run defense is awful. The Bucs proved yesterday that being down 17 zip is no reason to abandon your running game. I hope the Saints noticed that.
NFL games turn on a handful of plays. They all seemed to go the Saints way early in the year. The Saints early victories over the Falcons and Panthers I recall could have broken the other way, but for a few plays, not to mention the last month’s last-minute miracles, which came to an abrupt end in the last week. Yesterday, the Colston fumble, the punt return, and the missed field goal were 3 plays that wouldn’t have happened earlier in the year.
Sean Payton appears to have no faith in Kyle Eckles at fullback. Since Heath Evans went down with an injury, the Saints offense has not been the same, and the Saints use tight end David Thomas in the backfield an awful lot. With Shockey out, the Saints don’t have the Tight End down the field threat, with Thomas tied up blocking.
Without Lance Moore, Heath Evans, & Jeremy Shockey, the Saints are a 20 points per game offense, not 30.
Football is a game of power, and the Saints don’t have enough. No matter what their record is, they’ve gotten pushed around in about half their games this year, and the skill players have offset that – but it can’t continue forever. Their top priority in the offseason needs to be more power, especially on the defensive front.
Now, the good news.
If, and it’s a big if, Pierre Thomas, Lance Moore, Jeremy Shockey, Scott Shanle, and Jabari Greer return in time for the playoffs, the Saints should be as good as they were 2 months ago. Will that be good enough to go to, or win, a Super Bowl? We’ll see.
Drew Brees is still Drew Brees. He did all you could ask yesterday. The Saints just seemed a yard short all day. It’s amazing to be walking out of a stadium and have the quarterback throw so few incompletions, that you can recall them all. I’ve done that twice this year.
Robert Meachem continues his emergence. One more step yesterday and he would have scored the winning touchdown by turning a good play into a great one and winning another game almost single-handedly.
The Saints offense is still good, it’s just not as consistent as it used to be.
The Saints defense needs to get back to pressuring the QB, something they haven’t done for awhile.
So, Who Dat nation, take a deep breath and keep the faith. I’m not even saying they’ll win next week, and it would certainly be a shame to now lose home field advantage, which no one seems to want at this point. The great thing about this team is that they have a chance to be very good for the next 3 or 4 years. It doesn’t mean they’re going to go 64 – 0. The pundits will crucify us for the next week or two, and those lofty power rankings will plummet, but this is the same good football team they’ve been all year. They could’ve been great, even perfect if their luck had extended to the training table, but it didn’t and now comes the time of year when you have to grind through a few weeks of adversity.
So, the great news:
We’re in the tournament, and starting mid-January, it’s a brand new, very short season.
I still like our chances. Stand by. Take a sedative if you have to. The Saints will do that to you.
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