I give up.
I can’t figure them out.
The Saints are like a girlfriend you’ve been having a great
time with for a few weeks, and she walks in and announces that she’d like to see other
people.
In a game that should have had a degree of difficulty of
about 0, the Saints managed to cough up a game to the single-win Titans 34-28,
in overtime. Overtime was a mercy rule
for the Saints, as Tennessee would have kept right on rolling to a 56 – 28 win
if allowed to continue.
Oh, the Saints picked up where they’d left off last week, as
they scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, and Brees was having
his way. It was then that the Titans
made a fateful decision. They decided Brees
could not throw from the ground. The
Saints protection began to collapse and the Titans took control.
This was the kind of defensive adjustment that evades the
Saints, right up there with tackling and coverage. Quarterback Marcus Mariotta was given a
ticket to ride all day long, as the Saints front four never laid a hand on
him. He stood back in the pocket, and
said, “wait, is this the NFL? Where’s
that Cameron Jordan I’ve been hearing so much about?” Maybe Marcus is a future star. As usual, the Saints did their part to
accelerate the young quarterback’s progress.
It’s a fleur de lis tradition.
The Saints secondary, which was showing so much progress
just a few weeks ago, was in complete disarray as Jarius Byrd doesn’t seem to
grasp the concept of “safety” and Brandon Browner can only grasp. Of course, they get no help from a pass rush,
and there is one sure way to win in the NFL, and it’s with a pass rush,
You will find here a list of players who effectively rushed
the passer: ……………………….
Then there’s the list of players who can consistently run
the ball: ………………………
That’s right. The
Saints still can’t rush the passer and can’t rush the football.
Good thing they're not a fraternity dependent on rush. They'd be extinct.
Yes, there was some luck involved. What should have been a routine interception
was bounced up and turned into a long touchdown pass for the Titans. The
Saints had a potential game-winning field goal blocked. Marcus Murphy fumbled his 2nd punt
in his last 3 returns early in the game.
On paper, this should have been a blowout with the Saints doing the
blowing. Instead, they got blown, in a
bad way.
So the Saints, after battling so hard to get back to .500
have sputtered back to 4-5. They have
eliminated any room for error they might have had to make the playoffs.
They may be headed for an ugly breakup. Just when we were thinking about a promising future together.
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