I know pre-season games are usually sloppy and sometimes boring, particularly the final one, but man, this was awful. 99 total yards of offense?!?! Obviously this wasn't our real team, but c'mon! That said, the good news is that the defense still seemed to look pretty good and last weeks performance against Cincinnati may not have been a fluke. Heck, even Jason David played well. All of the attention and work the Saints have put into that side of the ball seem to be paying off. If that's the case and this continues, then we should definitely expect big things this season. I am officially excited again!

Continue reading this post »

We've got a lot to get to this morning so let's not waste any time. Below is the first half play by play analysis for your digestion.

I believe he dropped this one.(Getty Images)

Saints Offense First Drive

• After an average return to the 20 yard line by Skyler Green, the Saints take over. First play is from the I formation and its a play action fake. Nobody picks up the rusher from the right side at the line and Karney has too far to go to get to him in time. Drew makes a sweet sidestep to avoid getting rocked by Robert Geathers (yes, that is Jumpy Geathers nephew) then Brett Favre's it to Karney. Eight yards out of what should have been a costly sack.
  
• Brees to Colston's ridiculously long outstretched arms. First down.
• Brees has plenty o' time to hit Billy Miller over the middle. Protection is great.
• Bush tries between the tackles and it looks like he has a tiny hole to squeeze through but he gets tripped up while doing it.
• Another Brees to Colston hookup over the middle for 15 yards. He also had Deuce to check down to.
  
• Drew blows a sure touchdown to Patten when he overthrows him in the endzone. Looks like they were supposed to meet in the corner but Drew makes the bad throw.
  
• Brees and Colston connect yet again on a a quick curl but the defender is all over Marques, gets a hand on it and the ball falls out of his hands. No catch.
• On third and 10 the throw is to Colston...again. Drew threads the needle between two defenders and Colston catches then drops it after taking a shot. I believe this was the play in which Colston is injured.
  
• Saints settle for a Gramatica field goal.

Review: For the most part the offense looks sharp. This could have easily been 7 points instead of 3. Drew will certainly work out those kinks with his receivers by week one. Colston looks very uncharacteristic with two drops that are normally sure catches for him. It's going to be a long season if Colston starts imitating Devery and comes down with his very own case of the drops. Personally, I wish the Saints wouldn't put Colston in dangerous situations, like going over the middle, during meaningless pre-season games.

Saints Defense First Drive

• Evidence that this defense plans on turning things around are seen on their first play from scrimmage. Cincinnati starts on their own 31 and kicks things off with an end around to the left side as Tracy Porter breaks free of his blocker and gets a hand on the ball enough to jar it loose. The Bengals recover but its a great sign for the rookie and this unit.
• The Bengals try running up the middle but there's nothing there. Clancy and Grant on the tackle.
• After a false start penalty its third and 16. Palmer has good protection and decides to go deep. McKenzie makes a diving leap and appears to make the amazing interception but couldn't trap it as it winds up hitting the turf. It doesn't matter though because Who Dat Nation now knows that MM is here to stay and everything appears okay.
• Bengals punt away. They have no idea this will be their theme of the night.

Review: Hopefully, in the near future, we will all look back on this one drive and say, "That was the drive that turned it all around." The two positive aspects were the excellent play of rookie Tracy Porter and the healthy return of Mike McKenzie. This unit had not one but two chances to force a turnover. Thank you sir, may I have another.

His big catch.(Al Behrman, AP)

Saints Offense Second Drive

• Saints take over at their 35. Deuce tries the left side but only gains a yard.
• After Meachem is called for a false start, his number is called and Brees hits him deep on a 54 yard pass. Meachem needs to come back to the ball and makes the necessary adjustments.
  
• From the 15 yard line now and Deuce catches a screen pass for 7 yards.
• Only a yard for Deuce on the next play.
  
• On third and 1, two tight end set. They give the ball to Stecker who looks like he is shot out of a cannon, gets tripped up and tries to stumble over the goal line but he's a yard short. He does get the first down.
  
• Next play and there are three TE's out there, Campbell, Miller and Ghent. It's a play fake and a toss to the back of the endzone to an open Ghent.

Review: Saints are just making it look easy. This offense continues to be a well oiled machine. Meachem has the play of the drive with his 54 yard catch. This is a great sign that he is for real and that first pre-season game was not just random luck. Ghent probably won't even make the team so with the eventual addition of Shockey, this team should be even more potent in the red zone.

Saints Defense Second Drive

• Bengals begin at their 24 yard line and start with a run to the left side. Kendrick Clancy brings him down from behind.
• Bengals then try the middle and its, guess who, Clancy with the stop.
• Third down now and the Saints are in Nickel. Bengals have four WR's on the line. Shanle has to pick up the fourth receiver , Utecht, in the slot as Palmer makes a nice throw and finds the TE over the middle. Shanle immediately takes him down.
• First down now and its a quick swing pass in the flat. Fujita does a great job containing and the Bengals only get 3 yards.
• Clancy notches another tackle when the Bengals try to run up the middle.
• Third down and Palmer is working out of the shotgun. Saints bring the blitz, Shanle is the extra man and he shoots right through the middle of the line untouched. Carson barely gets a throw off to no one. More punting.

Review: Another pretty solid looking drive for the defense. Kendrick Clancy was all over the field on this one. He's made this team, no doubt, and he is also a huge help in stopping the run game. Some pretty good play from our linebackers as well. Fujita and Shanle both stepped it up. One of the more important things to note is who I am not talking about, and that is our secondary. Nobody getting burned or caught out of position and on the one complete pass this drive, Shanle was the man in coverage. Much of that improvement is due to good pressure by the front seven. It certainly helps the guys behind them.

Saints Offense Third Drive

• Reggie Bush returns Cincinnati's punt for 14 yards and appears to hurt himself on the play.
• From their 23 yard line on first down and Patten catches a seven yard pass on a crossing route.
• Reggie heads to the left side, cuts it back up the middle and finds only two yards.
  
• Stecker gets the call for the dirty work on 3rd and 1 and gains five as he shoots up the middle with lightning quick speed again.
• Deuce tries the middle on first down and only gets 2 yards.
• After Brees and Miller can't connect on a ball thrown slightly behind Miller, Brees tries the left side and finds Henderson for 11 yards and the first down. It would be Henderson's only catch. End of the first quarter.
• More of Deuce up the middle for only 2 yards. Stecker follows that with only a yard.
• The play stalls after a short pass to Patten fails to get the first down.

Review: This was where the offense started to look poor. Deuce, Reggie and Stecker both had little to work with as the O-line just can't seem to open up holes for them like other teams do. If this continues, it may not matter who the running back is as victory will have to come through the air. I hope Drew's arm can handle it one more year. Right now, Stecker is the most impressive back on the field and he looks so darn quick.

Saints Defense Third Drive

• Bengals start from their own 14 yard line. Palmer throws a quick swing pass to Antonio Chatman on the left side. Shanle isn't quick enough to contain him but Porter makes a nice tackle by releasing from his blocker and wrapping up Chatman's legs. 9 yards.
  
• Pretty much the same play as last only it's to Utecht and to the right side. Pretty much the same result too, as Shanle isn't fast enough to get to him (even farther this time) and McKenzie must leave his man to make the tackle. 11 yards.
  
•  Now it's a blitz from the Saints and Kaesviharn runs into the backfield untouched on the left side. Palmer tried to escape but KK catches him from behind. Sack.
• Palmer dumps it over the middle to Chris Perry for 6 yards.
• 3rd and 10 for the Bengals and the Saints bring more pressure. Vilma, the late man, breaks through the line and is right in Palmer's face as he barely gets the pass off. Perry is the intended receiver but Roman Harper, with great coverage, is all over. Guess who has to punt.

Review: Some good and some bad on this drive. Once again, the dink and dunk short stuff hurt us in the beginning and their fast receivers were able to take advantage of our not so fast linebackers. Those are the plays that are gaining significant yardage and doing the most damage. Hopefully, opposing coaches do not read this blog. I think it is safe to assume they don't. The defense picks it up however with some good pressure and the Bengals are stalled yet again. This defense is looking fairly impressive.

Saints Offense Fourth Drive

• Saints take over from their 30. A defensive holding call later and they start from their 36.
• It's a nice 38 yard pass to a wide open, sure handed Devery Henderson but Jammal Brown is called for holding and it's like the catch never happened.
• Saints try and start one more time on 1st and 20. Stecker takes the hand off and tries the right side. Still nothing for him to run through. In fairness, the Bengals linebackers did a great job reading the play and zeroing in. Keith Rivers looked very nice on this play taking down Stecker.
  
• Brees gets the pass off just in time as the pressure was on and he gets taken down. It's a great throw down the right sideline for Lance Moore. Moore is blanketed but still manages to make the grab. Love this guy. Credit is due both to Lance and Drew.
  
• Drew tries the right side again, this time to David Patten. More pressure as Drew has to hurry and Rivers nearly sacks him. Patten is well covered and the pass is not great.
• Only one yard gained by Stecker on a screen pass to the right side.
• Saints can't convert on third down as Brees tries for a well covered Billy Miller. It was Johnson, a linebacker, on Miller so the matchup was in the Saints favor but Miller can't come back to the ball in time. Saints punt.

Review: Another stalled drive for the Saints high powered offense. The Bengals stepped up their defensive play on this series and looked pretty good applying pressure. Saints fans got a good look at Keith Rivers who could have very well been the Saints first round draft pick this year and he looks pretty darn good.

Saints Defense Fourth Drive

• Bengals from their 12 yards line. Chris Perry has nowhere to go up the middle as Clancy makes yet another big stop for the run defense.
• Next it's Palmer trying the right sideline Holt but McKenzie is right there in great coverage and times his hit perfectly. Holt can't bring it in.
• Third down now and the line applies some good pressure as Palmer dumps it off over the middle to Perry in wide open space in the flat. Fortunately, Shanle does a great job closing in and the play only goes for 5 yards on what could have been much more. Punt.

Review:  Three and out. Can't beat that. Clancy looked good. McKenzie looked good. Shanle looked good. Period. Still really worried about the short yardage passing over the top and the YAC, but if our linebackers can close in like Shanle did, then we should be okay.

Saints Offense Fifth Drive

• Saints have it at their 40 and start off with a Brees pass to Lance Moore down the left sideline for 35 yards. Moore has to stretch and reach to make the grab. I honestly think Henderson doesn't make that catch. The announcer again agrees with me by saying, "He just catches everything it seems thrown his way."
  
• Deuce tries the right side but only gains one yard. No holes.
• Brees tries Patten but there is a communication error as Patten turns inside and Brees throws outside. The ball is almost intercepted.
• Third down now and Brees looks for Henderson right on the goal line. You know what happens. Granted the Bengals had some pretty good coverage, but when he has the ball in his arms and against his chest, he should come down with them.
• Payton decides to go for it on fourth down needing nine yards. Much like the very first play of the game from scrimmage, Drew shows some great footwork and eludes a untouched blitzer, making him miss, as he shovels it off to Moore for a yard. While it wasn't the needed nine yards, Brees' athleticism stopped it from becoming -9 yards.

Review: This is the third drive in a row that the Saints offense has not looked up to snuff. The running game is still non-existent, Henderson is doing his usual ball dropping and I don't know what was going on with Brees and Patten but they just couldn't seem to get on the same page. The only consistent person on these last couple of drives has been Lance Moore.

Saints Defense Fifth Drive

• Great pressure from the line on the Bengals first play from the 23 yard line as Antwan Lake gets himself a sack for -8 yards.
• More good pressure as Shanle comes in off the left side and almost reaches Palmer in time. Instead he gets the short dump pass off to Utecht as Vilma and Porter, who are right there, look very weak in tackling and can't grab him. The play goes for 10 yards.
• It's 3rd and 8 (it's always 3rd and 8!!!) and Chatman runs an out right on the right sideline. This is the same play we saw the Texans carve Jason David up with last week. This time it's Randall Gay doing a poor job in coverage and the Bengals gain 19 yards for the first down. Ugh! These are the most frustrating.
• Perry tries the middle and is met by a flying Roman Harper in the hole. Nice hit.
  
• Palmer tries deep down the field as Shanle, again, runs into the backfield untouched and almost gets to him. Porter is on the coverage, and unbelievably, draws the offensive pass interference call. Nice coverage.
  
• 2nd and 17 now and Palmer throws it underneath on another dump off to Chris Perry that gains eight yards.
• Palmer throws over the middle for Jerome Simpson but Aaron Glenn is right there for the immediate tackle and only 6 yards. Bengals...punt.

Review: Shanle looks hungry in this game. Twice this drive he was in the backfield quickly, forcing the quick pass and nearly coming away with sacks. Aaron Glenn also looked reliable again. I do hate to see those 3rd and longs get converted, especially when it's our secondary to blame, but they were very few and far between in this half so it's fair to say there is definite improvement. More short underneath passes that turn into significant yardage. Not the best series for the defense but they again manage to force the punt.

Stecker deserves more touches. (Getty Images)

Saints Offense Sixth Drive

• Saints are deep in their own zone on their eleven yard line. Brees' night is over as Brunell comes in with under two minutes remaining in the half. His first play he takes a sack for -6.
• Stecker runs twice in a row, both for 7 yards. Three and out.

Review: Well this drive wasn't great at all. Stecker, however, looks so darn good. Again, he is so quick and his feet are always churning. It does look like he has some larger holes to run through than Deuce and Reggie before him, but not by much. Stecker's talent and hard running style are probably equally the reason he is breaking off bigger chunks of yardage.

Saints Defense Sixth Drive

• Not much time left in the half as the Bengals take over from their 36 yard line. The first play is a short pass underneath to Utecht. Vilma is there but Utecht makes a quick cut inside to get past him. Vilma slaps his hands in frustration.
• After a spike by Palmer to stop the clock, the Saints bring the pressure on 2nd and 10. Kaesviharn, again untouched, shoots into the backfield from the right side. It is McCray coming in later who puts the finishing shot on Palmer. This was the hit that caused the infamous bloody nose.
  
• False start on the Bengals.
• On third down, Perry gets eight yards on the right side. Not enough for the first as the Saints call timeout and the Bengals are forced to punt one final time this half. The crowd boos as the Bengals walk off the field.

Review: If you have a tight end playing against the Saints this season in fantasy football, make sure he starts. Tight ends have looked pretty good against our defense these last two games. On the positive side, I don't know whether the Saints defensive players just played harder or Gibbs decided to get a little more exotic with the blitzing schemes, but the pressure tonight was vastly improved and it was from all angles.

That does it for the first half. All in all, as stated earlier, I think we have to be happy with this performance. There were some bad plays on both sides of the ball, but that is to be expected every single game. The larger picture is what's important and on Saturday night, the larger picture was a much improved defense. There was a little bending but absolutely no breaking.

Let's hear what you guys think!

“I thought we played much better defensively,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “We were better on third down, we defended the run well even in our seven-man fronts, coverages were tight and we hurried the quarterback.”

“So that was the big difference from last week, I thought we played with some energy and enthusiasm,” he said. “You could see it on the sideline.”

“I thought we got sloppy at times in the red zone. I was disappointed we didn’t score more because we had a lot of opportunities inside the 30,” said Payton. “We had penalties, a fumble. Those things, we have to clean up. But it was certainly a better performance for us coming off last week’s game.”

- Sean Payton, The Advocate

“We needed a little redemption because we wanted to get not only physically ready, but get in the right mind-set for the regular season,” said Kaesviharn. “It’s important to build on everything, and I think we did that tonight.”

- Kevin Kaesviharn, The Advocate

“Tonight, it was about us executing and showing people how good we can be,” middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. “We felt like we did some good things last week that were kind of overlooked. People are going to say things, so it’s about us showing it.”

- Jonathan Vilma, The Advocate

“I felt like we moved the ball very well today, but we left some opportunities out there for sure — especially in the second quarter,” Brees said. “And that’s frustrating.”

- Drew Brees, The Advocate

"I think it was a big boost for us today," said safety Kevin Kaesviharn, who had 1¤1/2 sacks against his former team on two blitzes. "We had a bad taste in our mouth after last week. We felt we were a better team than what we showed. And we knew going into this game that we had to step up our game, especially being that this is usually the time (the starters are) going to play the most before you get into the regular season."

"It always feels good to play well against a team you used to play for," said Kaesviharn, who signed with the Saints before the 2007 season. "But like I was saying, it was more important for the team to go into this game and come away with a lot more confidence mentally, and we were able to do that."

-Kevin Kaesviharn, Times-Pic

"Honestly, I think having confidence coming off the preseason is important," Saints Coach Sean Payton said. "And I think certainly (defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs) and the defensive staff and the players felt like this was an opportunity where we were going to get more snaps for a longer period of time. And the situations, fortunately, we got them into some third-and-longs.

"So I'd say the one thing you saw tonight is we were ahead .¤.¤. defensively. We had them in third-and-11, third-and-9. It's easier to dial up your defense."

-Sean Payton, Times-Pic

"When you've got guys outside like Will (Smith) and Bobby McCray pushing the quarterback up in the pocket, that's going to help us in the middle," Grant said. "That's going to be a dominant package. A lot of people are going to feel that. You can't block all of those guys."

-Charles Grant, Times-Pic

'It is important to get ready for the regular season and get the confidence going," said Kaesviharn. "We were flying around out there and swarming guys and making plays. It was fun to see. The things that we worked on and the coaches were on us all week to improve is the result we came up with tonight. It's encouraging."

-Kevin Kaesviharn, New Orleans Saints official website

"I'll tell you what makes me angry: Seeing my quarterback get off the ground," left tackle Levi Jones said. "It infuriates me, especially seeing blood on his face."

- Levi Jones, Cincinnati Bengals, International Herald Tribune

"That's the thing that's hurting me right now, to see Carson getting hit," guard Bobbie Williams said. "It hurts me deeply."

-Bobbie Williams, Cincinnati Bengals, International Herald Tribune

"This was the (type of) game we kind of looked at as a unit," McKenzie said. "We wanted to have a good showing defensively. They obviously didn't have their top guns."

-Mike McKenzie, International Herald Tribune

"He had a good pregame, but I wanted to err on the side of caution," coach Sean Payton said. "I'm excited about where he's at right now, but I held him back. We didn't want to go through the scenario of him having a setback."

-Sean Payton, on Jeremy Shockey, International Herald Tribune

If the third exhibition game is supposed to be a dress rehearsal for the real games, then the New Orleans Saints undressed the scrappy local 11. It was thorough.

-Paul Daugherty, sportswriter, Cincinnati Enquirer

"There's going to be (heck) to pay for a lot of people,"

-Levi Jones, Columbus Dispatch

The Cincinnati Bengals made history Saturday night, Aug. 23.

Not good, memorable history.

Bad, forgettable and regrettable history.

For the first time in the franchise's 41 years, the Bengals were shutout at home in a preseason game.

- Chick Ludwig, sportswriter, Dayton Daily News

Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt , Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Interception.

That's exactly how the Cincinnati Bengals drive chart read last night. Just wanted to lay it out like that because it looks so pretty that way. I don't know what the heck Payton said to these guys this last week or what he did to motivate them, but it worked. With all eyes on them, the Saints defensive showing was a huge improvement over last weeks. The return of McKenzie, better pressure from the line, a more cohesive linebacking corp, and better play from the safeties all contributed to a defense that actually looked like they knew what they were supposed to be doing out there. I understand there are always going to be those people who say that it's just pre-season and that many Bengal's starters were not active, and they are right. But for this teams defense, one that is oft criticized and rife with deficiencies, to hold any team at any time to no points, not even a field goal, is an incredibly noteworthy feat. Yesterday's battle against the Bengals should be considered a very important victory in the long war that is this season.

On a less positive note, the offense didn't look as smooth and efficient as we all know it can be. The Bengals are not a very good team defensively. This Saints team cannot expect its defense to come up big like this every week and 17 points of offense just won't cut it against stronger teams. One thing that will be ever important this season, and something that I feel plagued us last season, will be for both offense and defense to play well together. I already know that in next week's game against the Dolphins, the most important thing that I will be watching for will be consistent play from all and the ability of both offensive and defensive units to get on the same page and turn in equally impressive performances. It's a must. Otherwise, all of  our hope and expectations for this season will flutter up and down in rhythm with this teams inevitable performance as we will all ride along on the roller coaster ride that is a typical New Orleans Saints season.

In the meantime, hope has been restored in Who Dat Nation and all is peaceful. At least for now.

Here are my immediate observations from the game. They may not be completely accurate because they were made on the fly. More in depth analysis will take place this week.

The Secondary

• When it comes to the Saints secondary, there's Mike McKenzie and there's everyone else. Is this guy recovering from a torn ACL? Sure didn't look like it. MM looked solid out there, almost picking off a pass. We can all breathe a sigh of relief now knowing that with MM back, our secondary should never look as awful as it did last week against Houston.
• I don't think Tracy Porter is necessarily ready to start but it is awesome to see some improvement after last week. He made that great play in the first series knocking the ball loose after getting away from his blocker. He also drew an offensive pass interference call by getting great positioning on his wide receiver. However, he failed to do anything in the return game.
  
• Randall Gay looked just okay.  He was caught out of position at least once last night. Sad to say but I don't think he has totally locked up that second starting spot.
  
• Aaron Glenn is starting to look good. Decent anyway. Dare I say that he gives this unit a little depth? Can I use that word when I am talking about the cornerbacks? I think I just did. He seems pretty solid and consistent. A good "break glass in case of emergency" kinda guy.
  
• Great play from our starting safeties last night. Maybe it's because he was playing his old team but KK looked solid with 1.5 sacks. Roman Harper also looked sharp making some nice hits, including that hard one against the run when he flew in to fill the gap. Lance Schulters also got into the mix by nabbing an interception.

The Rest of the Defense

• The line as a whole looked much better than last week. To be fair, I don't think the Bengals offensive line was doing such a great job and didn't seem to pick up a couple of blitzes but definitely a noticeable improvement in the application of pressure. Still nothing from the most expensive bookends I have ever seen but Bobby McCray looked awesome! 93 Octane had 1.5 sacks on the night and decided to leave his mark in this game; all over Carson Palmer's face. For a big guy, he sure is fast. I don't mean to rip off McDonald's but, "I'm lovin' it."
• Good news on the defensive tackle front. Even though Hollis Thomas is out for a good while and Young will probably have an injury plagued year, Kendrick Clancy is really stepping it up, as well as Antwan Lake. Clancy came on strong right out of the box and led the team with 3 tackles and 2 assists. Lake added a sack. While Thomas and Young are out, I think Ellis and Clancy are your starters.
• I was very happy to see the linebacking play looking much better. I think this may actually have been a position group whose performance was underrated last night. Those short dump off passes in the flat by our opponents were killing us in the last two games and I am glad to see that get significantly reduced. These guys were covering a lot of ground, doing a great job of containing and on top of their receivers quickly.
  

The Running Game

• All I asked for was just to see continued improvement out of D Mac and I think it's fair to say we saw that. Of course he's not out there moving piles the way we know he can but give it time. For a second knee injury, he's looking pretty good and he's coming along nicely. Patient with this one you must be.
• Nothing unusual from Pierre Thomas. He only ran five times for 46 yards (by the way, thats a 9.2 average) and caught four passes for 35 more yards. The announcers even complimented him on this blocking. Okay, okay he had a fumble deep in the red zone when he was practically down. It doesn't matter though, don't worry about it. He will stay buried on the depth chart. If I write any more I will get angry and break my keyboard.
• It's unfortunate for Lynell Hamilton that we already have four other pretty talent backs ahead of him because he looked pretty impressive last night. The reality is, at this point, he's probably trying out for another team with these performances in the pre-season for the Saints. Maybe we could package him together with Devery in some sort of trade?
• Reggie was pretty much non-factor last night. Hopefully his injury is not too serious.

Receivers

• Both Lance Moore and Robert Meachem  are starting to prove themselves to be consistent. You can add both of their names to the list of Saints who are playing well but not seeming to get the respect they deserve. Honestly, at this point, they may both be ahead of Devery on the depth chart. 
• Oh, Devery. What to do with you...what to do? Technically on the stat sheet he only caught 50% of his passes tonight, but we will give him credit for the nice catch he had for about 20 yards that was inevitably called back, raising his percentage to a whopping 66%. Either way, he continues to be inconsistent leaving me to wonder why Payton continues to think so highly of him.
  
• Colston looked good in the one series he took part in. He and Drew are on autopilot. We did see a rare drop on the goal line from Colston while taking a tough hit.

Quarterback 

• If I'm being honest here, Drew looked just a little off. Just a tiny bit. He threw one a little behind Billy Miller but he was really off with receiver David Patten, overthrowing him and seeming to mix up routes. Minor, I know, but just thought I would mention it.
  
• Brunell was fine. Ol' reliable he is.
  
• Palko looked much better last night as well. No bobbled snaps. Had a nifty little run. My question is: How long is this Payton project going to continue?

Special Teams

• Mehlhaff finally kicked one in the endzone but then followed it up with a not so great kick. He did nail his 45 yard field goal however.
  
• Gramatica was also reliable as usual hitting his field goal attempt. I really have no idea what is going to happen with this position battle. It might come down to a coin flip.
  
• I think Skyler Green's career with the Saints may be coming to an end very soon. Punt returning is really the only way he is going to make this team and he didn't look impressive at all last night. Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten too many chances and because of that, he is forcing those chances which is only exacerbating the situation.
  

Of course, I will get into more detail about everything in the upcoming days. As always, the floor is open for your thoughts and opinions.

Here is the final roll call for both open threads combined. Props go to Steve the fan who proves he is worthy of the name he has given himself. Again, I am so happy to see such a good turnout for the open threads. I always enjoy them.

I've finally put last weeks pitiful performance behind me by drinking myself into an oblivion blocking it from my memory. It's time we all move on, hope the team has learned some lessons and pray we get a better showing against the Bungles. The Bengals, much like the Saints, have a suspect defense and a high power offense, making this a good team to play in pre-season and work out those defensive kinks.  Here's what I think we should all be watching as the game unfolds on Saturday night.

Shockey I figured everyone was expecting me to talk about JD and the secondary first but I decided to kick it off with a positive note. We're finally going to get to see Russell Crowe, er, I mean Jeremy Shockey. Expect Brees to look for Shockey in the redzone or on third and long. Payton, who has been pretty cautious with J. Shock up to this point said he only plans to play him the first quarter. Then again Reggie begged and pleaded his way onto the field last week after being listed as a no go, and with Shockey's verbose nature and intense competitive nature coming as no surprise, maybe he will make Payton play the entire half.

Mike McKenzie Isn't this exciting!? We have two players making their debut's this season, and I think its safe to say "Thank God!" I will never be happier to see MM take the field than I will be tomorrow night. The timing couldn't be better. Honestly, after suffering the same injury as Deuce only two months after him, I can't believe he is actually ready to go. I'm pretty nervous about this one. Just like Deuce last week, we will have to see if he can make the necessary movements and cuts. Cornerback is not one of those positions where you can hide a serious knee injury. If MM and JD both look bad then I think it might be time to start panicking. Hey, anyone know if the Eagles have a cornerback we might be able to use!?

Jason David Now it's time to talk about the Toast Master General himself (thanks BigTMill), Chasin' David. I'm being harsh and I don't hate JD. Yet. This is it. This is the last chance I am giving him. I have probably actually been more patient than most of you guys, but this is my final stand. He needs to step it up, Big time. I'm talking, like, a pick six. He better be within one foot of his receiver at all times.

Tracy Porter Thanks to JD's performance last week, Tracy Porter has gotten the call. Usama Young also probably won't go tomorrow night, so this is Porter's big chance and I have to think he realizes it. He didn't look much better than David against Houston so I am definitely focusing on #22 this week in the hopes that we see the makings of a legitimate candidate for starting cornerback.

The O-Line Can we please open up some holes. I am referring to the first team line here. Reggie Bush is a Heisman winner not Moses. I know Reggie has been knocked the last two years because of his hesitation, "dancing" and failure to run between the tackles but the dancing and hesitation both seem to have improved and any inability of him breaking off big runs up the middle so far this season I think has to be blamed purely on our line. The second string guys have looked great opening up lanes for Stecker.

The D-Line  Pressure. Pressure. Pressure!

Jonathan Vilma I would rate Vilma's play last week as just mediocre. He gets a pass however because of such high expectations and being away from the game for so long. With one game under his belt and little bit of the rust off, I am hoping to see Vilma make some "Oh no he didn't" type plays that amaze and excite us all. Simoneau is out so this is Vilma's chance to firmly entrench himself at the position and do what Brian Simmons couldn't last year; knock Simoneau out of his spot.

Devery Henderson  He's a first teamer. You heard it yourself from coach. Meachem, Moore, Copper and Arrington are all below him looking up. If the speculation by many Saints fans that Payton may be posturing and shopping Devery is true, then I would think he might give him a lot of looks and pray to the football gods that he actually catches the ball. Of course, if that were to actually happen, wouldn't we then want to keep him? This whole situation gives me a headache. I'm not going to pretend like I know what is going on inside Sean Payton's head.

Lance Moore This might actually be where the answer to the whole Devery situation lays. His play could greatly affect the future of Devery; cut, trade, whatever!

Deuce I don't expect the man to work miracles. Just a little improvement on top of last week or continued positive signs from D-Mac will be sufficient. He can wait until week one before he starts running people over. Limping off the field would be bad.

Skyler Green Skyler was MIA last week but Payton has said that he, as well as Moore and Porter, will see significant action in the return game. He's going to have to make his mark somewhere tomorrow night and it doesn't seem like he is really in the running for a WR spot. Otherwise, this could be the end of the road for our local boy.

Orien Harris This guy has set the bar pretty high for himself with his play the first two games of the season. Granted, with the starters playing the entire first half of the game this time around, he won't have as much time to make his impact, don't be surprised to see him right at the top of the tackles list.

All of the DT's With Hollis out, Young looking like someone has put some awful voodoo curse on him and his little dog too and Sedrick being held out for precautionary measures, the door is open for Clancy, Lake and the aforementioned Harris.

Taylor Mehlhaff Gramatica took all of the field goals last game so the next game should be Mehlhaff's turn. I love the hang time this kid gets on his kickoffs. This position battle is tough, I really don't know how Payton is going to decide.

Lance "in my pants" Schulters Poor Lance. His debut is being overshadowed by Shockey's. I honestly don't know much about this guy and I won't pretend that I do. I am just going to hope that he is better than Josh Bullocks. In reality, he's probably a long shot.

Keith Rivers Just for fun, we should all pay attention to him. He was a real possibility to be drafted by the Saints and was actually the guy I thought they would go with. Of course I didn't think they would actually be so aggressive as to move up in the draft. This will be a good chance to check out what we did or didn't miss out on, hopefully the later.

The team has off today as they make their way back to Metry. Having gotten a clearer picture of just what this team looks like, I thought what better time to throw out another attempt at predicting just who will make this team of 53 and who wont. This, of course, is meant to spark conversation and your input is welcomed and awaited. Where did I go wrong and where did I go oh...so...right? Let us all know what you think about who makes what will inevitably be the greatest Saints team of all-time.

Offense

Defense

Special Teams

Here is my thinking on some of this:

• Brian Young's health concerns me. If it continues to be spotty, the staff may say to hell with it and go with one of the other talented options in Antwan Lake and Orien Harris.
• I went with Reis over Roach at safety.
• Yeah, I went with six receivers. Copper and Moore both contribute on special teams. Skyler Green was so close I practically flipped a coin for this one.
• I only went with one fullback. We should expect better blocking from our tight ends. Maybe keep another fullback on the practice squad in case Karney is injured.
• Jason David is still around. I just don't think the coaches are going to give up on him. I don't really feel we have seen enough from Tracy Porter, but I gave him a shot anyway.

For a good laugh, compare it to my roster prediction back in May. Also check out  how much nicer looking my tables have become. We've come so far.

The floor is now open. Take it away.

Yesterday we talked about the not so fine points of the Saints first pre-season game against the Arizona Cardinals. Today we discuss the more positive aspects of the game and what went right. Fortunately, I think the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Receivers You knew I would have to start off with this after Meachem and Arrington led the team in receiving. This is getting really good. With the emergence of Meachington, this has turned into quite a deep squad. When this team added Shockey, the hot topic of conversation was how this would free up Colston from defensive double teams and spread out opposing defenses. I can't even imagine the possibilities now that Meachem is in the mix. Pepper in a little Arrington on top of that and you've got a defensive coordinators nightmare. Mark Campbell also looks like he might very well earn that second spot after missing almost all of last season. The coaching staff will certainly have some tough decisions to make when it comes time to decide who to keep and who to jettison. Fortunately, that is a decision most coaches would love to have to make. Who needs a running game when you've got all of this?

Oh yeaaaah!

Reggie Bush Maybe I've been drinking the Kool Aid here, but I really think this is going to be the year. Try some, its delicious! Anyone who doesn't think Reggie has talent is just plain blind. Sure, he's no human highlight reel like he was at USC, but the kid's got moves. As it stands, Reggie carried 7 times for 22 yards. Take away those two stupid penalties and it becomes 9 carries for 52 yards, one of which looked like a botched play that he turned to the outside for a 12 yard gain. Those are pretty respectable numbers for a first pre-season game. Add to that the poor run blocking by our line and I would say Reggie has shown noticeable improvement. He certainly looked more decisive and hungry. Still don't think he will ever be a back in the style of Deuce, but when he has the ball when he's out on the field, he is always a factor and always dangerous.

Defensive Line Just as touted, we look much improved. They were a lot quicker and more aggressive. To be honest, I don't remember ever seeing a consistent pass rush like last night in recent Saints history. Sedrick Ellis was a little shaky but certainly should be able to start week one. Orien Harris was a big surprise on the night and co-led the team in tackles on Thursday night. The defensive tackle position is similar to the receiver spot in that there seems to be quite a few players stepping up, adding depth and making the battle very interesting. Again, the coaches may have to make a tough decision when the time comes to cut the roster down to 53. 

We Are Holding Back One of the things I think is great about this last game was the fact that we didn't even dress incredibly key players on this team. Colston, Shockey, Deuce, McKenzie and Vilma were all missing. These guys are all arguably the best players on this team at their respective positions. Thursday nights showing was like a "worst case scenario" example of what our team would look like in week 15 after being ravaged an entire season by injury, and it wasn't that bad! We should all be very pleased with the depth on this team and take stock in the fact that, at our healthiest, we will be an even better team.

From the New Orleans Saints official website.

Most of the guys except for Adrian Arrington will be back this afternoon. Adrian Arrington has the turf toe. He might be a couple of days (out) or even longer. Josh Bullocks will practice this afternoon after not practicing in the morning. Bobby McCray has a bruised ankle. He’ll practice we think in the afternoon. Mike McKenzie will practice in the afternoon. David Patten will practice in the afternoon. Josh Savage probably won’t. He has a shoulder problem suffered prior to the game and it’s still aggravating him. Jonathan Vilma will practice in the afternoon. Brian Young will practice in the afternoon. We signed wide receiver Joe West and waived Wale Dada. Our numbers are still at 80. It will be good to get a group of these guys together at practice this afternoon when we put the pads on.

Q: What is your overview of the game after viewing the game film?

 I was pleased with our effort. I thought our guys played hard and there was a lot of hustle. You could see that not only with the offense and defense, but when you watch the special teams tape, I felt we did a good job. I was encouraged with how we played in the kicking game. We had one big return and we did a pretty good job in coverage. I think that there are some things from alignment and assignments that we have to clean up, mistakes that will haunt you in a regular season game and we spent some of the morning practice working on those now. By and large after the first week, the good news is that we still have three more preseason games and we’re going to need those practices and those games to make the changes and improvements as we move forward. I was pleased with the effort.

Q: Did you finally see what Robert Meachem can do?

It was real encouraging. For a young player, you receive more confidence when you play like that. He came up big with the post route that he dove and caught and later on he turned that crossing route into a touchdown. Those are all positive signs. He played very well, that was encouraging.

Q: Did anybody stand out on the offensive and defensive line?

I thought Jonathan Goodwin played well out front. He was a guy that graded out well when Doug (Marrone) went through the grades offensively. Defensively, I thought early on we did a good job of stopping the run. The guys on the defensive front got behind the quarterback a couple of times. He stepped up and made a pas. I thought we played with good energy on both fronts. The encouraging thing was that it didn’t appear to be too sloppy. We had one substitution problem, but by and large, guys were on the field that needed to be on the field. We had two quarterback-center exchange issues that bothered me that we have to get cleaned up, that can really hurt you in a regular season game, but both fronts played with good energy and that was good.

Q: Can you identify whey Tyler Palko has that problem so often?

I don’t know that we specifically know why but we need it corrected, because it happened with two centers. We have to a better job of seating the ball probably and not pulling out too soon. That’s something we’ll work on with him.

Q: What do you need for Robert Meachem to do to attain the third receiver slot?

I think continued improvement on all the details such as route running, the exactness of the positions. The plays he made the other night were encouraging.

Q: Will Deuce McAllister and Marques Colston practice this afternoon?

They’ll also go this afternoon.

Q: Is there another dimension on this team that hasn’t been shown yet, because of the lost or hurt players?

I think it’s like most teams right now. You play your first preseason game and your list of guys not playing is probably fairly long. You hope it’s not too big and the key is getting these guys back and getting them healthy and starting the season healthy. That’s the biggest thing. We’re not holding anything back. Other players are getting a chance to see reps though. I was glad to see (David) Patten, (Terrance) Copper and Lance Moore go in with the first group, function with (Drew) Brees, as well as to see (Robert) Meachem play. It just gives other guys a chance to get more reps and that’s a good thing in the preseason. It’s important for us to have all our guys ready for the season.

Q: What does Devery Henderson have to do to retain his spot in the rotation at wide receiver?

I think he’s competing like the rest of these guys, not just for playing time, but he’s competing for touches. There are only so many passes and only so many plays in a game. I think with him, it’s getting healthy and getting back into the swing of practice. I think all of these guys want to play their best and for the guys that are injured, the challenge is the time they missed, catching up and not becoming too rusty. His hamstring is doing better. He’ll go this afternoon and I think he’s doing better.

Q: Would you like to see these players that have been hurt step up and be more active?

Of course.

Q: Is there a mandate that they pick it up?

There’s no mandate; these guys are injured players. You want your injured players to get healthy, and then when they’re healthy you want to be able to practice with them. What you don’t want is to put an injured player on the field too early and then have him out for a month. The key is to go through the correct rehab and go through the correct treatment, get them healthy and have them start practicing again. That’s where we are. The encouraging thing is that for a lot of these guys, we’ll have them back this afternoon and we’ll see where we are.

Q: Will Jeremy Shockey be full-go as of now?

He’s probably going to be on a one-a-day schedule. He’s getting there. He’s certainly a lot better off today than he was a week ago.

Q: Were the two failed fourth downs in the game a result of missed assignments?

 The run was a missed assignment. We let a linebacker come through a gap and he made the tackle for a loss. On the fourth-and-one pass, we just have to do a little bit better job with execution and exactness within the route. Those are easy calls to make in the preseason; more difficult in the regular season.

Q: Will Shockey do team work this afternoon?

Yes.

Q: Is the plan for him to do more of that this week?

He should with a number of these other guys practicing once-a-day. That’s the plan right now.

Q: Are you concerned with the amount of time that Brian Young has missed in the last year?

He’s going to obviously need to get reps. He’s a quick study but he’s just fighting the knee right now. We’ll see where he is. Again, we have a lot of time here. We have four weeks before we play a regular season game. With a guy like Brian Young, the key is making sure that we’re keeping him up to speed with what we’re doing – and that comes fairly easy for him – and then just getting him the reps he needs. I quite certain that he’s going to be ready by the time we start.

Q: Were you pleased to see the Cardinals defer after the coin toss?

Barring any weather, I think the easiest thing to do is to just take the ball and that hasn’t changed. If we win the toss, we’ll probably end up taking the ball. If the weather is an issue, we could defer, but we were playing inside.

Q: How did the defensive helmet communication work in the game?

It was pretty smooth. Everything seemed to go pretty well. Mark Simoneau had it for the first part of the game and then Marvin Mitchell after that. I thought Mitchell played pretty well the other night and he had it for the latter part of the game.

"There are some things that bothered me and that we need to get corrected, but we still have a lot of training camp left to get them polished up and continue to improve. It was a good first step and I was pleased with the effort from our players."

I don't think Payton is incredibly happy. (Associated Press)

Those were the words of Sean Payton following Thursday nights showdown in the desert. While it was great to see the boys get a win and finally take a peek at what the rest of the season might have in store for us, this was just preseason. While we can only speculate on what Payton feels the Saints need to improve on, we can be sure he is nowhere near satisfied. Let's take a look at some of the things he might have been referring to in his aforementioned quote and what we might see get emphasized this week in practice.

The Offensive Line This one is somewhat of a surprise to me. There were definitely issues heading into the season, specifically Jonathan Goodwin's ability to fill in for departed Jeff Faine, but the rest of the line has remained intact. I am mainly referring to the first team players here and even within that I am really referring to our run blocking. The pass blocking looked better than average as it has for the last couple of years, but poor run blocking like last night will inevitably spell doom for our running game no matter who is carrying the ball. I certainly don't think it would be fair to constantly berate Reggie Bush's under performance as entirely his fault. In fact I think Reggie's fairly solid performance last night was pretty impressive given what he had to work with. For those Reggie haters out there, ease up on the guy. Hopefully we see bigger holes open up in the near future. The backup lineman made their fair share of mistakes as well, including botched snaps, missed assignments and an inability to clear the way for Pierre to get into the endzone on the goal line during one drive.

The Linebackers If we are going to have a Grade A pass rush, then the LB's are going to have to pull their own weight and step it up as well. They will need to get better acquainted with the luxury of not having opponents offensive linemen right in their face and so much open space to cover, something they probably aren't used to in years past. A team with a decent quarterback and a strong tight end or versatile back could exploit that gap, dink and dunk on underneath routes all day, and gain significant yardage after the catch (the good news is that would mean the deep receivers are actually covered). Man, if we only had a versatile side-to-side MLB who could cover a lot of ground. Someone, oh, say like, Jonathan Vilma! I don't think it would be fair to completely judge this position group yet with Vilma having never played a down. His eventual presence on the field could completely turn this frown upside down.

The Secondary To be honest, the frustration here comes simply from Randall Gay being caught out of position on a 23-yard pass on third down. I will not be able to take another promising offseason cornerback acquisition turn sour and disappointing. Though I think a lot of people will be quick to pick apart the secondary, honestly, it seemed much improved despite the absence Mike McKenzie and Tracy Porter. Other than Gay's screw up, there were no defensive backs actually getting beat deep. As mentioned earlier, underneath routes in open space with nice runs after the catch were more the culprit on the big yardage passes. Jason David even managed to stay out of serious trouble.  All in all, these guys could also be included on a list of positives. At the bottom.

Penalites If I know the kind of man Payton is, and I think I've got a good idea, I imagine that Reggie's two runs for big gain in the first quarter that were eventually called back due to penalty frustrated Payton to no end. This should get filed under "minor problems" but still something to be aware. Stupid penalties can be drive killers on offense and drive sustainer's on defense.

All is not lost Who Dats. The good news is that it is still very early. Definitely no need to panic whatsoever but we should at least be honest with ourselves, acknowledge our errors and work to improve them while we still can. For every negative, there is a positive and tomorrow we will discuss all that went right with Thursday nights game. Hint: It will include a guy whose last name rhymes with smeachem. 

Feel free to agree or disagree with any of these points or add your own insight by elaborating.

In a somewhat unrelated note I wanted to thank all those who took part in the gameday open thread. That was my first open thread with CSC and I think the turnout was pretty good considering, though I know we can do even better. Here is a roll call of all who participated. I won't include myself, which means satchmo26 is the big winner for participation.

Notes from Day 11:

• Gasp! Drew threw a couple of interceptions this morning. Randall "Blue" Gay and Scott Fujita were the culprits.
• The defense out performed the offense for most of the day, particularly the front seven in the morning
• Meachem and Arrington attempted returning kicks. It wasn't too pretty.
• Billy Miller looked pretty good this morning.
• Sedrick Ellis finally got some reps with the first team.
• Colston was limping today and his knee was wrapped. I am still worried about this one and I doubt Colston will play on Thursday, though Payton says if it was a real game he could go.
  
• Meachem made an awesome one handed catch.
• Marvin Mitchell deflected a Brees pass.
• Deuce participated in both sessions yesterday!
• Will Smith looked good and had what would have been two sacks.
• McKenzie also looked solid, knocking two passes away.
• Arrington made a nice, outstretched catch over Jason David. Ugh.
• Drew usually picks the movies for the teams charter flights. He loves "Caddyshack" while Payton likes "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
• The interception by "Blue" was the play of the day. Credit also goes to McCray who was applying pressure.
  

Continue reading this post »