Saints Report #14

Roger Goodell hates the New Orleans Saints, so every year he sends them to the Windy, wet, cold City of Chicago.  What’s up with that?

Fortunately, the good Saints, let’s say the Saints of 2011, showed up and trounced the Bears with a methodical performance on offense and an inspired one on defense, winning 31-15.  Now all we need is a little 6 game winning streak and The Lombardi Trophy will be ours!

How did they win?  Two obvious things.

1)      The Saints out-Pierred them   I’m not a personnel evaluator, but it seemed to me in the exhibition games that Free Safety Pierre Warren was the real deal.  He out-played the other Safeties and showed a nose for the ball.  He got cut, and someone named Marcus Ball was kept.

In desperation, after season ending injuries to Rafael Bush and Jarius Byrd they were lucky enough to get him back.  All he did last night was intercept 2 passes which hasn’t been done by a Saint Safety not now in jail since about 1970, I’m guessing.  Meanwhile the Senior Pierre, Thomas, was running amuck with screen passes and reminding everyone what he can do when healthy.

2)      The Saints out-quarterbacked them.  I hope all the Talk Show/Internet loud mouths who have been complaining about Drew Brees got a look at the game last night for two reasons.  First, how good Brees is.  I don’t see a quarterback in decline, like everyone is yakking about.  I sometimes see a quarterback who a) tries to do too much, and b) has injured or under performing weapons around him, and c) occasionally has a bad game (like every other quarterback who has ever played – did you see Aaron Rodgers this week?) 
Secondly I hope everyone got a good luck at Jay Cutler for contrast, because the Saints history book is loaded with Quarterbacks even worse than him.  AND HE MAKES MORE THAN BREES.

Brees’ salary seems to irk some.  It shouldn’t.  It’s called the entertainment dollar.  It distorts things and we can’t relate.  The $20 million a year neighborhood is where the top quarterbacks play.  Sorry.  If you think he should take less to win and spread the wealth, you’re kidding yourself.  Would you say “don’t pay me $20 an hour, pay me $10 an hour and give it to my coworkers?  Sure.

Sorry, occasionally I have to live up to the name of the column and rant a little.  The most encouraging thing about the game was that the Saints defense looked better, even though it was a sub-par offense they were playing.  New defensive backs were flying around like it was their first NFL game because, well it was.  Kenny Vaccaro’s reduced role held him to only one unnecessary roughness penalty.  I’ve got to give a little credit to Rob Ryan for bringing it together, since he has been torched in the press all year.  His blitzes actually worked and the Saints harassed Cutler all night.

The Saints have a core.  It’s Bress – Colston – Thomas on offense.  They’re getting older.  It’s a fact.  Give ‘em some football Geritol and let’s keep them as long as we can.

Now the biggest game in years, and it would just have to be against THEM.  With a short week to prepare (because Goodell hates us) the despised dirty birds come to the dome and we used to know what was going to happen there.  This year all bets are off.  Who knows which Saints team or Falcons team will show up?  I certainly don’t.  But my entertainment dollar has already been spent, so I’ll be there to find out.

Saints Report #11

Random Thoughts as I watched the Saints on Monday Night Football.

Can’t believe all these pundits are picking the Saints to win this game.  I know none of them watch the Saints, but surely they’ve heard how bad we are.

When Ray Lewis is the one talking sense on the panel, it’s time to re-load your panel.  Who’s retiring this year?
Suzy Kolber has lightened her hair color.
I haven’t looked at www.kissingsuzykolber.com for a long time.  Wonder if it’s still up.
The Saints will receive the kick.  I think they know they will need all the possessions they can get.
So glad to see Joe Morgan on the field finally. 
Not that I wanted to see Meachum get hurt, but let’s see what Morgan to do.
Wow, 2 big plays.  Wonder how many targets he’ll get now.  (Answer – he would ultimately get 13 snaps)  Payton must be worried about his stamina.  Why play someone who’s shown game breaking ability?
The Saints can’t run the ball at all, which will make for a long night.
First and goal from the 2 and we don’t score.
Well as I always say, if you can’t run it for a yard, you don’t deserve to win.
Thus – the last 2 weeks.
Normally I want us to run the ball, but this mismatch is rather obvious.  We can’t.
But it is good to see Pierre Thomas breaking tackles.  As bad as we tackle he must score on every play in practice.
Speaking of Pierre’s, I was really surprised to see Pierre Warren cut in training camp.  He seemed to be a playmaker.  And there he is making a takeaway. 
The only thing Marcus Ball has taken so far is his salary, but he beat Warren out?
Speaking of questionable personnel decisions....
Wait, is that a Nick Toon sighting?  By the end of the night he will make his 7^th catch in 3 years.  Quite a return for a 4^th round pick.  I think he has dropped that many passes as well.  A wasted “bloodline” draft pick.
If that was a logical draft pick, based on his dad being Nick Toon, then someone needs to offer me a job as an electrical engineer.
I’ve missed two straight episodes of “The Good Wife” and maybe this is a good time to catch up.
Obama is about to grant a 3 year stay to 5 million immigrants.  Surely, there’s one that can cover Steve Smith.
Sure am glad I don’t live in Baltimore right now.  I’d have to take tomorrow off to hide.
Speaking of Obama, I wonder if he could pardon our defense.
Starting with David Hawthorne who drops an interception served up on a silver platter.  I don’t care what anyone says, are Linebackers are AWOT.  Absent without tackle.
Why does no one ever drop a potential Brees interception?  They gobble them up and run them back like they haven’t eaten for a week.
Does anyone else notice that Brees keeps his helmet on after he throws an interception?
I’m really starting to like Taylor Swift
Texts are coming in from across the country.  Rubbing it in.  Haters gonna hate.
How many hours is it til we can eat turkey?
This Edibaldi guy really hustles.  He seems to catch people from behind.  Of course, he gets lots of opportunities to do that.
Has Rob Ryan ever blitzed just one person?  Does he have to send everybody when he blitzes?  Have we touched Flaco tonight?
Does anyone else see the similarities between Bill Cosby and Darren Sharper?
Other than the fact that either could start for our defense?
Wondering if I should give Homeland another try?  Heard it’s getting better.

Brees finishes an amazing 35 for 45 with 420 yards and 3 TD’s, with no running game support and no defense, but that one interception as he was getting hit is what we will remember.  Wonder where we would be without him?  Wonder where we would be if we had the Raven’s defense. Wonder who wrote the book of love.

Tomorrow everyone will be talking about all the teams in the AFC North being 3 games over .500 and all of the NFC South being 3 games under .500.  Duh, they play each other.  No one in our division matches up with that big brawny division.  Don’t get all excited.  They aren’t that good and we aren’t that bad.  For example, bet we’d match up pretty well with Division I. 

Whew, glad that homestand is over.  Now we can get back on the road where we play so well.  Here’s reality – if we win out against our division, I’m going to have to spring for playoff tickets.  I’m going to have to think about that.

Oh well, there’s Turkey in my future.  Lots of it.

Saints Report # 5

Please forgive me for the following description of today’s Saints Game:

The Saints took a big Ugly stick and stuck it in their rectum and pulled this game out of their ass.

They won ugly in overtime, beating Tampa Bay 37 – 31.

This game was so ugly in so many ways.

First, it has often been said that the NFL will someday evolve into flag football.  Bad news. 

That day has come.  The flags are yellow.  Two of the Saints most exciting moments were when the Bucs were flagged AFTER scoring touchdowns.  Once it was for inappropriate language.  I’m not making this up.  In a Football Game!  This game featured so many momentum shifts initiated by zebras that a big game warden was needed.

Second, Drew Brees threw a couple of the ugliest interceptions ever, making the zebras look innocent by-standers by comparison when it comes to momentum shifters.

Third, except for one critical play, the Saints failed to put any pressure on Bucs Quarterback Mike Glennon, making him look all-world most of the day.  The Saints continue to excel at their Star is Born routine.

Fourth, the Saints continue to feature bizarre personnel decisions.  Joe Morgan continues to be a game day inactive even though he’s proven he can get deep, and Robert Meachum, whom the Saints previously cut, is still running routes and not catching anything.  On Brees’ first interception, admittedly horrible, Tavaris Cadet was split out as a wide receiver.  He didn’t come back to the ball, which a wide receiver may have done.  And Where is Nick Toon?  Can I have his job?  This is his 3^rd season on the roster, he is rarely active, and has 4 receptions in his career.  We are keeping him around why? 

The game featured the kiss of death, the dreaded 6 – 0 lead, 2 field goals instead of 2 touchdowns.  Patented Jimmy Graham drops kept the Saints from doing more damage.

What was the good news?

Brees giveth and he taketh away as he attempted a ridiculous 57 passes.  The Saints were down 31 – 20 early in the 4^th quarter, largely because Drew had squandered a 13 – 0 lead with his picks and watched the Bucs reel off 24 straight points.  Then he led the comeback.  A safety on the Saints’ only sack of the day was a significant play, and the Saints tied the score with a field goal.  Then Brees methodically piloted the Saints down the field in overtime, capped off by a rare 2^nd down run on which Khiry Robinson scored to end the game.

The Saints actually displayed a running game.

Pierre Thomas was terrific, scoring 2 touchdowns, one by run, one on a pass.  He continues to be the consummate pro and maybe someday the Saints will figure out a way to get him 20 touches a game.

Khiry Robinson was almost as good and pounded away all day.

When it’s all said and done, this was a critical win.  Moving to 2 – 3 heading into the bye week certainly keeps the Saints in contention in what is shaping up as a mediocre NFC South.

A downright ugly division. 

Perfect for a team that can win ugly.


By the way, one night a few years back, Marques and Pierre wanted to take a picture with Donnie, Liz, and Me.  Guess it was because I took the time to coach them up....

Saints Report - NFL Preview edition

February 1, 2015 – The Shootout to end all shootouts.

After the 2 star quarterbacks were done throwing darts, it was a kicker who decided the highest scoring, and only overtime Super Bowl in history, as the Saints beat the Patriots 48 – 45.

Sean Payton had no choice but to send out Shayne Graham to try the game winner from 48 yards, despite misses from 42 and 35 earlier in the game.  “One of the reasons we went with a veteran kicker this year, was we knew he could rebound from adversity, and he certainly had to do that tonight,” said Payton of the veteran Graham who drilled the game winner as the French Quarter went crazier than usual. 

Through all the offensive fireworks that Tom Brady and Drew Brees provided, how could a defensive player be named Super Bowl MVP?  Well, pick off a Brady pass to set up the game-winner, along with 12 tackles and a fumble recovery – that was the formula used by NFL Defensive Player of the Year Kenny Vaccaro, who was all over the field making plays and had to be helped off at the end like a Kellen Winslow.

It was Vaccaro who provided the latest heartbreak for Brady, who up until the overtime had been flawless, going 40 for 45 for 407 yards, records unlikely to ever be broken, unless of course the NFL tightens the defensive rules again in the future.  Brady’s 6 touchdown passes, 3 to Rob Gronkowski, were almost matched by Drew Brees, who was 32 for 40 for 353 yards, which may be even more amazing when you consider that Bill Belichick’s defensive game plan was so effective in taking away the Saints main weapons.  Darrelle Revis blanketed NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Brandin Cooks and held him to only 3 catches for 25 yards.  Jimmy Graham’s regular season record setting performance (1412 yards) was but a memory, as the Patriots held him to 45 yards on 4 catches.  But, in the end the Saints had too many weapons, and Marques Colston (12 catches for 145 yards) was the one who took most advantage as he and Pierre Thomas (8 grabs) and Kenny Stills (6) kept the chains moving.

The Patriots heartbreak followed their own breaking of hearts in the AFC Championship when they again went into Indianapolis and ended the Colts season, as Brady outdueled NFL MVP Andrew Luck in another overtime thriller 38-32.

The Saints were not well received in Phoenix, as they had broken the hearts of Arizona Cardinals’ fans in the NFC Championship game in the Superdome.  Arizona’s dream of playing a home game in their Super Bowl was ended when Brees’ final minute touchdown pass to Graham snatched victory from their grasp 24 – 21.  As his Saint’s teammates hilariously tackled Graham before he could dunk, New Orleans began to party as only it can.

It all begs the question.  How good are they really?  Brees and Payton?  Brady and Belichick?  Joined at the hip like no other coach/quarterback tandems, how good would the 4 have done without each other?

One of the four will have to retire before we get an inkling..

THAT’s how the upcoming NFL season will end.  How will we get there?

Well for the Saint’s it won’t be easy.                                                                                                                                      

There are 3 basic obstacles. 

First, there are injuries.  If the Saints can stay healthy, to put it simply, they are loaded.  They have assembled a cast of complimentary talent that rivals their 2009 club.  New playmakers like Cooks on offense and Julius Byrd on defense, and the continued emergence of Vaccaro bode well for the Saints. 

Second, there is the West Coast.  The Saints have lost in the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years on the West Coast, and home field advantage for their high powered offense is essential.

Which brings us to the brutal schedule. 

Two games on the road to start the season is almost not fair.

It starts with a critical in-division matchup with an Atlanta Falcons team that will undoubtedly be surly and ready to show that they never want to star in “Hard-Knocks” again.  The Falcons have added Devin Hester (putting all the heat on punter/kick off man Thomas Morestead) and Osi Umenyiora and with their two star wide outs healthy, the usual home and home rivalry split is a probability.

Next it will be 2 games potentially against rookie quarterbacks, which the Saints have a history of making stars out of.  First up a trip to Cleveland.  Will Johnny Football be the starter by week 2?  Let’s hope not.

Will Teddy Bridgewater be the Vikings starter by game 3 for the Saints’ home opener?  Let’s hope not.  Young mobile quarterbacks (remember RGIII?) scare me.

So we’ll have a pretty good idea of how things look after the first 3 weeks.

The second scary part of the schedule comes in October when the Saints must play the Packers on a Sunday night, come back on Thursday night against the Panthers, followed by the 49’ers the next Sunday.  That’s a tough 2 weeks.  November is equally difficult with an AFC North sprint with the Bengals, Ravens, and Steelers back to back to back.

It’s brutal, and the NFL ices the cake (and probably the field) with their annual dispatching of the Saints to Soldier Field.

So, once again it will be just like Ringo says.  The Saints won’t go undefeated, but they now realize that outright clunkers like last year’s games against the Rams and Jets are extremely costly in terms of home field advantage in the Playoffs.

Other Predictions:

The Seahawks will look dominate until about midway through the season.  That’s how long teams are usually super – about a year and a half.

The Broncos will start slow, but end up in the playoffs until Manning has his usual season ending clunker.

Green Bay, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Arizona (surprise) will be division winners, with the 49’ers and Seahawks as the wild cards.

Denver, New England, Baltimore and Indianapolis will be division winners, with Miami and Pittsburgh as the wild cards.

What has distinguished the last 2 Super Bowl winners has been the breakthrough of til-then non-elite quarterbacks Flaco and Wilson.  Luck is the most likely to take the next step, but his team isn’t quite strong enough despite being in a cakewalk division.  Super Bowl XLIVXIC or whatever it is should see a return to a top 5 QB winner.

There, now you can take a vacation in South America since you already know how it will end.

Last Saints Blog - January 14, 2012

The New Orleans Saints still have never won a road playoff game as they lost a 36-32 thriller to the hated San Francisco 49’ers Saturday. A Saints team which could have gone down as their best ever ended their season with a premature burial when 49’er QB Alex Smith hit Vernon Davis with a touchdown pass with 9 seconds left. After a week of listening to how the Saints don’t like playing outside, or playing on grass, blah, blah, blah, we finally found out exactly what it is that they don’t like about being away from the dome – the football – it appears to be a might more slippery outside of Louisiana.

One of the things I’ve learned over the last few years is that sometimes it’s the early things that count. The Saints really lost this playoff round when they lost inexplicably to the winless Rams early in the season. Thus, they didn’t get a first round bye. Thus another west coast trip. Thus the 49’ers had a week off to heal and prepare while the Saints were in a dogfight with the Lions. Both Saturday games were won by the teams that had first round byes, miracle quarterbacks not withstanding, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happens Sunday. Despite these disadvantages, hats off to the Saints for making it a barnburner.

Early Things. Last year, in a very early-season game, Garrett Hartley missed a field goal that would have beaten the Falcons. It ultimately cost the Saints the division and a first round bye, and sent them to Seattle for a playoff game, which we’d rather forget.

Moving to Saturday, no score yet, the Saints driving, and Pierre Thomas is running towards the goal line when he gets a head crushing blow at the 2 yard line and was probably out cold before he coughed up the ball. The dominoes began to fall. Instead of a 7-0 lead the Saints began stumbling and fumbling and soon found themselves down 17-0. Worse the Saints suddenly found themselves a running back short and it began to look like last year’s Seattle debacle all over again.

Without Pierre Thomas, the offense becomes predictable. Ivory goes in, he’s running the ball most of the time. Sproles in, the Saints are probably passing it. (He set a playoff record with 15 catches.) It doesn’t take a genius to figure these tendencies out, and from there on, other than maybe 37 yards rushing, it was on Brees, just like last year. He’s chunking it, and he’s chunking it under duress. In both games he did all he could do, but throwing 60+ passes rarely results in a victory. Equally apparent is that Pierre’s blocking would have reduced the duress – another domino.

With Thomas sidelined, the Saints were afraid to use Sproles on kick returns, so in goes the next domino, Courtney Roby, who hasn’t returned a kick all year, and he promptly fumbles one away. Sproles, who was otherwise electrifying, fumbles a punt himself, his first turnover of the year. Add Brees two interceptions, and you have 5 turnovers, Got to give it to the Saints, they sure don’t punt much.

Despite all these dominos, the Saints are still in it. The defense is blitzing Alex Smith, sacking him, rushing him, and holding their own while the Saints claw their way back in to the game. They hold them, kicks get fumbled, and they hold them again.

Miraculously, the Saints take their first lead 24-23 on a 44 yard Sproles catch and run for a touchdown, with just 4 minutes left. Now all the Saints defense has to do is play as well as they have all day. Except they don’t. Within two minutes the 49’ers transverse the field and take a lead 29 – 24, capped by an improbable 28 yard run by Alex Smith. That score came too quickly.

Can the Saints score again in 2 minutes? No, they score in about 30 seconds, too quickly as it turns out, when Graham makes a 66 yard circus catch and run, the Saints make a 2 point conversion and now up 3, the defense gets a second chance.
They squander it quickly when they let the 49’ers tight end Vernon Davis torch them twice, the last time with 9 seconds left for the TD that we’ll see many more times in our lifetime.

Nine seconds is not enough for even Brees to go 80 yards, and the Saints burial of a most promising season is complete.

Thus, the Saints squander the most productive offense in the history of football. Guess you need four running backs. With Ingram healthy, the Saints are better. Not because he’s a better runner than Ivory, but because he’s a better blocker and pass catcher, and the Saints are less predictable when he’s in the game. Our four headed monster if fantastic, but telegraphic in its intent. That usually doesn’t matter, but against a great defense it does.

But, the offense isn’t the problem. Brees, like last year, almost pulled off a west coast miracle. His 435 passing yards while under this duress is amazing. Like last year, the defense couldn’t come up with the stops.

The defense’s problem can be summed up in 2 words. Roman Harper. He’s a great player, but he led the team in sacks. When you can’t get pressure, or sacks, or turnovers forced, from your front seven (see 49’ers, Giants) you may have occasional success with blitzes, but in the end you’ll get burned by a Vernon Davis, or a Calvin Johnson. When your sack leader is a safety, you get an A for creativity, but a C for defense. When your defense gives up almost 300 yards passing to Alex Smith, you’ve got problems that can’t be masked anymore.

The best pass defense is a pass rush. Pass Rushing Ends, and faster linebackers are the priority going into the offseason. This is the critical time for a coaching staff. It’s time to replace some pieces that aren’t working anymore. Will they remain loyal to fading players, or cut the cord? It will tell you a lot about next year.

While we drown our sorrows for the next few months, we’ll be watching this and:
The Brees and Colston negotiations
The future of Gregg Williams
to see if there’s a Julius Peppers out there somewhere

We’ll wait til next year. Again. This time the unfulfilled promise just hurts a little more.

Saints Report #7 - November 2, 2009

Coach Payton,

Some congratulations are in order for:
First, starting out 7-0, matching the Saints best start ever.
Second, for surviving the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.
Third, for extracting a pretty good performance out of Reggie Bush last night. He was the only running back that didn’t lay the ball on the ground, he scored his 16th touchdown as a pro (not bad for a bust), and did a great job picking up some blitzes. He also didn’t taunt. Good job – gotta hand it to him when he does good.
And fourth, for winning another game where one could argue the Saints were outplayed.

At your press conferences you talk about things you need to “clean up,” and let me start with some suggestions:
First, Pierre Thomas’ dancing. His touchdown was indeed a nifty run. However, it didn’t merit an entire dance video. As his celebration went on forever the referee, rightfully playing the role of a judge on “So you think you can dance,” flagged him for unsportsmanlike conduct – excessive celebration and terrible simulation of the movie “This is It” which he must have seen the night before. Please explain to the team that if they are still playing in February they can dance the whole f****** Thriller video if they want, but until then we’ll do the dancing in the stands. Just be like Colston – hand the ball to the ref and go back to the bench to celebrate with your teammates. You may want to mention this to Lance Moore as well – he developed a little bit of Dance Fever last year. The reason I bring this up was that his outburst directly led to giving up enough field position that on the next possession he almost got Brees killed and the result was a touchdown for the Falcons. Not to mention the motivating effect it has on the opposition. When are you going to get this under control?

Second, the Saints got pushed around last night. It seemed that we lost enough line of scrimmage battles to remind us that football is a game of power, and we need more. Greer got mugged on the long touchdown pass, but he got overpowered and that’s not good. And let’s not even talk about what that power running back did to us.

Third, thank Jonathan Vilma. His deflection, in an otherwise lackluster performance, was a game changer.

Fourth, your team sucks at rugby. We lost 3 fumbles in the scrums last night. Not sure how you practice that, but you can bet teams are going to be poking and prodding like it’s an episode of Grey’s Anatomy from here on out.

Fourth, please explain to the NFL that the booth challenges in the last 2 minutes of a half is a stupid rule. It ensures that almost every play is a 5 minute mini-drama and referees, who must be scared to death at this point to call anything, are soon going to be an afterthought. Totally unnecessary to change the rules that exist the rest of the half. The games last longer than an episode of The View already. Please stop.

Finally, please explain to the team that the season is only getting started. The last 2 games indicate trouble down the road, but that’s ok. There’s a long way to go. Getting excited at this point, especially about an undefeated season, is like talking about a no-hitter after the first inning. Keep building and improving – we’ll be fine.