Let's take a look at how the Saints graded out following their most recent performance against the Vikings. 

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If you guys are looking for something to make you feel better this morning after that horrible loss I don't think you're gonna find it here. This one was very tough and energy draining.

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Here are some quotes and links from the other side to get you pumped for Monday nights big game and to see what the Vikings are thinking.

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This weeks grades are pretty optimistic after a pretty impressive all around performance from the entire team. 

Quarterback A

Nothing unexpected here. Drew is the rock of this team. He is quietly putting together an MVP caliber season. He looked a bit off at the very beginning and threw an interception but the rest of the game more than made up for it and earning him this grade. He makes it look so easy. 

Wide Receiver  A

One hand washes the other. If Drew has a good game it would be pretty unlikely that the receivers didn't put up big numbers too. This should be an A+ really because they got all of this done with Colston or Shockey. These guys made some amazing catches yesterday. Deep passing plays to Moore, Meachem and Henderson were all crushing for the Niners defense. They made San Francisco's secondary look like the Saints' of old. 

Running Back B

This wasn't a dominating performance but it was statement game for sure. The numbers may not show it but the running game was important in this game. Having a threat on the ground opened up the passing game for Brees and company. The Siants were also successful converting those all important short yardage plays. Reggie Bush was pretty much a no show but the Niners were focusing and game planning for him all week. 

Offensive Line B

Drew never hit the ground once. Deuce seemed to have bigger holes than usual to run through but his running ability may help too. Carl Nicks did a good job filling in. Still not dominant on the line enough for an A.

Defensive Line A

A great performance by the line. This was exactly what we know these guys are capable of and it's great to see if finally be executed. Charles Grant was just a monster. Sedrick Ellis continues to look like a great draft decision. Kendrick Clancy is getting in the mix as well. Bobby McCray was the only slight disappointment yesterday. 

Linebackers B

Vilma got back to form this week tying for a team high 7 tackles this game. Shanle and Vilma had less productive afternoons. Overall, a pretty quiet game from this unit. 

Secondary A

Talk about a noticeable upgrade. This unit has gone from losing games for us to winning them. Two interceptions in the end zone. No huge plays. Even Jason David looked solid. The cornerbacks and safeties both played well together. We can't ask for much more than this after last season. 

Agree? Disagree? What grades would you give?

This was a fun one to be in attendance for. The Saints played a full game on both sides of the ball and put together a convincing win. I think this could be a turnaround game for this team this season.

We are gonna get into the game much more, but I wanted to get these up for you first. Below are my notes and initial reactions from the game.

• Before the game they played a video with Saints mascots Sir Saint and Gumbo working out to the song "Gonna Fly Now" the theme to Rocky. The crowd was then introduced to the new and improved, completely ripped, physically fit, steroid using Gumbo carrying a barbell.
• Jon Secada sang the National Anthem. And by sang I mean butchered. He added his own little riffs and even went falsetto at the very end. I will give him credit though because he really got into it, bending at the waist and pointing all around. It was a good laugh. He should stick to the script though. I hate when people use our country's anthem like its an American Idol tryout.
• It was supposed to be rally towel day but I don't think they did a very good job of handing them out. I didn't have one and I didn't see too many people with them.
• They actually played football while we were there too.
• You know we gotta start this off with Deuce. Payton kept his word and gave him a fair share of carries. It was awesome. On his first run a huge pile of 49er defenders formed on and around him like a rugby scrum in an effort to try and take him down. The next thing you saw was the entire pile move forward as Deuce kept churning, taking about ten guys with him. The crowd went nuts and it was a statement first run. The rest of the day Deuce continued to pick up nice chunks of yardage as the crowd chanted "Deeeeeeeeuce!" throught the entire afternoon. The fans demanded he get the ball for his touchdown on the goal line series.
• Was that blood on Deuce's jersey?
• Brees looked a little off at the start but then turned back to the player he really is: the best quarterback in the NFL. Period.
• Moore, Meachem and Henderson all had great games thanks in large part to my previous point. Brees makes amazingly perfect throws and these guys all come up with equally impressive catches. Lance continues to have hands of glue, though he lost his shoe on his touchdown, and Meachem is going the way of Colston (plain scary!).  That catch on the fleaflicker was just amazing. When the ball was in the air I kept thinking to myself there is no way. Couldn't believe it when he came down with it. I just can't say enough good things about Moore. I think FrenchFreak summed it up pretty well..."Reliability is spelled L-A-N-C-E."
• You know its a good day when Devery isn't dropping a deep ball! Just think how dangerous this unit will be when Colston and Shockey return.
• The defense as a whole looked great. They didn't give up a touchdown until late in the game. Getting key turnovers like two interceptions in the end zone is so unfamiliar and unexpected but so game changing and fun to watch.  
• Talk about bringing some pressure. This was a sack-fest. Charles Grant had a great day with two sacks. After his second sake he did a funny little shimmy. Sedrick Ellis got one. Clancy too. Will Smith forced a fumble that Vilma recovered.
• The safeties really stepped it up today. Obviously Kaesviharn had his interception. The last time he did that in the Superdome he was doing it for the Bengals. He also laid some guy out coming across the middle just after the receiver missed the catch. Roman Harper almost had his own interception but it went off his hands. How often do we ever talk about our safeties like this? Never. This is refreshing.
• Tracy Porter and Mike McKenzie got the start. That is my ideal combo. Jason David came in for nickel packages. They all looked good. Porter had a great interception. It's hit or miss with him. He makes huge plays but also gives up a couple of big ones also.
• Usama Young looked like he had a really good game. He made some great tackles on special teams and even got involved in the secondary. I liked what I saw from him today.
• The tackling in general looked much better. Glad to see we have gotten that problem cleaned up.
• Not much to get excited about from Reggie.
• Did Weatherford kick one of the kickoffs?
• It's fun to watch the special teams guys dance to hip-hop on the 15 yard line while waiting to kick it off. Jason David has some moves.
• I guess with Deuce back now we will be seeing less of Pierre. I'm okay with that if Deuce continues to run the ball like he did today.
• My mother has been in town so I took her to this game, her first. In 2006 I brought my father to the Niners game when Reggie ran for three touchdowns. My parents seem to be good luck.
• Whats the deal with the Cort Comfort Zone? For those of you who don't know, Cort is a company who sponsors games and chooses a couple of fans to sit in nice couches that they have set up, but it seems they are set up in the back of the section, under the overhang and out of eyesight of the game. Why would anyone want to sit there?
• There was a Niners fan with his wife sitting in front of me. He got a little ribbing but he said everyone was very nice and treated him well.
• The Tenet Choices old person of the week was some 95 year old woman who looked like she was 65. She was doing chin ups. Very impressed.

Here are some pictures for you guys.

 
My transportation for the day.

Walking up to the Dome.

The giant turkey legs I told you about last time.

Lance Moore being introduced.

Jon Secada.

Urlacher? Really?

Halftime festivities.

Willie Roaf driving around the field at the half.

The coolest pencil ever!

New jacked up Gumbo.

The Niners about to get a first down late in the game.

Here is the roll call for the open game thread. Thanks to everyone for participating.

The following transcripts can be found here and here from the New Orleans Saints official website

Sean Payton

Opening Statement:

“From an injury standpoint, Marques Colston did not practice and he’ll be out. Aaron Glenn (ankle) did not practice and he’ll be out for this game. Randall Gay (hamstring) was limited today; Mike Karney (ankle) did not practice; Mark Campbell (hamstring) was limited today; David Patten (groin) did not practice; Jeremy Shockey (hernia) did not practice and he’ll be out. Those three players – Colston, Glenn and Shockey will be listed as out. Troy Evans (ankle) did not practice today; Jonathan Goodwin  (hamstring) did not practice – he wasn’t on the report yesterday, so that’s the one change. Aaron Stecker (hamstring) was limited; Jammal Brown (hip) was limited; Terrance Copper (hamstring) was limited; Antwan Lake (groin) was limited; Scott Fujita (knee) was limited.”

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Below are the transcripts of the post game interviews with Coach Payton and a handful of Saints players. Make the jump below for the player quotes.

NEW ORLEANS HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON

Opening statement

"Just a couple of notes on today's injuries, two players didn't return to the game. CB Randall Gay with a hamstring and T Jammal Brown with a groin. Those guys didn't come back in. Obviously it's a tough loss. There is not a whole lot to say you know we were committed to that game. We had a chance and opportunity and its disappointing. So we got to battle back here and prep some of the mistakes that hurt us in this game and move on. I thought we played hard we played a good team on the road. Our focus is now to get ready and get healthy to play San Francsico."

On the third-and-1 calls

"I don't look back on any third-and-1 or fourth-and-1 call."

On the play of QB Drew Brees

"I thought he played well. We had over 500 yards in offense."

On the failed goal line performance

"The only thing that was bothering me was that I didn't want to lose the time. So it was troublesome to me that it was two minutes left in the game. I thought that if we make this field goal we go up one and there will still be enough time. We had time to think about it, but I think we did the right thing in trying the field goal."

"If I look back on the goal line sequence, sure I'm pissed off about that. We should've scored. We didn't get in. We had the quarterback sneak the play before. At third-and-1 we drove the ball down and we weren't able to get it and we tried kicking the field goal. But what I thought about was I wanted to run some more plays and then kick that field goal with four seconds left instead of two minutes. We weren't able to do that. If I would've went for it on fourth-and2 we would've had 15 questions right now about what I was doing."

On how his play calling was affected as the game went down to the wire

"It affected a little bit. A little bit more aggressive. You can plan on the feel of a game going that way. You had to pay attention on the way that its going. So I think all of us, including everyone in this room, got a feel on how that game was going back and forth. There were momentum swings. I thought both defenses got tired. You could see that. It became a matter of a stop much like a arena ball game."

On Martin Gramatica's performance

"There is nothing else to say. He missed it."

On the play of CB Mike McKenzie

"I thought he played pretty well. He got a turnover for us with a interception."

On why his scoring drives were long and drawn out

"The only thing that was different in this game from what we prepared for was that gave a lot more zone coverage than what they have shown the prior two weeks. They've been a big man to man team. Today they played a lot more zone. So of course we had to be a little bit more patient in moving the football. That was a little different we spent the whole week on single safety man coverage. I'm not sure how much we got if any. It was a lot more zone so we kept the ball in front of them and we made some big plays, but we didn't score enough on offense."

On coming back from being down 21-3

"We turned the ball over for a touchdown. We gave up the big pass play for a touchdown. I think it became apparent then probably towards the end of that second quarter this was going to be a long game that was going to have a lot of swings to it."

"I thought QB Drew (Brees) played very well and I thought (TE Jeremy) Shockey played well. A lot of guys played well. The hard thing about a game like this was there was a lot left on the field. We were nicked up there were a lot of guys that was not able to play. (CB) Randall Gay came out (T) Jammal Brown came out. It's difficult when you come this close."

On the long pass play to WR Robert Meachem

"We received zero coverage and got full blitz. It was an empty personnel formation and on tape they'd shown that the blitz would play some coverage to it. We were able to slow the protection a bit with (TE Jeremy) Shockey. The primary on that coverage was Robert on the post. It was (WR) Devery's (Henderson) play going in, but when (WR David) Patten went out Denver had to come in at the X (postition) and Meachem ended up in the slot. He made a real good adjustment on the ball for the big play maybe a touchdown."

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This was painful. We knew this would be a shootout. We knew we might lose. We were all expecting heartbreak. But when we get so close to pulling out a great victory, only to fall short in the waning seconds, you can't help but feel angry and frustrated. Undoubtedly, much of the talk this week will be focused on Martin Gramatica's missed field goals but there was a lot more to this loss than just his foot. Below is my immediate response to this heartbreaker at Mile High. 

• Drew Brees was just lights out. 39/48 for 421 yards and the weekly leader. It sucks because his amazing play often gets overlooked when the Saints wind up losing. He just isn't human. Without him this team would be dead in the water. 
• Reggie Bush had another great game. No he didn't rush for over 100 yards, but he had 148 all purpose yards. The talk about him being a bust is just ludicrous. I want him on my team. 
• Shockey had 8 catches for 75 yards. The chemisty between him and Brees is starting to heat up. Good news. 
• Robert Meachem had another great game. 2 catches for 86 yards and the team high.
  
• Lance Moore had a solid game, albeit a quiet one. He was the unsung hero of this game with 7 catches for 78 yards.
• Both team's defenses looked porous. This was the high scoring shootout everyone expected. Everyone missed plays they could have made.
• Randall Gay left the game with a re-injury, meaning Jason David saw some playing time. Jason David didn't get beat outright like last year but his pass interference call was ruinous. The secondary on the whole just looked bad. Though they held the dangerous Eddie Royal to only 19 yards, Brandon Marshall had a Galloway-esque performance with 155 yards on 6 catches.
• Tackling is still piss poor. I thought that would be fixed by week three but it's still a significant problem. This team needs to get back to the basics. 
• The run defense let up some decent sized plays but it wasn't the deciding factor. Selvin Young and Andre Hall only tallied 90 yards total between the two of them.
• The defense got no pressure. Grant looked pretty good with the clutch safety in the end zone but no one on the line notched a sack. Will Smith seemed to be a non-factor. Where is all that money going!?
• It seemed like the Saints offense took more shots downfield than it has been so far this season. 
• Devery Henderson held onto the ball! 
• The drive the Saints put together at the end of the third quarter and going into the fourth quarter was very solid. They moved the ball well on a lot of short plays and kept gaining first downs. 
• Pierre Thomas may have gotten 2 touchdowns and helped out your fantasy team, but he didn't come through for the Saints when they needed him. Yet another key 3rd and short, like last week, that he failed to convert at the end of the game. To be fair, it didn't look like he had anywhere to go. Still, Thomas had 15 yards on 6 carries with a long of 10 yards. That means he carried the other 5 times for only 5 yards. We really miss Deuce, though I think Pierre needs more touches to get into a rhythm and to become a factor.
• We may need to start questioning Payton's play calling. Questionable calls are  starting to become a common occurence. 
• And finally...Gramatica picked the wrong game to start missing field goals for the Saints. I don't blame him entirely for the Saints losing the game but if I could put it another way...he didn't help us.

This is the official "vent" thread. Let it all out right here. It's okay, we know how you feel.

Listen to Sports Talk Live with Bobby Hebert right here for local post game audio. 

Here is the roll call for today's open thread. Thanks to everyone for hanging out!

The game winner. (Gerald Hebert)

This is where it all falls apart. Let's see what happens. 

Saints Defense First Drive (3plays, 6 yards, 1:32, Punt)

The defense actually looks solid still on this first drive. A run stop for a loss of two, an overthrown ball (Porter was right there) and forcing Campbell to go to his fourth option on third down and the Saints make the Skins go three and out. Redskins fans are booing now in anticipation of a loss. Things are still looking good for the Saints. 

Saints Offense First Drive (6 plays, 23 yards, 2:54, Punt)

After getting a first down off a Brees scramble, Drew then takes a shot deep on first down looking for Devery Henderson assuredly intending to put the game away. Had the pass been complete, the entire outcome of the game would probably have been different. Back to the play and I hate to say it but it appears that the ball is underthrown and Henderson has to slow down to make a play. Drew is human. If the pass was thrown perfectly, Henderson probably would have dropped it anyway. Regardless, the poorly placed pass allows LaRon Landry to get his hand in and make a great play on the ball. 

Following that failed attempt Deuce gets the call for the second and final time of the game, making a nice run up the middle for 5 yards. 

LaRon Landry makes yet another important play breaking up a pass intended for David Patten and forcing the Saints to punt. Drew is visibly angry because he knows the pass was thrown a little behind Patten. 

Saints Defense Second Drive (8plays, 82 yards, 4:37, Touchdown)

The unit starts off strong with Will Smith getting his first sack of the season for a loss of 12 yards.

The Jason Campbell Passfest then begins. He completes five consecutive passes for a total of 82 yards. This is the moment of breakdown. The secondary becomes non-existent. If you look hard enough at Moss' 25 yard catch you can quickly see Josh Bullocks go flying across your screen from right to left, doing what I believe is his version of tackling. More like ankle biting. On the same play Usama Young does his best Josh Bullocks impression and totally whiffs on a tackle. A trained monkey would be an improvement. 

The Redskins decide to end Passfest and keep it on the ground in the red zone. Portis only needs two carries to gain 12 yards and get the touchdown. 

Saints are still in control. All they have to do is put together a decent drive and run out the clock, or at least a lot of it. 

Saints Offense Second Drive (3 plays, 9 yards, 2:21, Punt)

The Saints are quickly faced with third and one. They give it to Pierre Thomas on the right side to gain the single yard. He has absolutely no where to go and the Saints decided to punt away and let the defense win the game instead of go for it. Turns out to be a bad decision.

This third down play is crucial. If the Saints could have just gotten a first down they could have killed more time off the clock or at least forced Washington to burn some of their timeouts. The run blocking was just pathetic on this play and I don't think even having Deuce in to run would have helped. 

Saints Defense Third Drive (1 plays, 67 yards, 0:09, Touchdown)

We know what happens next. I don't even really want to get into this play as it is straight up pathetic. Santana Moss was way behind everyone on our defense. Up by two points late in the fourth quarter and our defense is not playing deep!? Josh Bullocks, like LaRon Landry on the Meachem touchdown, was standing in the middle of the field 30 yards away, not covering a damn soul and staring at the ball as it passed high above his head. Bullocks needs to be replaced! A beat up Tracy Porter had no chance one on one against Santana Moss. 

Saints Offense Third Drive (3 plays, 12 yards, 0:30, Interception)

No worries. The Saints are getting the ball back and all they need to do is put up another score. 

After Reggie Bush picks up the first down and runs out of bounds, Brees has a pass tipped at the line and Chris Horton strikes yet again intercepting the ball.

Saints Defense Fourth Drive (6 plays, 14 yards, 2:59, End of Game)

The Saints defense gives it one last effort and does a good job stopping Clinton Portis three times and holding the Redskins to fourth down. 

On 4th and 2 Washington decides to go for it rather then give the Saints one last chance. Fittingly its a quick slant to Santana Moss for the first down and the Skins take a knee the rest of the way. 

End of the Game: Redskins 29 - Saints 24

This quarter was just a complete shut down of both the offense and the defense. The offense gained a total of 44 yards for the entire quarter while the Redskins totaled 169 yards. If there are many more quarters like this one in the Saints near future, this year will be long and heartbreaking.

Marques Colston's thumb injury was the top story on NFL Live yesterday so I guess that means I have to write an in-depth post about it today. First of all, let's make sure we have all of our facts straight. Colston tore a ligament in his left thumb and had surgery on Tuesday. It is reported that he will be out four to six weeks though some say it will certainly be closer to six. We all saw his amazing catch this pre-season...does he even need two hands? Below we will take a look at Colston's stats and find out just what we might be missing out on these next six weeks or so. We'll also take a look at how Colston's absence might effect the rest of this team.

What are we missing? I have some pretty good news for you guys. I decided to check the stats on Colston and I found something interesting. Colston is a late season player who starts off slowly. Let's assume the worst case scenario and Colston is out the full six weeks. This means he is out from week two to week seven, returning in time for the International Series game against the Chargers in London on October 26th. I decided to check his performance during the first half of the season, namely his performances from weeks two through seven, and compare them to his performance the rest of the year. In the following stats, I added up his totals for the games within those weeks of the season and divided them by the number of games he played in. I used averages instead of totals since there are more games included in the later half of the season. These averages do not include games he did not play in. They are all from NFL.com. 

*Does not include week 17 game when Saints rested key starters for playoffs. 

Since Colston won't be back until pretty much the beginning of November, let's also compare his monthly totals. It's only fair to use 2007's stats because Marques played in every game last year but missed a few games during the 2006 season. Here we are using totals.

I think this provides adequate evidence that Colston takes a little while to get warmed up. Actually, when looking at each season's stats, he doesn't have a hundred yard game before at least week 8. So if we want to look at the incredibly bright side of this unfortunately sad situation, we can assume that this the best six week period to be without Marques Colston. If we want to be more pessimistic, we could assume that Colston will not immediately step it up upon his return and will now need the middle and later part of the season to warm up before really putting up big numbers. 

Can he be replaced? It's pretty impossible to completely replace a player like Colston. We take for granted how easy Colston makes some of his catches look. He is on another level and there are very few players in his league. If any player on the Saints could do what Colston does so well it would definitely have to be Shockey. J. Shock is great at going over the middle and isn't affraid to take a hit or even give one himself. That's where Colston shines as well. Colston and Shockey are also both huge threats in the end zone. The loss of Colston could certainly mean more touches and looks to Shockey and we all know that will keep him happy. It will be tough for him though because without Colston, defenses will focus on him and him alone.

Robert Meachem...Come on down! With Colston out we should expect to see some receiving shuffling and more opportunities for other receivers. This surely means that we will finally see Meachem with a uniform on for the first time ever in the regular season. A little sad that it takes Colston's injury for our first round draft pick to finally even dress but that speaks to the talent and depth of this receiving corp so we should all be happy. I wouldn't, however, expect Meachem to just light it up and go for 200 yards. I also wouldn't expect him to be an equal replacement for Colston.  Payton has been fairly conservative with Meachem, seeming to purposely hold back, so I certainly don't think he would just go from first gear to fifth gear. Don't forget about Payton's feelings with regards to Meachem and Devery Henderson. After last week's game against the Bucs, Henderson has never looked better.

The rest of the receivers. The truth is, we know Drew Brees likes to spread the ball around and he will continue to do so. When it comes to the Saints receivers, the depth chart is thrown out the window. Everyone will probably have their equal chance to make a play and this doesn't neccesarily mean Patten will collect the windfall as the number two guy. This isn't a situation where everyone automatically moves up a peg. If we can expect any receiver to benefit from the absence of Colston, my money would be on Lance Moore. With more attention probably now being focused on Shockey as the next immediate threat, our other receivers will have more of a chance to make plays. I think Moore is the type of player who would take advantage of this type of situation. This may also mean more short stuff to Reggie as well. 

Unfortunately, we will never really know what the Saints will miss over the next month or two with the absence of Marques Colston. As a team they need to move forward and make it work with what they have. With such a deeply talented receiving corp and hall of fame caliber quarterback, it shouldn't be a problem. In the vote taken yesterday, 96% percent of you believed that the Saints could get by without him in the short term. I certainly agree.