Well that sure was a shitburger, wasn't it?
Sue me, but I'm not comforted by any of the postgame spin that the Saints are still 13-1, are still going to get homefield throughout, have won more games than any other Saints team, and just ran into a Dallas team that was desperate and turned that desperation into their best game of the year while the Saints played their worst game of the year, and still the Saints had a chance to tie in the end. All that stuff is true, but at the moment, it's only barely relevant.
There will be plenty of time for reflecting and marveling over what has been inarguably the best season in Saints history… after the season. Right now? Far as I'm concerned, the Saints are 0-1, and they're no more than a couple of plays from being where we all thought Dallas would be right now: 0-for-December.
Oh, I know what you'll say. It was only one game. And in the grand scheme of things, it really didn't make a damn bit of difference. The Pants helped us out by kicking the shit out of the Favres last night, so nothing's changed.
The problem is that, in reality, everything's changed. This just isn't the same team as earlier in the season.
Sure, you don't have to remind me how banged up they are. So what? Last time I checked, you don't get to take a handicap in the NFL. And sure, there's still hope that by this time next month, a lot of the Saints' injury issues will work themselves out. Let's hope so, because they desperately need it.
Saturday night was the Saints' first playoff test. And they failed. Miserably. And if these Saints are the Saints that show up in the Dome a month from now, they're gonna fail that one too.
This loss has been coming for quite a while now. Sure, we've been so caught up in the undefeated stuff, most of us had been willingly turning a blind eye to it. Nothing wrong with that, especially since until Saturday night, they had been winning in spite of what has undeniably been a sharp decline in their level of play in all phases of the game.
Point production in December: 33, 26, 17. In that order.
Rushing production (minus the occasional Drew "rush" ): 55, 97, 57
Margin of victory: 3, 3 and a 7 point loss that wasn't really as close as the score
Turnover margin: +2, even, -3
Yards per pass play: 8.6, 7.4, 6.6
The Saints have fallen behind in 7 of their last 9 games. And Saturday night, for the first time all year, they failed to "come up big when it counts." Their last two (meaningful) possessions of the first half, and their last possession of the second half, all ended with turnovers. (I'm not counting the one-play kneel down possession at the end of the first.)
Drew has already been sacked 19 times this year, his highest total as a Saint. Even more disturbing? He's fumbled on 10 of 'em. No, really. He's been touched 10 times with the ball in his hand, and he's fumbled on more than half of 'em. He's only lost 6 of them, but it always counts when you put the ball on the carpet, even when you're fortunate enough to not turn it over. Especially when you're putting the ball on the carpet at that kind of rate.
The Saints can't run the ball for shit lately. Reggie Bush had a 29 yard run Saturday night, but nearly as shocking as that is, is that Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell combined for 29 yards on 10 carries. Against Atlanta, they ran for 3.7 yards per carry. Against Washington, 2.3 yards per carry.
They're no longer gobbling up yards in chunks in the passing game. Against Washington, they had two pass plays of 40+ yards, both for touchdowns, and one other pass play of 21 yards. Against Atlanta, there were 3 for 20+, but only 1 of 40+. Saturday night, there were 0 passes of 40+ and only 2 for 20+. One of those was a little crossing route of about 10 yards to Colston, who was covered by a linebacker, and ran it the rest of the way. The other was a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage to Pierre, which he took for 29.
This offense has lost its balance and its explosiveness. And as a result, it's lost a good bit of its effectiveness.
Most of the talk has been about the defense. And that's understandable, given all the injuries on that side of the ball, and with their league rankings steadily dropping for… well, a long time now.
But if you had told me before the game that Dallas would finish with 24 points, I'd have sworn up one side and down the other that the Saints would have won. By two touchdowns. And you probably wouldn't have taken that bet. And I wouldn't have blamed you.
Hell, the defense isn't even playing its worst ball right now. In weeks 6 through 8, the defense surrendered 27, 34 and 27. That's 88 total points, vs. 80 over the last 3. The difference is that back then, the Saints won all three games by more than a touchdown, because they scored 131 points in those three games (48, 46 and 35.) The last 3 games? 76.
That's 25.3 points per game in December. Almost a full two touchdowns less than what they had been averaging before Thanksgiving.
The Cardinals and the Cowboys are the only two playoff hopefuls who score less than that per game. 25.3 doesn't cut it against the Vikes, Eagles, Packers and Giants. Just sayin'.
Hey, it's been a great season. And if that's what you'd prefer to focus on right now as a fan, then more power to ya. I'm not gonna tell you how to be a fan.
But I'm sorry, I'm no longer willing to ignore the fact that the Saints are fading right now, and fast.
Which doesn't mean that I'm "jumping off the bandwagon" and doesn't mean that I'm not still hopeful that they can get it straightened out before the playoffs.
They'd better, because right now, they're running on empty.
Best case scenario from here? Hopefully they go balls out this weekend vs. Tampa. And I mean really balls out, not the lukewarm shit they've been doing for the last several weeks. Take out all the frustration, re-establish the score-at-will vibe they had earlier in the season, secure homefield throughout, and show the rest of the league (and themselves) that they're not right smack dab in the middle of going out like a bitch.
And then sit. 14-2 will do just fine, thank you very much.
After Saturday night, I now firmly believe that the potential issue of "rust" is trumped by the fact that this team is damn near out of gas. Two weeks is a long time to sit, but they need it. Desperately. The momentum factor is moot now, the Saints no longer have any momentum with which to concern themselves. There's no need to maintain a rhythm because there's no rhythm left to maintain.
What they need is a breather. The longer, the better. Hell, the first thing they need to do at the end of the Tampa game this weekend is to fax the league office and tell them they're not even showing up in Charlotte. Cancel the flight and the hotel accommodations, or give it all to the Unknown Who Dat. I'm sure that he and 100 of his biggest fans would love an all-expenses-paid weekend in Charlotte. Seems like that would be right down their wheelhouse. Guh.
Wang, I think you are a little too worried my friend. Everything you say is true but the Saints basically get three weeks of rest for the hurt and injured because no injured guys should be needed to throttle Tampa.
They’ve earned the rest by going 13-1. The chase for perfection really did wear them down.
I think it sets up just like 2006..remember they lost to washington, crushed the Giants, rested against Carolina and looked good against Philly in the playoffs.
Shop as usual and avoid panic buying…
And if you need to feel better did you see the Vikings, Cards and Packers this weekend? All very shitty thank you very much.
Absolutely wrong. You need to be peaking at this time of the year no matter what. When ALL aspects of the game are declining you need to be wary. You can’t make this a habit otherwise it will carry on to the postseason and everything you worked for may go down the drain. Looked good against Philly??? Are you kidding me???? Did you watch the game or did you just look at the final score??? They were putrid for most of the game and had to come back two scores just to win. Had we gone in with a little more momentum, we might have won that game a little more handly. Just because we won, doesn’t mean we looked good.
Oh oh, somebody’s cranky. C’mon, dude. Tell us how you really feel.
Well……………..We need to fold our tents and go home. Can’t wait till next year.
I’ve been saying this for 2 weeks now. The Saints are out of gas. They are beat up and tired and have no energy in their step. They need to rest and hopefully catch fire int he playoffs.
How can a reasonable person argue with that?
Yes.
We look like freshmen at the end of pledge week. Tore up.
These injury issues will wrap up in time. It is the case of now we’re the hunted, no longer the hunter. After the 2006 season, other teams figured out Payton’s play calling. I think this is happening now. The pass-first option is blowing it for the offense.
Hang in there, GM. This week is the tell-tale. If we get the one win we need, against a really bad defense, that’s it…
Don’t think we don’t want to embarrass Ronde more than anything…
Spot on.
In fact, so spot on that my mother (yes, my 69-year-old mother) greeted me on the phone yesterday with “Well, that sure was a shitburger, wasn’t it?”
See what you’ve done? Now she’s reading your stuff and repeating it.
I sure hope the Saints turn it around over the next few weeks so that the lady who used to wash my mouth out with soap (literally) can clean up her act.
13-0 buys you margin for error. All teams hit rough patches, right now the team is a little more banged up in key spots than most, and low energy to boot. But the 13-0 means just getting to 14-2 gets you a week off and two home games.
All that shit is correctable. You may not want to hear it, but tough.
Easy there, cowboy. What exactly gave you the impression that I don’t “want to hear it?” I’m pretty sure I even went to the trouble of giving lip service to precisely those things. I’m not telling anyone not to cheer and not to be positive. To the contrary, I specifically said that if you want to keep looking at the bright side, then more power to ya. I just did what I always do… I told you where MY head it at on it all.
From where I sit, it’s the cheerleaders who don’t “want to hear it” and have been shouting down and questioning the fanhood of anyone who doesn’t think everything’s fine.
I don’t think everything’s fine, and nobody’s questioning anyone’s fanhood. I recall somebody who earlier this year pointed out Brees’s ridiculously high fumble-to-sack ratio, wondering if he was pressing too much. While their getting out-physicaled by Dallas was a concern, it’s correctible, as is Peyton’s guzzling from the Fountain of Pass on Saturday.
The “Running on Empty” meme implies a dire problem, and I don’t think there is one. You want a dire problem, look at the Vikings. THAT low tank just can’t get refilled until August, and it only carries enough gas for 10 weeks.
I think the “run on empty” title fits my impression of things perfectly, but thats my humble opinion. The entire offensive line is nursing these nagging type injurys and it shows. The Defense dont appear to be “strong” or “quick” either right now, like they did the first half of the year.
Shitburger. Turd Sandwich. Fecal Philly. Yeah, we’ve been on the decline. But right now is when you have to sit back and trust Payton and co. to figure out who to rest, how to fire em up, etc. The only thing I really disagree with is sitting the starter for the Panthers game. I’m with you that we need to really light up the Bucs to get that “swagger” ( I think that’s what the kids are calling it these days) back, but it’s completely incongrous to then sit them the next week. You don’t keep the “swagger” by watching your second stringers lose a boring game. If we’re leading at the half, then I’d be ok with pulling them, but I think if you’re talking momentum and all that shit going into the playoffs, you have to play to win the last game.
I don’t know what scares me more, the decline in the running game or the decline in the passing game. I feel that the running game is dependent on the passing game, so Drew needs to get his shit straight. These past few weeks remind me of the last two years when for whatever reason we give up on the vertical game and resort to dipshit screens to David Fucking Thomas. I’m sure part of it s that teams are running schemes to prevent the vertical game, but that’s where I thought this ’09 team was different. Turns out, our running game only works when were passing down the field.
I basically agree with that summary word for word. In fact it’s not a million miles from the summary I gave the game although I put Thomas and Bells yardage more down to the fact Payton barely brings them in until too late of recent. He gives up on the running game early and then relies on a predictable pass attack which returns us to last year.
We’ve got to get back to scoring early. It balances the team by allowing the D to attack and to turn the ball over. When they’re left to hold opposition close they can’t do it as they don’t have the personnel for such a system. In short we need to rediscover scoring big early like we did against the Giants, the most perfect opening half of Saints football all season.
Ironically, we score early when we have success running in the first half.
Reggie doesn’t come up limp and they don’t have an answer for us. Shockey isn’t on the bench, and we’ve got too many weapons. It’s not that Pierre and Dave Thomas can’t catch (take off ‘eh?) but they’re not Reggie Bush* and Jeremy Shockey. And when we have those dump off options – not to mention Heath Evans – we have to count on a little-more-offensive-than-we’re-used-to line to keep the presure off for the routes that take a little longer. Bushrod failed. He was unable to contain Ware. Stinchcomb also failed on two occasions. Pierre missed two critical assignments leading to Drew biting the big one.
*While I realize that Pierre’s and Reggie’s receiving numbers are pretty much the same this year, don’t think for a minute that opposing defenses pay as much attention to Pierre as they do to Reggie, well with all the mystique and everything.
In the end, we lost by 7 points. You say the game wasn’t as close as the score, and that’s true to some extent. But Devery catches that touchdown and we’re going downfield after the doinked FG attempt for the win instead of desperately trying to get downfield against a team that was bringing the defensive heat and lighting us up with it. Shit happens. Washington? Their front four played an outstanding game. Atlanta? Divisional game – admittedly one they shouldn’t have been in, but we all know how that shit is known to go down.
Ultimately, we’re not really in that much trouble. We’ve got to get some players back. And if we do – I’m talking Greer, Bush, Shockey, Fujita at 100% (he had a strong game) for more than a week, and it’s no contest. The team that beat the Jets, Giants, and Patriots still has some ball to play. Do I think we’d hang the Eagles like we did in Week 2(?) with McNabb back? Probably not. Are they our match? No. Giants? No. Cowboys again? Take it to the bank we win by 20+. That leaves the Vikings, Packers and the Cardinals. Who knows? I do know that us playing in the middle of January is a foregone conclusion. And there is a fairly decent chance we’ll be playing in February. Don’t sweat it now. It’s a long season. You can’t be the shit every week. But give me the Saints in January at home against anyone. I like our chances.
They just better damn well win on Sunday against the ‘Bucs, because I am traveling all the way down to see them, IN SPITE of the fact that I just had a hysterectomy. Dammit, if I can do that, and not complain, then Reggie can run through a little pain, don’t ya think???
If Dallas had pulled off a 2-TD+ win over a healthy Saints squad, I’d be concerned.
But goodness, our team is just riddled with injuries to key players. (And yes, that includes Jammal Brown)
I think if we are healthy (especially defensively) going in to the playoffs, we will be successful.