Saints Report #13 - September 12, 2021

Give me your tired, your poor, your losing teams.  Come to New York and face our team, the J-E-T-S, the worst the NFL has to offer.  If you can’t beat this team, you’re really in trouble.

The Saints traveled to New York, well actually New Hoffa, to feast on the Jets, and feast they did, 30-9.  The Jets looked awful, a reminder to the Saints fans what an awful team really looks like.  The game left the Saints as one of many teams at 6-7 and squarely in the playoff hunt, although it almost certainly won’t be by division title.  The Saints have some quarterback uncertainty over the next few years, but not like the Jets.  The green team invested the 2^nd pick in Zach Wilson, who looks like a great NFL quarterback maneuvering around the pocket, until he actually has to let go of the ball.  At that point anything could happen, but it usually involves bouncing.  Bouncing off a shoulder pad, a helmet, or the turf.  I have said all along that I don’t think the Saints have an NFL quarterback on the roster, but after watching Wilson I could make the argument that the Saints have 4, 5 if you count Kamara.  If Wilson makes it as an NFL quarterback, I will be shocked. 

Yes, Alvin Kamara was back from his fall break, and did he look fresh!  He is clearly the NFL MVP as the Saints are 6-3 with him, and 0-4 without him.  He was spectacular, accounting for 145 yards running and catching and just bothering the Jets.  Taysom Hill also had a good game, doing what he does.  But the defense was stout, allowing only 3 harmless field goals, threatened only at the end of the game.    They didn’t miss Cameron Jordan, who missed his first game ever as a Saint, and with their biggest game of the season on tap next Sunday Night against TB, now is the time to make a challenge for a a playoff spot. 

How will it go?  Well, you can bet they will concentrate on Kamara, so someone else will need to step up.

 

Saints Report #14 - December 17, 2017

On Sunday the Saints moved to 10 – 4 with a win over the visiting New York Jets.  The game was closer than the final score of 31 – 19 would indicate.  The Jets gave the Saints all they could handle. 

The Jets ran the ball pretty well all day and it looked like the Saints were wearing down.  For most of the game, the Saints could not run the ball, as the Jets were providing a blue print for the league to watch.  Mark Ingram had two impact plays, and Kamara had a touchdown catch, but Brandon Coleman fumbled twice deep in Jet territory, on consecutive catches no less.  Michael Thomas did much of the baling with one great catch after another, and the Saints defense turned back an inexperienced Quarterback when they needed to. 

This was not a playoff caliber performance, but the W goes in the record book, and that’s what counts..

The Saints deservedly had 6 players named to the Pro Bowl although oddly, no offensive lineman.  They had an amazing draft that may net them rookies of the year offensively and defensively.  Their defensive secondary is young, and light years ahead of what they usually have.

It's been a year of huge strides with great promise for the future.

And yet.....

They haven’t clinched the division title.

They haven’t clinched a playoff spot.

They haven’t clinched a home playoff game.

The Falcons and Panthers are both breathing down their necks, and the Saints could face one or both for a third time in the playoffs. 

They’ve lost AJ Klein for the year and he was Captain of the Defense and a key factor in beating his former team, the Panthers.

To get to the Super Bowl they will have to do something they’ve done only once in their history – win a road playoff game.

To win the Super Bowl they probably have to win two games in a row in Minneapolis.

All of this because they play in the super-competitive NFC South which is very likely to produce both wild card teams.  Falcons and Panthers.  Sean Payton probably dreams about them.

So the Saints must close the season with two wins – at home against the Falcons, then on the road at Tampa. 

Merry Christmas.  ‘Tis the season.