Saints Report # 16 - January 2, 2011

They say that if you get in a fight hit the other guy in the nose with your first punch. If the nose is broken and bloodied, you’ll quickly find out if your opponent has a taste for further combat. Sunday the New Orleans Saints came into their game with the Tampa Bay Bucs already bloodied. When two of their young stars, Jimmy Graham and Malcolm Jenkins, went down with injuries, the Saints began to realize that with the playoffs ahead, discretion was the better part of valor, and they had no taste for unnecessary combat. They didn’t lie down, but they certainly began to take their foot off the gas, although make no mistake; they weren’t exactly hitting on eight cylinders.

The Bucs continued to show development. With a very young team, Josh Freeman is now the third fine quarterback in the NFC South. With Carolina poised to draft Andrew Luck of Stanford, if he goes into the draft, the NFC South could soon be the best QB conference in the NFL.

The Saints started off fast with an opening touchdown drive culminating in a short pass to Graham which turned out to be his last play of the game. Julius Jones let a fumble and momentum slip away deep in the red zone on a subsequent drive, then a Lance Moore slip on a pass route resulted in a Brees interception on another foray into the red zone. Not exactly the “finishing” that was so prevalent last year. They threw in the towel in the 4th quarter bringing down the curtain on the Superdome (probably) for 2010 with a lackluster 23-13 loss to Tampa Bay.

It was déjà vu all over again as the Saints game 16 performance was a near repeat of their game 15 performance of last year, when, after having spanked Tampa Bay decisively earlier in the year in Tampa, they stunk it up in the dome.

Here’s the good news for the Saints:
Reggie Bush began to show signs of life, rushing for 70 yards and catching passes for 55.
Adrian Arrington showed the promise that fans have been hearing about for years, catching everything thrown his way and filling in capably for Marques Colston.
Junior Galette, and Chase Daniel finally saw some action as well.

Here’s the bad news:
Bush got so many carries because Chris Ivory again failed to stay on the field, getting hurt early, joining Pierre Thomas on the sideline.
Jimmy Graham got hurt early, after a touchdown catch, joining Jeremy Shockley and David Thomas on the sidelines. Suddenly the Saints are short at tight end.
Malcolm Jenkins went down early with a knee injury, and he’s been a bright spot all year on defense.
A special team’s breakdown on a kick return was again of vital importance.
The injury list grew substantially and the Saints don’t have a bye weak to get healthy.
Jabari Greer continues to struggle, as he got out-jumped for both of the Bucs’ touchdown passes.
The Juicy Fruit Genius still operates with a few illusions:
1) No respect for running backs. He thinks he can take a back and just throw him in any time. Julius Jones fumbled on his first carry as the Saints were closing in on a touchdown, and it’s asking an awful lot for a back’s first hit to come at the goal line.
2) That the Saints can throw it constantly, and win any game by flinging it all over the lot. Brees set an NFL record with 448 completions in a season. The question is, why? Why was it necessary?

The Saints finish at 11 – 5, two games worse than last year.

Playoff outlook? The Saints will get their depth tested when they travel to Seattle next Saturday. The Saints have more injuries than at any time in the last few years. By record this shouldn’t be much of a contest, but Saints fans know better. Quest field is a tough place to play, it’s a short week, and nobody expects much from the Seahawks. The Saints have never won a road playoff game. It’s survival week. They’re in the final 12 teams, and have a chance to move to the final 8. It’s quite an achievement, but there’s no way they can be as confident as they were at this time last year.