HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE!!

by Philinwood on Oct 26, 2009 9:35 AM CDT Comment 10 comments

The Saints own homefield advantage so far in the playoffs. It is not too early to discuss it since it is so important. It is not too early to admit that it is a precious advantage that should be protecetd each week since it is now ours and no one should take it away from us!!

The game yesterday was EXACTLY what we needed. We needed to prove to ourselves and the NFL that we could come back froma big deficit., especially with offense and defense contributing heavily. We needed to trail and we needed to win an ugly game. Fortunately it was only ugly for a half.

Some random observations-

- If you take away 2 big plays- the longest rushing gain by Miami-Ricky Williams 68 yds for a TD, and their longest pass play (67 yds to Hartline) it reveals our defense only gave up 70 yards rushing and 144 yds passing otherwise. Not too bad other than those 2 plays. On those plays, I think Usama Young didn't defend very well on the running play and Porter screwed up on the pass play. Not sure why Young was in on that running play, but as soon as Jenkins can earn that spot (nickel, dime, whatever) it may help. All in all, great defensive effort except for 2 plays.

- I think the interception to Colston should be change to a fumble. It apppeared that Colston caught it and the defender ripped it out of his hand. That one should be on Colston, not Drew.

- Need better blocking on punt retrurns. You can bash Reggie, but it doesn't really look to me like anyone else could do better with the lack of blocking.

- I like Roby and looking forward to him bringing it back to the house. He's close and the blocking has been better. He should have scored a TD on that long return.

-No one else in the NFL could have scored the way Reggie did- and from my perspective seeing it and seeing the replays 4 times, it appeared that there was no other way to score on that play and he made a great decision. That was a really important play- it brought us to within 4 points, gave us the momentum back (Dolphins had just scored to get to 34 pts), and pumped up the whole team. A field goal would not have done it. Possibly Michael Jordan or LeBron James could have pulled that one off, but as far as the NFL, Reggie is the only one I can think of that could do that.

- If I remember correctly, not sure what play, it seemed Prileau got beat on a pass play pretty good, I could be wrong, but I thought there were other players to put in above him if a defensive back needed to come out. I'm not real confident in Prileau or Young even though I like them. Rather see Reis in or maybe Jenkins.

_ Was Meachem injured? Jenkins? Anyone know how bad Evans injury is??

This FanPost was written by a reader and member of Canal Street Chronicles. It does not necessarily reflect the views of CSC and its staff or editors.

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Reggie

I def agree, Reggie does do a lot of dancing and maybe loses that 3-5 yard return he could have, but with the lack of blocking I dont see him taking these to the house. Every time he gets moving theres 3-4 guys already spread out in front of him waiting to take him down.

Also his electrifying TD is more than just points. Those are momentum building TD’s that the whole team can take pride in and assemble a defensive stand around leading to the O getting another chance.

just saying that i still have faith in Reggie Bush

by Alex Saints on Oct 26, 2009 10:41 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs

you only said a little, but it's woth a lot- boom! reced it!

"Indecision may or may not be my biggest problem" - Jimmy Buffett

by Philinwood on Oct 26, 2009 11:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That wasn’t all Porter on the TD reception. Sharper took a really bad angle and should have come up to lay the wood and stop that play there. I think I can let him slide given everything else he’s done though.

Roby didn’t score on the kickoff return, because he is too slow. Bottom line. He does pretty well, but they will always be able to catch him from behind. Vontae Davis ran him down like he was standing still.

I still think Meachum was better and stand behind that. Meach had two 40 yard returns in the one game he played.

The people who say, "Winning isn't everything," don't win very often.

If stupidity is a cancer, you're terminal.

When you die and go to hell, you come back as a Jets fan.

by Hooahsaint on Oct 26, 2009 11:55 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

anyone but Roby

is ok with me. I don’t like him back there. Also, Sharper did take a horrible angle on that and he came up to fast and didn’t let Williams make a move before he chose a hole to close on the long TD run

Superbowl bound!!!...I know! do you?! Go Saints!!

by skinnykinney on Oct 27, 2009 12:04 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Roby is pretty darn fast

and Vontae Davis didn’t “run him down like he was standing still.” He barely, luckily got a finger on him and Roby was trying to take a path to evade others and he actually probably took a wrong path to score and allowed Davis to catch him. I don’t think there are any problems with Roby’s speed. You don’t get to the 16 ydline of the other team on a kickoff if you are slow.

"Indecision may or may not be my biggest problem" - Jimmy Buffett

by Philinwood on Oct 26, 2009 2:50 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Mel Gray

Was never really fast, but he was arguably the best kick off returner of all time.

Roby is not Mel Gray, though. Vontae Davis was 15 or more yards behind him when he started running him down. That makes Roby pretty slow imo.

What makes a good kick returner is starting field position. He had 4 returns and 3 of them had the Saints starting at the 15-25 yard lines with one nearly going the distance. I personally would rather see the Offense consistently starting around the 30 yard line with a break now and again.

I mentioned Meachum, because that is what he provided back there. If you have a return to the 30 and the offense has a 3 and out, you can still get a decent punt without a return to about the opposing 15-20 yard line from Thomas Morestead. When you’re punting from your 15-25 yard line, you’re trying to kick further and losing punt coverage as a result. Best case scenario is they start on about th 30-35, more often you’ll see field position at 40+ though. That makes a big difference in the long run.

The only reason we haven’t seen much of this yet is that the offense doesn’t get 3 and outs very often.

The people who say, "Winning isn't everything," don't win very often.

If stupidity is a cancer, you're terminal.

When you die and go to hell, you come back as a Jets fan.

by Hooahsaint on Oct 27, 2009 3:32 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Vontae Davis

ran a 4.32 forty at Illinois. Roby shouldn’t have gotten caught from behind, but Davis is going to at least have a shot of making a play on most KRs in the league. Also, I love Meachem, but I think he runs too upright to be an effective KR over the course of an entire season. Players used in that capacity are prone to big hits. I really don’t think he would last very long and I’d much rather have him on offense. That being said, let Reggie return kickoffs. Heh.

"Paralyze resistance with persistence" -Woody Hayes

by coldpizza on Oct 27, 2009 11:22 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I looked at that replay and it didn't seem like Davis really "ran him down"

Davis wasn’t way downfield in the Saints end from what I saw- he ran pretty fast, he has good speed, but he had to make a desperate dive and just barely got a finger on his foot. If Davis was that much faster and was running him down, he would have been totally all over him, would have been able to attempt a strip and tackle at the same time, and would not have had to dive. Plus, Roby would not have been at the 16 yd line. If we’re having a debate about how slow a guy is who returned the ball 90 yards to the other teams 16 yardline, he can’t be that slow and it can’t be a “real” problem.

If Roby had just veered left or right, he would have made it to the endzone. I think Roby is just a little inexperienced but I expect him to bet better and better with more experience.

"Indecision may or may not be my biggest problem" - Jimmy Buffett

by Philinwood on Oct 27, 2009 5:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree that Roby isn’t a liability in the return game whatsoever. Just maintain his balance and he scores, as Davis was already sprawled out on his belly. He still took two or three steps before gravity caught up with him. I’ve seen lesser talents one-arm crabwalk out of that situation. Hell, I saw Rod Harper Nazi step through a similiarly desperate lunge on a PR touchdown just this past offseason.

"Paralyze resistance with persistence" -Woody Hayes

by coldpizza on Oct 27, 2009 5:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs