The Saints continued to look lethargic in their loss to the Phoenix Cardinals Sunday. With the Falcons and Bucs winning earlier in the day, this was the Saints’ first loss in a must-win situation in over a year.
With a banged up Saints defense playing well enough to win, the Saints offense continued its mistake-prone ways, especially around the goal line. I just read an article stating that the Saints best player is Drew Brees and then it ranked the rest of the players. It put Pierre Thomas 9th. Bullshit. It’s obvious to me how valuable Pierre is and maybe these games will prompt the Saints to sign him to the contract he deserves. When he is the game, the Saints are a different team.
First, take Ladell Betts. Please. At times he looks functional, but on Sunday he cost the Saints dearly with a fumble that was returned for a touchdown, a mishandled pass that got intercepted and returned to inside the 5, and appeared to cost the Saints 2 timeouts when he didn’t know where to stand with the Saints inside the 5. These are mistakes that Pierre doesn’t make. It was a team loss, but Betts was a personal 14 point swing at minimum.
Take Chris Ivory. He shows flashes of potential, but he now occupies the Aaron Stecker role in the offense. When he goes in the game, everyone in the stadium knows he’s running the ball, because he can’t do anything else. Again, not the case with Pierre Thomas.
Plus, the Saints miss Reggie Bush. The defenses are definitely game planning to stop the vertical attack. But, even then – the Saints are moving the ball pretty well. It’s just that they are settling for field goal attempts when they used to get 7. Why is this happening? Strange personnel and play calling for one. The Saints tried to throw the ball with Jimmy Graham split wide down at the goal line, and Colston and Shockey on the sidelines. Just don’t get it. If all I had was the Red Zone channel, I’d go crazy watching the Saints stumbling when they get close to the goal line.
Having said all this, the ball kept bouncing the Cardinals way Sunday at just the right moment. The Cards ran in 2 fumbles and an interception – that’s 21 of their 30 points right there. That mystical magic is gone and the Saints need to find it quickly. Tampa Bay is next and if they’re not licking their chops, they will be after watching the game film. I have no doubt that the Saints will get hot about the time they get healthy, but if they leave themselves too much ground in the standings to make up, it could make for a pretty boring January for Saints Fans. Having to win divisional games on the road to stay in the race is not generally a recipe for success in the NFL.
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