Saints Report # 9 - November 11, 2018

Dominant.  The New Orleans Saints gave one of their most dominant road performances ever, traveling to Cincinnati and stunning the Bengals 51-14.  The Saints are now 5-0 on the road, having traveled to difficult locales and celebrated on the plane ride home each time.  The Saints only punted once, as they marched up and down the field at will. 

Mark Ingram had his biggest game of the year as he and Alvin Kamara ran wild with handoffs and passes from Brees.  Brees meanwhile was nearly perfect behind the best offensive line in football.  It is the Saints offensive line that is controlling games.  After an opening touchdown drive by the Bengals, the defense, led by linebacker Alex Anzalone, put the hold on the chili-eaters.  Marcus Williams took back an interception 78 yards right before the half, setting up a last play touchdown pass to Michael Thomas.  Wil Lutz had another perfect day. 

The second Super Bowl I went to see was January 25, 1987.  It will forever be known as the Phil Simms game as he went 22 for 25 for 289 yards in a 39-20 thrashing of John Elway and his Denver Broncos.  On this day, Brees had a similar game, going 22 for 25 for 265 yards.  He is now 2^nd only to Peyton Manning in career touchdown passes and continues to make a strong case for NFL MVP.  Not that he cares about that.  He’d like to finish with another ring or two.  Today he played a Simsian game, but it may be an Elwayan finish he’s looking for.  John Elway lost several Super Bowls, but won two in his last two years, then retired.  That would be fine with Drew, and fine with me. In fact, one would be fine.

The quiet surgeon has overtaken the gunslinger in touchdown passes, and has surged ahead of Tom Brady.  Manning awaits in the record books, but it’s the Saints position atop the NFC standings at 8-1, as they covet home field advantage, that is of immediate importance.  The Eagles fly in next Sunday. The defending Super Bowl Champs are looking desperate.  We'll see what happens when desperate meets dominant.

Saints Report #10

The Saints have lost several games this year that could have gone either way, with just a play or two being the difference

This was not one of those games.

In a game that was only briefly in doubt, the Saints got rolled by another AFC North Team.  This time the Cincinnati Bengals came to town and delivered 2 pieces of bad news.  First, a 27 – 10 total domination the likes of which the Superdome hasn’t seen in the Payton era.  Secondly, the Ravens and Steelers are next.

What went wrong on the floor of the dome?  Just about everything.  The Bengals ran the ball at will.  The Saints couldn’t.  The Bengal receivers couldn’t be covered.  The Saints receivers were held in check.  The Bengals offense made several big plays.  The Bengals defense made several big plays.  The Saints offense only made a few.  The Saints defense made none that I can think of.

Bengal big plays?  Well if the Saints had any chance it evaporated on their 2^nd possession of the game after both teams had lengthy drives.  The Bengals put together a goal line stand early in the 2^nd quarter from their own 2 yard line.   A pass on first down fell incomplete.  The Saints commitment to running the ball apparently doesn’t come into play with a first down on the 2.   Two runs then went nowhere, then a 4^th down pass was completed but short of the end zone.

This was just the beginning of a game-long lesson in tackling by the Bengals.  While the Saints were floundering in tackling and coverage, the Bengals kept the Saints receivers in front of them all day, and controlled the line of scrimmage.  It was old-fashioned control-the-clock football, something the Saints, with all their talent on offense can only pretend to, especially when long drives go unfinished.

Meanwhile, the defense was overmatched all day, and when the Bengals needed a big play, QB Andy Dalton just looked to AJ Green, who is going to be a perennial all-pro.  The Saints strategy was to cover him one on one (big mistake) and usually with a rookie (bigger mistake).  The Saints glaring weaknesses at the cornerback position were on full display all day.  If the Saints have 7 draft picks next year, 6 need to be defensive backs.  When your only reliable defender, Keenan Lewis, is injured, choices are few.  Safety Rafael Bush was late in coverage all day, then suffered a broken leg, so he is done for the year, joining rookie safety Vinnie Sunseri on Injured Reserve.  Hopefully Pierre Warren, who was spectacular in pre-season and got cut, has been working out.

By the end of the day all the lessons the Saints had learned were made worse by the fact that they had been caught by the Falcons at the top of the division standings.  Terrific.  A depleted, error-making team is 4-6 with no room for error.