It was a win…but not convincing. We used to win by 12, 14, 20…now it’s 3’s. Given wins in December are tough to come by, but this was a struggling performance on D. No sacks, only forced them to punt once. And that was with Ryan and Turner out.

What happened to our defense it no longer even bothers to show up.
Charles Grant needs to be benched,someone needs to have a good talk with our linebackers who all of the sudden forgot how to play their postions and dont evven talk about the secondary they were burnt on a regular basis
And lets not forget that kicker

The offense looked good but we have seen how far offense alone can get us in the playoffs

And I would like to shut aikman’s mouth up for good is he the biggest a$$%^$#@ in the both or what?

that if Payton wont rest player, they would rest themselves. Looked as though the whole defense rested untill about 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter and then they turned it up a notch. That makes the resting players question a moot point. Seems my Saints play down to lesser teams so I will expect a huge effort againts Dallas.

I agree with all of your bullets, to some extent or another, and I always appreciate your analysis.

• Chuckwagon looked downright lazy, slow, and unproductive in this game. I know he definitely did NOT have any impactful plays on defense. And on the TD that Sharper got beat on, when Gay blitzed, Grant took this slow, weak, inside loop-rush to the QB that got nowhere, while Gay’s blitz was easily picked up by the man that would have had to account for both Gay AND C-wagon had Grant rushed straight towards Redman from his spot on the end. I’m not sure if that was a function of a badly-designed or just badly-executed blitz. Aren’t blitzes supposed to cause overloads of too many rushers and not enough blockers in an area? Then why send Grant to the inside instead of overloading the side that Gay’s blitzing from? anyway, I’m no Defensive Coordinator, so maybe I’m missing the boat on this.

• Vilma – thank GOD for Vilma today.

• Maybe I’m nuts, but I wasn’t all that freaked out by Payton’s fake FG call. To me, it felt like the 3 points wouldn’t make a difference. The way the Falcons had been driving the ball in the 2nd half, I felt they were going to go hard at getting a TD and would be easily capable of it. I think I was more upset at Brunell’s indecisiveness in executing it – the late throw doomed that play. Maybe he couldn’t decide between trying to hit the short man vs. Nicks, who was open downfield. I think I was also much upset over Dave Thomas not even trying to catch that 3rd down pass that looked very catchable to me on the play before the fake. But here’s another point, in seasons past (2007 Superdome Special vs. Tampa Bay), Payton’s botched trick plays led to a loss, whereas this time, the D came up with a big play to bail us out.

• 13-0 is sweet. I just hope we get Greer and Porter back for the postseason, healthy and game-ready. This dream season could all go up in flames in the playoffs if we can’t stop good teams.

Only quibble I’d have with you Dave, on Colston’s second down catch it should have become third down rather than getting that lucky spot. Of course we might still have gotten it on third anyway, but I’ll take the freebie.

I just wanted to say good game y’all. Brees is not human, and he deserves a successful season after all this time. Y’all have a great ball club, and I can’t tell you how jealous I am. Best of luck going forward.

drops, mishandles ,miscues and oh my gods, today we won. now bring on the ……………..boys.

Helped me decide that the Saints have to go balls-out for the rest of the season, for two reasons. The first, because it’s probably going to take a total team effort to overcome even 2 of the final three opponents. But more importantly, because this incarnation of the ‘09 Saints, or the ’07-’08 Saints+winning, as I like to think of them, will need HFA throughout the playoffs to stand a chance.

I don’t know how this secondary played the game they played vs. NE, then put up these two travesties, but I’m done with every corner we have active right now. Sharper’s lack of a contract extension is looking pretty wise right now, too, as he hasn’t come close to early season form since losing the two starting corners(with the inexplicable exception of vs NE). I’m thinking all defense next draft. And now, DE or DT is suddenly the obvious first rounder. Maybe a stout RB who can play FB in a late round.

I hope to god the Saints come out guns blazing against the Cowboys next week, as it would be mildly heart breaking for Dallas at the dome to be the first(only?) loss of the season, but, more importantly, they’re gonna have to win out at home to avoid a visit to Minnesota, which this ’09 Saints team will not survive.

All that ranting aside, we swept the Dirtybirds! Woohoo! If there weren’t so much potential for continued greatness this season, that would be a completely satisfying moral to this story. Now please, Saints, muster one more great regular season game to keep Romo’s December collapse myth alive, and ruin one more Cowboys season!

I hate dallas. I hate Romo. I hate Jerry Jones. I hate the Palass the Cowboys play in. I’ve resorted to name calling.

We haven’t played well all season as far as I’m concerned. Only the Patriots were truly blown out and they suck. They were completely overrated. They are in a rebuilding year. Our cupcake schedule is allowing us to pull out victories with a half-hearted effort from the team overall.

The Saints are drinking the koolaide. I hope that the Dallas game is overhyped like a playoff game. We need to get in that dome and pound the crap out of an opponent. Moreover, nobody has to work on Sunday so we need to really just be assertive and break the Cowboys spirit, both from a crowd and a player perspective. The dome needs to be loud and the players need to execute. Hopefully a home game is just what we need to pull this game out and enter the playoffs with some major momentum.

I voted for Vilma in this one!

Reggie is Reggie but the guys got some serious game regardless of what any of YALL say Reggie deserves an extension.

Our D does need to get healthy just Fujita missing the game made a big difference, I saw Ellis limping around all day, hope it is not serious.

Geaux Saints, Bless you Boys!!!

We need to get healthy for the post season or this great season will lead to disappointment.

Thinking of next year.
For the draft
OLB or DT in round 1 and 2

Free Agency
Kerry Rhodes? Seems like he’ll be out of NY next year.

he had EFFORT written all over his work. He pursued and bull rushed and speed rushed and played disciplined football to my eye- but I did not review the film after. Grant is horrible. With all of our talent, I would inactivate him and give more playing time to others. Actually at this point maybe he should play more and we should rest other starters and then cut him loose before the playoffs. That would make more sense. I would rather see the Saints play a 3-4 and skip Grant altogether.

It was a stupid play, Nick wasn’t open and Dinkins was open 3 yards short of a first down and Brunell waited to asee if it would get beyond the first down marker. Cmon, Varl Nicks as a receiver? Was that just Paytron trying to set a record??

Hey, that was Sean Payton’s “Bill Billcek” moment. It least it didn’t lose the game and I hope he is through with that for the rest of the year…oh heck..throw the dice you New Orleans Gambler!

for the game’s MVP and our team spirit…

Shouldn’t Mike Smith have been ejected for smashing his headset on the field of play?

Hartley needs to be in these pressure situations and we have to see how he performs as a kicker

Brunell had the option of thrpwing to a 340 lb lineman who was covered ( how high do you think he’s going to jump?) or to Dinkins who was short of the first down. He tried to give Dinkins time to get to the 1st down marker but it ust didn’t happen.

Undisclosed sports hernia injury.

It’s his only hope.

I think as far as the defense goes, we are really missing our two star corners. With better coverage skills on the field, the FS (Sharper) doesn’t have to worry about being caught out of position as much and can focus on making plays on the ball. When he has to worry about taking up the slack, he seems to loose focus and I think his age is showing. He aint fast so I think we are seeing the effects on his play from having bad coverage guys lined up at corner. Grant has got to move. Either to the sideline or to the middle. I think putting Grant’s big slow ass in the DT position with Ellis lined up next to him and move Hargrove who we all know should be a DE in his spot would be more productive. I can see Hargrove as being more of a disruption in pass rush and quicker to the sideline chasing a QB or RB than Grant. Grant has put on weight and is strong and has experience at the DT position so I feel he would do better there than at DE. Our defense has been really lacking lately but in the grand scheme of things, anyone who says this team is not elite and has not played any real opponents this year is very wrong. Some of those opponents if you remember were good enough to take big leads in games like by two and three touchdowns. Only great teams find a way to come back and win and with that said, we are 13-0 so we must be one of those teams. nuff said.

I to want to blow out teams we play because my heart can’t take this down to the wire stuff and three point games, but when its over, we are three point champs and thats all that counts.

I really hope there is no let down for the upcoming Dallas game. I don’t go for the “they can’t win in December” thing. They have big receivers and like everyone has already said we had a huge let down in coverage yesterday. We got really lucky on some drops on their part. I know it’s personal but my family is all in Louisiana and Texas and only two of us are Saint fans so there’s been family woofing all year.
Secondly I saw someone ask about Malcolm Jenkins brands on his arm. He’s in the fraternity Omega Psi Phi “Nasty Q Dogs”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ZAKFLTcJQ&feature=related