Saints Reports # 11 and 12 December 2, 2021

A Tale of Two Thursdays.

It was the worst of times, then it got worser.

For some reason, the NFL decided to put the Saints on back to back Thursday night games, from the Superdome.  It couldn’t have gone worse.  Try to imagine the elation the home crowd would have felt in the Drew Brees era with two straight Thursday night games.  This is not those times.

I do have a theory.  The NFL wanted to roll out their latest versions of “the worst call ever” on National TV.  How long is this going to go on?  I hate the length of the games, but I’m with Bill Belichick on this one.  Every call should be reviewable.  Just like real life. The Saints win the twitter conversation every week.  It doesn't make me feel any better.

My Thanksgiving day was a family pleasure.  We didn’t cook, we traveled.  We just showed up, and it was great.  Our hosts experienced the same overproduction problems we have when we cook, unless you think 8 pies for 9 people is normal, but it was probably our first ever break from the heavy lifting.  After a great meal, we retired to our son’s basement to watch a scintillating Saints performance in a contest with the Buffalo Bills. Afterwards, I felt like I was the one that had been scintillated.  Keep in mind the Bills may be the best team in the NFL, and I predicted they will win the Super Bowl, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when the Saints got carved up 31-6.   The streak was at 4.

If the Trevor Siemian era is to be remembered, all 4 games of it (to this point) it will be remembered for Payton’s most cautious play calling of his tenure.  The Saints rarely threw the ball on first down, presumably to reduce the sacks of the immobile QB. Almost every promising situation was punctured by a sack, and once the announcer version Drew Brees noted that Siemian doesn’t step up into the pocket, it got repeated by every commentor on the web.  Why isn’t Taysom in there?  Wait, we’ve got another 4^th down pass by the punter up our sleeve. 

The Saints defense performed fairly well, in both games, but you can only ask so much. They are the best run stopping bunch in the NFL, and the secondary is way better than I thought they would be, but they wear down and the law of averages catches up with them.  Then, it’s not pretty.

On the second Thursday, it was Taysom Hill’s turn finally, after signing a mega contract that will pay him handsomely if he can actually play quarterback, and well if he can’t.  Payton is clearly enamored of the Hill skill set, enough to put Mrs. Benson’s money where his mouth is.

So, how did it go?  It went 4 interceptions, one a pick-six.  Yes, he injured his finger early, and his running was exciting at times, but the Saints were overmatched again.  The Saints scored late on a nifty run after catch by Deonte Harris to pull it close 27-17, but this just highlighted that Harris may be the only receiving threat the Saints have, he’s just missing about 8 inches of height.  He’s also appealing a 3- game suspension which would cripple the Saints, when he has to serve it.  The gamble of not drafting a wide receiver is officially a bumble.  Look, I know few teams that could lose 3 offensive linemen, and be down to their third quarterback and still be competitive, but the lack of wide receiver talent is glaring given that there have been great receivers go in the first round the last few years.  The streak is at 5.

So, after more than half of the greediest season in NFL history, 17 games with no roster expansion, there is one thing I’m sure of.  A running QB makes no sense.  He will get hurt.

Saquon Barkley, an immensely talented running back, has played 36 games in 4 years.  Injured
Christian McCafferty is out for the season, again
Alvin Kamara has just missed his 5^th straight game.  The Saints are 5-2 with him, and 0-5 without him.
Dalvin Cook is out.  Cam Akers is out.

And these are just the running backs.  They can’t stay on the field.  The game is too violent.  Check out the Tom Brady documentary on ESPN 3.  You can’t help but notice the violent hits from 20 years ago that just wouldn’t fly today. 

Meanwhile, Let’s look at the QB’s:

Jameis Winston got injured scrambling.
Russell Wilson missed several games, and doesn’t look good since he came back
Taysom Hill apparently has the same injury now. 
Cam Newton and Big Ben can’t throw.
Kyler Murray is on the shelf.
Lamar Jackson may be the most exciting player in the NFL. He gets hurt too much.

Now, just for fun, let’s look at Alabama Quarterbacks in the NFL.

The jury is still out on Jalen Hurts.  He can run the ball very well, and hasn’t gotten hurt yet, but hasn’t proven he can throw it at the NFL level.

Tua Tagovailloa is not what everyone thought he would be, and the injury he suffered to his hip late in his college career, while scrambling, may be why.

Then there is Mac Jones, who yes, landed on a good team, but is a statue in the pocket, reading defenses and distributing the ball.  I still think this is the prototype. 
So, who do I want?  Bama’s Bryce Young.  Can we draft him early like the Celtics did Larry Byrd?