Saints 22, Falcons 16

One more under our belt. The shock of losing the first four games is starting to go away now, but it’s still there. It’s actually a part of every Saints fan I think, and it’s really not from this season. It’s from years and years of inconsistent play from talented players. When one of the players makes a mistake, the first thought isn’t “well Reggie fumbled the ball, I guess you can’t be perfect.” It’s more like “here we go again, the Saints are up to their usual stuff.” (the PG rated version)

I was glad to see the fire back in the defensive line, I thought they played great. It was good to see the offense not so reliant on the same Reggie plays over and over as well. The lack of posession time and 3rd down conversions were troubling, but what the hell do I know? I can’t tell Sean Payton how to get those. Run the ball more? Block better? I WAS VERY HAPPY THEY DIDN’T RELY ON THAT KICKER. Jesus.

Also of note was Reggie Bush’s touchdown where he muscled through a few tackles across the goal line. Amazing.

Drew said on the news that he knew they were going to win that game. I’m really glad they’re getting their confidence back, but I was scared throughout the whole damn thing. The team’s no where near where it was last year. Atlanta is a weak team, and we took out their quarterback, which - I don’t like to see anyone’s guys get hurt, but it was a result of the agressive play of Will Smith. Those guys played hard.

San Francisco next week should be another team we can defeat. They are having trouble right now, at 2-4 with team members suspicious of their coach’s ability: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3074876 At least the Saints are showing a positive trend.

Keep up the good work guys.

Share This

Saints 28, Seahawks 17 

It’s about time for me to post about last Sunday’s game. The Saints finally won last Sunday, and it wasn’t pretty. We had some good execution at times in the first half, and we were lucky that we scored enough points to keep us ahead; because come halftime, the old Saints of weaks past returned. No third or fourth quarter points, and some questionable play calling at times. I don’t like to be negative in the wake of a victory, so I’ll stop there.

I’m really happy about the win; it was much needed. Hopefully our team will continue to build on the positive stuff that happened. I think both the offensive and defensive line played much better. Mike McKenzie really seems to be playing with enthusiasm. Reggie Bush ran the ball well, and Drew Brees looked much more poised in the pocket. I think Aaron Stecker has ability, but I think there were times when he looked like he could have tried harder to break some tackles. The O line needs to make bigger holes for him as well.

Share This

Coach Payton feels confident that Olindo Mare, who has missed 3 out of 7 field goals this year, should remain our field goal kicker and play this weekend against the Seahawks. This has got to be one of the most bizarre turn of events in NFL history. The fact that a coach like Payton could turn a losing team around and win “coach of the year,” then return next season to drive the same team straight into the dirt. I hate to be pessimistic, but here’s where we are so far. 0-4 with a bad kicker, bad offensive and defensive line, receivers that drop the ball…. we’re in bad shape. We need to get rid of the knuckle draggers and put in guys that are enthusiastic about the game. 0-5, here we come. I hope the Seahawks have the worst game of their careers, because that’s what it’s going to take to pull off this one.

more…
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/10/11/sean-payton-sticks-with-olindo-mare/

Share This

Saints 13, Panthers 16

No one ever said it was easy being a fan of the New Orleans Saints, and this year’s no exception. Our expectations were way too high, fueled by the excitement of last year’s explosive offense. When Sean Payton made coach of the year, who thought that we would be 0-4 at this time in 2007? Not I.

I have a difficult time understanding why we are still playing with a kicker who has a groin injury, one that has missed 3 field goals already this season, two of which were not difficult field goals by NFL standards. I also don’t understand why Sean Payton would put that kicker in the position to kick a 54 yrd. field go yesterday. There were a lot of troubling things that happened on Sunday, but that decision stole the show.

It was almost a two man show between Reggie Bush and Drew Brees, we can’t be so predictable. We need to get back the long passes. The defense played better, but I’m not so sure how they would have fared if the Panthers’ offense had been a more formidable opponent. Another frustrating game.

Share This