Saints Report # 10 - November 17, 2016

Take Sunday off.
We get this Sunday off after a Thursday night debacle.

In the space of 5 days it all fell apart for the New Orleans Saints.

The second loss in that period, to Carolina 23-20, looked so much like the Sunday loss to Denver that you could practically hear Dionne Warwick singing.  The pattern is that familiar.  First the offense struggles, turning the ball over and digging a hole.  Then the offense leads a comeback, only to be derailed by a special teams disaster.  

 In the case of Thursday night, Marcus Murphy proved to be no improvement over previous return men when he decided to stop the momentum of a kick headed out of bounds and carry it out at the one yard line for a nice little 40 yard swing.  It was the latest bonehead kick return move in an incompetent kick return year.  (By the way, who told him he could wear Pierre Thomas' #23). 

Then there are the blocked kicks.  Carolina feasted on the film that the Saints must not be watching. Their block of a field goal attempt was like an instant replay of the Denver block 5 days earlier, right down to a return down the sideline.  Only a weak penalty on Carolina prevented it from being a total déjà vu.

There’s a particular irony to the special teams struggles that have derailed a mildly promising year.  The Sean Payton legacy is built on iconic special teams plays – the Steve Gleason blocked punt, and the “Ambush” onside kick in the Super Bowl.  These were daring plays that pale in comparison to the adventures in placekicking that this season has become.  I’ve often said that if you can’t run the ball one yard when you need it, you don’t deserve to win.  Here’s another tidbit.  If you can’t block for your kicking game, you don’t deserve to win.  What makes this even harder to swallow is that the defense is actually improving.  You can’t pin these two losses on the defense.

So, unless they can turn this inexplicable ineptitude around, the 4-6 Saints will have wasted another year.  They almost certainly have to close the season with a 6 game winning streak to make the playoffs.  They are in need of a Sunday off as much as their fans are.  They sure have plenty to think about.  They wander through games like they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, an apt metaphor if there ever was one. 

 

Saints Report # 9 - November 8, 2015

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 2^nd 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.