All is lost after the Saints fell to the Giants 16 – 13 on
Sunday.
They join Cleveland, Miami, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Indianapolis,
Washington, and Chicago at 0 - 2
The season is lost.
Not so fast.
I saw a lot I liked Sunday.
The consensus was, and it was certainly my feeling, that the
Saints would be-bop into the Meadowlands and get trounced in another shootout.
It didn’t happen.
The Saints did almost nothing on offense. But, what they did do, was slow the game down
with a little ball control, and actually hold the Giants without an offensive
touchdown. They played a field position
game with their MVP, punter Thomas Morestead.
But for 2 plays – a blocked field goal (and let's recognize that special teams have been reliable in the Sean Payton era) and the final drive
miscue by rookie Ken Crawley when he went for an interception instead of
knocking the ball away from Victor Cruz, the Saints played well enough to win.
When training camp started the cornerback depth chart would
have read Keenan Lewis, Delvin Breaux, Damian Swan and PJ Williams. Gone, Hurt, Disabled and Concussed. Eli Manning should have had a field day. But he didn’t. They Saints got 3 turnovers, a couple of rare sacks, and played pliable defense the whole game. It was downright encouraging. For the first time since 2009, they appear to
have an actual scheme on defense.
Unfortunately, the offense picked this trip to play their
worst game in memory. The Giants defense
is certainly improved and I couldn’t help but wonder about that day when Sean
Payton came off suspension and immediately fired (now Giant defensive coordinator) Steve Spagnuolo. Wonder where we’d be now if he had stuck with
him for a few years? But, Dennis Allen
appears to know what he’s doing. He’s
just knee deep in rookies in the defensive backfield, with the injury bug
biting hard, and that’s not even mentioning Sheldon Rankins, Hau’oli Kikaha, the
perennially injured Daneel Ellerbe, and last year’s leading tackler Stephone Anthony,
who has disappeared like he was in some kind of slasher movie and he’s wandered
off into the woods. No, it’s not the
defense we would have envisioned just 6 months ago.
Of course there are things not to like. I’ve watched the Pittsburgh Pirates a lot
over the last few years. They have a
pitcher named Jeff Locke whom I have watched get shelled time after time. His presence on a major league roster
mystifies me.
Which brings me to Brandon Coleman. Oh, he
resembles Marques Colston in body frame, and they want him to be the new Colston, but sir, I knew Marques Colston, and you're no Marques Colston. The hands aren’t there, and the
heart isn’t there. He’s a product of the
salary cap issues, in that he’s a cheap alternative. Drew Brees throwing to him and the struggling
Coby Fleener can be traced right to the salary cap hell GM Mickey Loomis and
Sean Payton have put the team in. We're putting cheap parts on the Cadillac.
Then, there’s the totally ineffective running game. Traditionally we’ve had some lightening to
go with our thunder. Tony Galbreath, Dalton Hilliard, Reggie Bush, Darren Sproles. Today we have Tavares Cadet. Oh, he’s
serviceable, as is Tim Hightower. But do
you think any defensive coach is worried about our running game? We get about one effective run a game. And is it just me, or can you tell exactly
where they’re going to run when we line up?
I look for our offense to continue to struggle as defenses only have to
worry about our quarterback and wide receivers.
We saw two teams Sunday who have significantly improved
their defense. So, I’m tempted to say
when we play a game where both the offense and defense show up on the same day,
we’ll be fine. But alas, the truth is,
that’s not the way the NFL works. It is
a made-for-tv event that is designed to be close. It is the only sport that allows a make-it,
take-it. Two losses by a total of 4
points, in which the outcome was significantly affected by the officiating – is
it time to panic? I don’t think so. Wait one more game, (and it’s going to be a
doozy.) If the Saints lose to Atlanta at
home on Monday night, it’s time to panic.
The way Tom Benson should be panicking over Mickey Loomis' checkbook skills.
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