Random Musings at 7-0

i have to disagree on the issue of our defense’s “mediocrity.”

when we’re scoring nearly 40 points a game, i think it’s unfair to hope for a top-five defense in terms of total yards allowed. it’s just not feasible, since teams have to play big to keep pace with us. additionally, we’re winning games by an average of 17 points a game—that’s attributable to a much-improved defense (versus 4.4 ppg last season, and 5.7 in ‘06), and not only because of turnovers. already grant and smith have combined for 8.5 sacks—last season they each only had 3. i think sharper is the beneficiary of this new dimension of the saints’ d—QB pressure. we didn’t have too much of that in the gary gibbs’ era.

Success is scaring the crap out of you. I know it’s uncharted territory so grow a pair and stop your public thumb-sucking. Sheesh!

They are giving up an average of 22 points/game. I was thinking of writing something along these lines myself. I’m concerned about the depth on defense, especially in the secondary. We’ve seen what happens when Young and Gay and Prioleau play. The depth of the offensive line is also worrying. Thankfully, it looks like Goodwin will be alright, just a bad bruise on the knee. I doubt that will keep him out of a game.

The thing that keeps me hopeful is that this team that has found ways to overcome every bit of adversity they’ve faced. Injuries, dumb turnovers and penalties, big deficits, national attention and talk of an undefeated season – they’ve taken it all in stride and come out on top. That is what championship caliber teams do. And I see no reason to believe they won’t continue to do it.

I do think that Gregg Williams ability to blitz unexpectedly will keep the defense afloat and in turnover generation mode.

Maybe it’s best for another article, but would like to understand more your mini-rant at the end regarding the league….

I agree with practically everything you said. I’ll even take it a step further on the Goodwin injury. If you feel the inexplicable need to handoff in that situation, why would you handoff to Bell? Why not Kyle Eckel, someone who doesn’t know the playbook yet and whose potential loss is of no viable consequence? I even mentioned that a play or two earlier, when they began handing off. Imagine how worried you’d be right now, had Bell been the one to get injured.

i don’t really think so. as long as we go and win the big show, going 13-3 is fine by me. i just hope that losing games doesn’t mean losing players to injuries.

i agree that the play calling on mnf was questionable. and i’ve been pretty iffy about our D giving up so many yards, but i think that is what happens when we play so aggressively sometimes.

my biggest concern is our special teams and penalties. i think that’s where we’ll lose games in the future, not really on offense or defense.

Both lines are getting beat up pretty bad, which is beginning to show holes. I really thought the Sedrick Ellis injury would be better absorbed than it was by rotating Clancy, Ayodele, and Hargrove, but the run defense was miserable. Maybe Grant and Hargrove should switch places until Ellis comes back(joke). The front seven have held up pretty well against some good running teams, but they couldn’t contain a single back division opponent on Monday, and that part of their game is only going to get worse, with Williams and Stewart waking up, Steven Jackson, Dallas, and @Atlanta. I will say, however, the worst mistakes in run defense were over-committing to the inside. Very fixable.

As far as DB’s, I think it would take 2 catastrophic injuries to make them that much worse, and one of them would have to be Sharper. The depth isn’t great, but the starters are playing so well, anything would look like a dropoff. I think they could hold on with any single loss. The LB’s are a different story, but we all knew that coming into this year. Shanle and Fujita have been overachieving, I think, so bad days are no huge surprise. The number of good days are, so I can give them some slack for playing like I expected every now and then. The absence of depth at LB is illustrated by the choice of starters at LB, so that’s not real shocking, but GW is squeezing every drop out of what he’s got.

Payton has been a much better playcaller this year than in the last two, and he’s been a little luckier, but the decision to run in the last 2 minutes was just about as stupid as any he’s ever made. He paid for it almost as much as he could, too, with yet another O-line injury, and the free timeout, and a turnover. If Atlanta had managed to get to overtime after that, it would rival his Tampa reverse, or last year’s complete absence of a run game, despite having the same personnel.

My biggest fear currently is the FB position. That was a huge loss, and I don’t know who’s going to fill that spot effectively, but after Monday night, I know a couple guys that won’t. I don’t know what happened to Sobomehin, but he must really suck if that Eckels guy seemed like the better choice. And why not let Lynell give that a try? He’s big, and he knows how to run out of the backfield. Wendy’s was lining up like a receiver from the FB spot all night, and completely outrunning his back. I really hate that guy. Also, the long wait for the return of Dinkins was totally not worth it. He looked like a guy who’s been sitting on a couch for two months.

My second biggest fear is Drew’s bad days. He obviously gets more leeway than anyone else on the team, but he better tighten up in the weeks to come, because he’s getting real lucky right now, and he’s been a Saint long enough to know that’s not something to depend on. A lot of his trouble starts with the O-line, who’s problems are mounting fast, but he’s been holding on way longer than usual, and a lot of throws on Monday were pretty awful. And he hasn’t been able to hit the dumpoff or swing routes consistently all season.

All that said, they have almost matched their winning record last year, and they have some pretty soft-looking games coming up. Win the division at home, plus one or two more(@Tampa, or St.Louis should be very doable)and they’re on their way to the postseason. And it seems very unlikely that the first playoff game they play won’t be in the dome at this point. If the Saints don’t win out over the NFC, then the Vikings probably will. That’s a dome game. If the Eagles or Giants get first seed, that could be trouble, but that looks less likely, and the Giants aren’t great at home. However it shakes out, the rest of the season looks extraordinarily favorable for New Orleans right now.

that you hand off the ball to keep the clock moving(i know a knee would do it) while trying for a first down. If he breaks off a 10 yard run for a first down. We take a knee 3 times and the defense doesn’t even go on the field. That’s why I think he was running it. At the end of games, you don’t see teams take knees until they can completely milk the clock out of time. They run it instead, hoping that they can get a first down to take a few knees to end the game.

got your attention? you bet! Someone ever say that to you when you wanted everything ‘your way’ when you were just a lil’ fella?(or gal’ie?) you betcha

I agree with most everything everyone said here, because we all love our Saints! Only problem with luck is, well it has been in our favor… very little injuries, great offensive communication, defense that turns the ball over… etc.

Luck can be gone tomorrow, but getting back to being spoiled….

We have been spoiled, everyone of us. So far this season we have been given a gift of beautiful Saints football, in it’s most awesome and rare form. A power house of Offense, a football stealing Defense, and the coaches. all working together to what could only be called an effing dream for the first 5 or so games. We were lulled into a sense of safety

Well our safety was just fallacy! This is football things change, momentum shifts, teams actually get better as the season progresses? nah way!! …oh yes way! This season now has a lot of ‘under the radar’ teams looking to thrash us, just because they want headlines, and to be known as the team that brought down the saints! and I’m sorry but the probability of that happening with this new ‘middle class’ of teams getting better and better by the game… is looking very real.

We were so used to loosing, everything was so easy when you only had a dream of winning more than 3 games in a row… things get harder, you are right… pressure increases when the spotlight is on you… and you all are just fans. think about our guys. what they have going on.

Every injury hurts, that is with any team. Every win makes it that much harder when we fall, Every time our defense/offense messes up… we will look back to those first 5 games.

Let’s try not to be that team. Or those fans. I’m not saying never doubt them, or never talk about weaknesses. But let’s just think back a season or 2, (and how that felt) when these last 2 games would have been over at half time, and after that its just not fun to watch. It, for me was not happy times but a stuck by them… and i(we) all stuck hard.

 so what if we loose one, or 2… lets just try to make those games not divisional losses. I say try.

I feel MtnExile is loosing his faith… I don’t want that. I am sorry that the 7-0 for you isn’t as great as you thought… just keep with the players, lets count one at a time. god willing it will be 8-0, more Turn overs, more TD’s who knows? maybe these last 2 games scared the crap outa everyone and we go back to beating the snot out of people…

but I actually have enjoyed the past 2 games. I keep thinking through the game this is football. mistakes, bad calls, and good teams fighting for inches

The Saints were penalized 65 yards in the Falcons game. Sixty-freakin’-Five! We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. Even a five yard penalty at the wrong time can not only stall a drive but swing the momentum to the other side! Sure, we can say, “Well, they had penalties too.” That should be a PLUS for our guys not a break even point!

The two things that can cause the season to blow up in our faces are:
1. Injuries
2. Penalties

I (and probably many of you, wether you choose to admint it or not) felt the Saints were on the ropes after their three and out to open the second half; and we were ahead! We just didn’t seem to be in control any more. I think penalties started to frustrate the offense to the point of being a real distraction!

Injuries are a VERY unfortunate part of the game and all we can do is say a prayer and hope for the best.

Penalties are a self-inflicted injury!

excellent point about penalties……i dont care about uncalled ones or bad calls….they were called which means there must have been something u did to go against the zebras (except excessive celebration)
this has to be cleaned up….penalties stalled a lot of our drives

You put into words a lot of what I’ve been thinking after the last 2 games. It doesn’t mean I don’t have faith in the Saints, because I absolutely do. I believe we’re headed for a Super Bowl win. But it’s okay to talk about areas that need improvement. I agree with so much of what you said. It’s some of the same stuff that’s been discussed at over and over at our house.

“Replacing Carney with Hartley won’t solve this problem; nor will it produce better protection. The Saints have already had two kicks blocked this season. Nor will it do anything to improve the blocking in the return game, which may be an even bigger problem.”

It COULD potentially solve these problems, as the release of Carney would free up a roster spot for a player who excels at blocking on special teams.