New Orleans Saints 45 @ Oakland Raiders 7: Post-Game Wrap Up

Points Scored: 100
Points Allowed: 28

“Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints offense looked to be in midseason form. Unfortunately for the fans in Oakland, the Raiders appear to be as well.”

Who knew the Associated Press had a sense of humor?

I cant believe they make more money than me.

If I can help it I mute the TV and listen to the game on the radio. I think it’s much more exciting than the b l a a a n d o l d guys on tv who seem to care less how the game turns out or how accurate they are

has any head coach ever been fired during the preseason? If anyone would do it, it’s Wild Al. Would be curious to know what the Raiders’ blogs say about this one: Bring Back Lane?

“When we see the Saints in week one, let’s work on stopping this…………………………… Jeopardy thinking music plays as they watch the entire 3 1/2 hour game without stopping ……………… Alright men, if we can stop that, we might be able to keep our jobs. Let’s go out there and try not to make those faces on the sideline when the Saints score, they love to show those shots on Sportcenter.”

The big gaps in the middle of the defense on pass plays was maddening, but then we got the strips afterwards, so…

I just wonder how we’ll look come the regular season, and we won’t know that until each game unfolds.

My biggest concern now is the health of our players – especially Reggie and PT, and Usama.

i came to the realization that if there are any true raider fans, they should assassinate al davis. they not only do they look dysfunctional, but it looks like its getting worse. as well as we played, they are truly pathetic.

i know its only the raiders but it definitely looks like from what we have seen in this prseason that the saints are going to be better this year , a couple of road wins is whats needed , damn you saintsational all that talk of in an out has got me hungry , it morning here , will have to wait at least 6 hours before i can order a burger..

but geaux Saints! you can only beat what they put in front of you.. so far so good..

The one glaring negative once again has to be the play of the outside linebackers. To my recollection, there was one play that Troy Evans got into the backfield to cause some chaos. Other than that, zilch.

Zach Miller appeared to be roaming free in the secondary. No one within 10 yards to check his hall pass, at least a couple of times. Much better push by the DL and Vilma, it’s just the play on the perimeter of the front seven that worries me. On the bright side, I now know I’ll either be targeting Gonzalez or Winslow in my FF draft today. Maybe even Pettigrew for a week 1 plug ’n play, if I can spare the flyer.

WR is starting to look like the toughest cut on the team. Had Harper caught the Hail Mary tip drill, he would have punched his meal ticket. He had a TD nullified on that ridiculous series of illegal formations — wtf was going on there, anyway? I saw Nesbitt getting his buttocks chewed out on the sidelines — and he also dropped one right in the bread basket. Roby looked serviceable, as always. They even managed to work him in on an end-around. Neither Green nor Arrington made any headway in the race for one, possibly two slots. I think Green’s gone and the Miami game should sort out the rest.

At RB, I liked what I saw out of everyone, though no one truly outperformed the others on a per carry average. Being that Hamilton’s already paid his one year practice squad dues, I’ll go out on a limb and say he gets the 4th golden ticket. That’s assuming there even is a 4th.

Harrington’s still sailing passes here and there, but showed a good bit more than Brunell on the whole. I’m not terribly worried about the backup QB race, though. There’s about to be three potential upgrades on the market, in the odd man out in Oakland (Frye or Gradkowski), Washington (Brennan or Daniel), and Tampa Bay (McCown or Johnson). Chase Daniel would be choice, as every scout under the sun has compared his skill set to Drew Brees, though I have a feeling Colt will be the one galloping free in another week or so. Gradkowski and Lance Moore were a lethal combo at Toledo and McCown is an in-state product (Louisiana Tech), so at least one interesting storyline may develop there yet.

Oh, and just in case you didn’t pick up on it the first two dozen I mentioned it, Meachem will lead the team in both receptions and yardage this season. Also, not only will Prioleau make the final roster, he’ll be a key contributor throughout, both on defense and special teams. Those were my early offseason predictions and I’m sticking to them.

seems like our running game is going well, but we’ll see how the regular season shakes out. I also thought Brunell did quite well. I may have to look at the replay, but I thought the starting LBs- in fact the entire starting defense played well. Certainly not playing against an elite NFL team, but I’ll take it. I think our offense has the ability to do that against any team, the defense will face some bigger challenges, but I like what I see.

There has been a lot of chatter that we should take into account that the Raiders are the worst team in creation and therefore the performance should be partially discounted. A few comments on this. First, the Raiders are not THAT bad. They’re not good, but they didn’t go 0-16 last year. They had actually looked decent this preseason. Second, even if they are that bad, we did what we’re supposed to do- totally dominate them. I know preseason isn’t always an accurate predictor of the regular season, but there have been plenty of Saints teams who have not been able to do that. Lastly, the defense is only going to get better as the season progresses and the players learn the system better. A wonderful thought…

How about let Sharper and Usama play S and slide Harper in at Shanle’s spot?