From the New Orleans Saints official website.

Opening Statement:

“In our one injury from the game yesterday, Jeff Charleston had a break in his hand. He’ll have surgery on it in the next day or two. Other than that, we met as a team today, shortly after you guys had a chance to visit with the players. Basically, everybody was at the team meeting. Aaron Glenn – his wife is pregnant – he was the only one who was excused, but we went through a number of things, certainly after looking at the tape. It’s disappointing after having a chance to win in the end there. Credit Carolina, they made some plays in the end. They came up with a field goal to put them ahead and in the end win the game. This right now for us starts our offseason. Coaches will be out of here for about a week. We’ll begin the evaluations when we get back of our own team and move towards the evaluations of free agency. That’s pretty routine.”

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Make the jump for all of your post-game quotes and links. There's a lot there for you this morning. On another note, there will be an open game thread tonight for the MNF matchup between the Bucs and the Panthers. I figured a lot of us would be watching this one since its critical to the Saints future. Grab a cold one and be here tonight at kickoff for all of your in-game chatter! Also, props to MtnExile for always keeping our "Who Dat Say" graphic current and fresh. 

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I am going to try and do it differently this week.  Let me know what you think in the poll.

First Quarter

• Saints get the ball first and lead off the series with a deep play action pass to Devery Henderson on a post pattern. Payton trying to be tricky. The gamble doesn't pay off as Brees throws it into double coverage and gets picked off by Erik Coleman.
  
•  The Saints defense does a great job responding after the turnover and forces a three and out. Nice job stuffing Turner. Shanle makes a quick hit after a reception. Surprisingly decent.
• 12:04 Remaining - If you want an example of good passing coverage check out Domonique Foxworth's job defending Devery Henderson on another deep post pattern.
  
• Saints go three and out themselves and Pakulak booms a nice 56 yard punt that ends with a 25 yard return.
• 10:29 Remaining - Ryan completes a short out route to Roddy White. Gay is on the coverage. They bump at the line and Gay is pushed backwards. White cuts to the sideline and now has enough separation to make an easy catch. Gay is behind him and has to pursue. Kaesviharn winds up making the tackle out of bounds.
  
• 10:00 Remaining - Here's another good one. Ryan throws to Michael Jenkins on the left side for 13 yards. I can't tell the coverage but Jenkins has a cushion of at least 5 yards at the line. When he makes the catch and the coverage is revealed, Kaesviharn is the underneath defender and Gay is over the top. I thought that was a little weird. Neither of them were close enough to Jenkins to make a play however.
  
• 9:12 Remaining - Roddy White finishes off Atlanta's drive with a touchdown by making a catch on his own post route. White just speeds past Gay and gets his body inside. Kaesviharn can't come over in time to make a play. Do we need to get Jason David in here?
  
• 8:19 Remaining - 3rd and 4. Brees finds Colston who makes a nice leaping catch for a clutch first down. Nice to have him back.
• 7:00 Remaining - Deuce gets a pitch to the right on 1st down. He has the chance to get it inside and turn it upfield but makes the wrong read and bounces it outside for just 1 yard.
• 8:19 Remaining - Brees hits Colston who makes a nice catch with his long out stretch arms. Only Marques is catching that. 16 yards. Man I missed him. 
• The Saints keep it on the ground for a good while. A couple of runs by Deuce. A Stecker hand off. Even Drew scrambles for a first down. Good commitment to the run.
  
• 3:42 Remaining - Brees attempts to Colston in the endzone. Drew threads the needle and Marques just can't keep it trapped between his two arms and his body. Says the announcer: "I've seen him make that catch."
• 2:57 Remaining - Drew barely gets a pass off in time to Lance Moore. It's not enough for the touchdown. Jammal Brown got beat and thrown to the ground by an Abraham spin move to the inside. Gotta give him credit it was a pretty sweet move. Saints settle for a Hartley field goal, his first in the NFL
• Hartley's juices are flowing from the high of his first NFL points. He kicks in deep into the endzone on the ensuing kick off. Touchback.
• 0:57 Remaining - The Saints defense holds Atlanta to 3rd and 5. Ryan completes a short pass to Norwood for only 4 yards...but...Will Smith was offsides. Instead of 4th down its 1st. 

Make the jump for the second quarter.

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To Hall or not to Hall? That is the question.

Doesn't get more cliche than that. It seems we find ourselves in a situation that is becoming pretty familiar to Saints fans this year: Debating whether the Saints should go after a free agent who may or may not fill a position of need.

What's that? Oh really? You want my opinion on the matter? Well then its certainly convenient that I have the front page of this blog to share my thoughts and opinions.

I say pass.

Apparently Pat Yasinskas at ESPN thinks differently. He feels the Saints should go for it. And his reasoning behind it is basically, well "Why the hell not?"

But New Orleans makes sense on a lot of levels. The Saints already have shown a willingness to go for broke this season (i.e. trading for Jeremy Shockey, bringing in Jonathan Vilma). They're 4-4 and the expectations were for a lot more. The secondary hasn't been very good.

Undoubtedly Pat is not alone and some of you out there feel that way too. Sure if the price is cheap then maybe its worth the risk but it probably won't be cheap because a few other teams are way more interested. Sure there is the possiblity that he could be a stud. But chances are it just wouldn't have that happy ending. Remember this is the Saints were talking about here.

Can we take a look at a couple of things first? Greeeeaaat (said in the style of Bill Lumbergh). Check out what the San Francisco Gate Chronicle had to say about the situation.

Hall admittedly struggled to adapt to the Raiders' style of man-coverage defense, enough so that Raiders owner Al Davis decided he'd seen enough.

Coupled with Asomugha, Hall was supposed to give the Raiders the best cornerback tandem in the NFL. Instead, Hall got hurt early with hand and ankle injuries and didn't look comfortable in press coverage after spending years in a Cover 2 defense in Atlanta.

So let's get this straight: Hall is used to Cover 2, a zone scheme. The Raiders play man-to-man so Hall struggled. The Saints play a lot of man-to-man and should try to acquire Hall. Something doesn't seem right here.

Haven't we been here before. Isn't any of this ringing a bell to you guys? Remember back in April of 2007. Lets all hop into the Wayback Machine. This is from the New Orleans Saints official website. It's an interview with Jason David right after the Saints picked him up.

NOS.com: There was recently an article that stated that cornerbacks in Cover Two schemes aren't asked to do all of the things that a cornerback is asked to do in a defense that relies on man-to-man coverage. How do you feel about that characterization?

JD: "I am excited and football is football. When you line up, it is about playing. That is overblown, in my estimation. We played a variety of different coverages, whether it was cover two, man, or zone, and I can play them all. The Saints knew that I played a variety of different roles and they did their homework. They didn't just say, 'He's a cover two guy.' They know what I can do and I am confident in my abilities."

Ummmm...yeeeaaaah (more Lumbergh). We all know how well that has turned out for us.

Plus, DeAngelo Hall's not even that good.

"Everybody pumps him up like he's Deion Sanders," Lions receiver Roy Williams said. "But he's not Deion Sanders. He's DeAngelo Hall. He's not the shutdown type of corner that everybody expects him to be."

-Roy Williams

Acquiring DeAngelo Hall halfway through the season would not be the answer to turning this season around even if he did play well. It would be like putting a Band-Aid on a shotgun wound. Of course the Saints have a need at cornerback but thats not all they need. History would also show that the Saints haven't been so fortunate in their multiple attempts to upgrade at cornerback lately. They brought in Jason David and it didn't work. Randall Gay hasn't really made much of a difference this year. Aaron Glenn hasn't been impressive either. At what point do we start to question who is really to blame? Just this week Payton admitted his faults with regards to the kicking game and he now realizes he should have just stuck with Carney. Has he learned from his mistakes? Perhaps he should just stick with what he's already got in the backfield and focus on making them better football players.

I don't think trying to snatch up every possible player who sounds good as soon as they become available is the way really good teams are created. That doesn't seem to work very well. See: Cowboys. It's risky. You know whats not risky? Producing talent from within your own organization. Getting the most out of all of your players. Drafting well. Creating the all-important yet often overlooked factor of chemistry. Those are some of the keys for a great team. Things happen - injuries, learning curves, bad chemistry, and just bad luck - that cripple weak teams created haphazardly. Teams built on solid foundations with proven systems can not only play consistently good football but endure those hardships that every teams faces throughout a season. The Saints are lacking that type of foundation.

Saints Defense First Drive (12 plays, 63 yards, 5:14, Field Goal)

• Saints do a nice job early of holding the Chargers to nothing on the first two downs. Then, as per usual, Rivers completes a 21 yard pass over the middle to Malcolm Floyd, keeping the drive alive. Vilma, Gay and Kaesviharn were all in the area but unable to make a play.
  
• A couple of plays later Rivers fires a bullet over the middle to Antonio Gates for 20 yards. McCray almost gets to Rivers in time. It looks like Gay is covering him at the line but the Saints are in a zone and so after Gates cuts inside Gay gives up on him and passes him off to Harper. Gates gets the pass in the soft spot between all zones.
  
• The Chargers continue to dink and dunk down the field into the red zone. Saints hold them to third and eight and a delay of game pushes them back to third and thirteen. The line gets a good push and flushes Rivers out of the pocket who throws it too high to a Kaesviharn covered receiver. They settle for a field goal.

Saints Defense Second Drive (5 plays, 57 yards, 2:14, Touchdown)

• Chargers recover the onside kick. The Saints are unsuspecting. Usama Young is the only player with a chance to make a play on the ball.
• Rivers wastes no time hitting Vincent Jackson for 17 yards. He finds that soft spot again between four Saints defenders. Shanle, Harper, Glenn and Vilma. All form a box around him and none of them can make a play on the ball. Frustrating.
• Then another 17 yard strike to Chris Chambers on a comeback route. Aaron Glenn is no where near him, about 5 yards behind him, protecting against the big pass play.
  
• Vincent Jackson makes the touchdown grab. He comes across the field and is straight up too fast for Kaesviharn. Beautiful catch.

Saints Offense First Drive (6 plays, 25 yards, 3:13, Punt)

• On second down the Chargers get a good jump on a quick snap that the Saints aren't ready for. Brees is forced to throw it away.
• Drew finds a wide open Billy Miller over the middle for a much needed first down.
• A San Diego interception call gets overturned keeping the Saints drive alive.
  
• Deuce carried the ball twice on this drive but I would have liked to see the Saints run a bit more and try and kill more clock. The "almost" interception came on a first down pass. I would have preferred to see a  run called there but I know some people are of the "keep attacking" philosophy.
• Saints are forced to punt it away.

Saints Defense Third Drive (9 plays, 46 yards, 2:59, Interception)

• First and twenty for the Chargers after a penalty. Rivers has forever while the Saints blitz and dumps it off to LT who runs for a gain of 32 yards.
  
• Saints hold San Diego to fourth and two. Rivers hits Antonio Gates for 11 yards and the first down. Rivers put up some huge passing numbers in this quarter. More in the fourth quarter than in the first three quarters combined.
  
• Saints only put three guys on the line and drop everyone else back. They do a good job of holding the Chargers to third and fifteen.
  
• Rivers throws to Chris Chambers who is being covered by Scott Shanle. Shanle tips it up, Harper gets a finger on it and Vilma finally brings it in for the interception. Drive over.

Saints Offense Second Drive (4 plays, -18 yards, 1:01, Safety)

• Thankfully the Saints run three straight times with Deuce to force San Diego to use their timeouts. They're not that stupid.
  
• To try and kill some clock and get better coverage on the free kick the Saints elect to take a safety by having Drew run backwards into the endzone. Deuce and Karney both let their guys beat them so Drew is forced to throw it through the back of the endzone. Drew nails a photographer in the head with the throw away.

The Chargers have time to throw one Hail Mary. It goes incomplete. Saints win. 

Saints Defense First Drive (3 plays, 0 yards, 0:10, Punt)

• This drive looks great on paper but it could have been much worse. Vincent Jackson completely burns Aaron Glenn but drops the ball just off his fingertips for what probably would have been a score.
• Charles Grant drops back and makes a nice diving play on the ball in the backfield and almost makes the pick. Pretty impressive for Charles. Not something we usually see from him.

Saints Offense First Drive (8 plays, 72 yards, 3:43, Touchdown)

• After a Deuce run for only a yard we finally see Marques Colston look like his old self. He scoops up a nice catch and runs a bit more for 49 yards.
• First down and Deuce runs for a loss of 1 yard.
• Drew throws to Billy Miller incomplete. Then goes right back to Miller over the middle for a gain of 10 yards.
• Rather then kick the field goal with an unsure Mehlhaff, Payton decides to go for it. After a fake pitch to Stecker Brees throws a short jump, dump off to - who else - Billy Miller for the first down. Nice call.
  
• The drive ends with a play action touchdown pass over the middle of the end zone to Mark Campbell.

Saints Defense Second Drive (12 plays, 64 yards, 6:50, Field Goal)

• LT runs and catches for 20 yards on the first few plays of this drive.
• On third down Aaron Glenn gets called for pass interference and this keeps the drive alive. Not cool.
• Rivers makes a few short passes over the middle and continues to take advantage of a weak Saints secondary.
  
• Back to back false start and offside penalties cancel each other out. It appears it really should have been two false start penalties.
  
• The Chargers score a touchdown on third down but they get called for holding and get pushed back 10 yards. San Diego can't convert and kick the field goal.

Saints Offense Second Drive (7 plays, 77 yards, 3:36, Touchdown)

• Brees starts off going right back to his favorite target of the night, Billy Miller, for 20 yards.
• Then Deuce gets involved with a 4 yard run and a 3 yard catch off a play action to him. Glad to see Payton continue to stick with McAllister. 
• After a 10 yard pass interference penalty on Quentin Jammer, Pierre Thomas makes a nice run off the left side for 15 yards.
• Drew tries for Meachem in the endzone but Cletis Gordon makes a nice breakup. Fortunately, he gets called for interference though the call is incredibly questionable. Nice to get some calls go our way though. Ball spotted at the 1 yard line.
• Mike Karney punches it in for the score while San Diego may have had 12 men on the field. No call.
  

The Saints appear to be well in control of this game as they head into the fourth and final quarter.

Per the New Orleans Saints official website.

Carolina Panthers

Out:  WR D.J. Hackett (knee)

Doubtful: C Ryan Kalil (ankle) and T Jeff Otah (ankle)

Questionable:  LB Adam Seward (thigh) and RB Jonthan Stewart (illness)

Probable: LB Thomas Davis (ankle) and WR Muhsin Muhammad (knee)

New Orleans Saints

Out: DT Sedrick Ellis (knee)

Questionable:  CB Aaron Glenn (ankle), DT Antwan Lake (groin) and DT Brian Young (knee)

Probable:  RB Reggie Bush (knee), WR Marques Colston (thumb), G Jahri Evans (ankle), S Kevin Kaesviharn (back), CB Mike McKenzie (knee), G Carl Nicks (illness) and TE Jeremy Shockey (hernia).

Here is your dose of quotes, links, video and the whatnot to prepare you for this Sundays game. It also includes quite a few transcripts. Enjoy that.

Game Predictions later this afternoon so start thinking up your crazy guesses.

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New Orleans Saints Friday Injury Report

Out

DT Sedrick Ellis (knee)

CB Aaron Glenn (ankle)

DT Antwan Lake (groin)

Doubtful

S Kevin Kaesviharn (back)

WR David Patten (groin)

TE Jeremy Shockey (hernia)

Questionable

WR Marques Colston (thumb)

Probable

C Jonathan Goodwin (hamstring)

CB Mike McKenzie (knee)

S Chris Reis (hamstring)

T Jon Stinchcomb (back)

Opening Statement:

“Going through the injury report, Jon Stinchcomb (back) did not practice, Marques Colston (thumb) was limited, Jeremy Shockey (hernia) was limited, Aaron Glenn (ankle) did not practice, Sedrick Ellis (knee) did not practice, Mike McKenzie (knee) did not practice, Antwan Lake (groin) did not practice, Kevin Kaesviharn (back) did not practice, David Patten (groin) did not practice, Chris Reis (hamstring) was full, Jonathan Goodwin (hamstring) was limited. The following are roster moves that we have made here in the last 48 hours, these three players were put on injured reserve: cornerback Tracy Porter, kicker Martín Gramatica, and fullback Olaniyi Sobomehin. We waived tight end Buck Ortega from the active roster and we signed the following four players to the active roster: defensive end Jeff Charleston, kicker Taylor Mehlhaff, tight end Sean Ryan and defensive tackle Montavious Stanley. We signed to the practice squad cornerback Darrell Hunter and linebacker Pago Togafau and released from the practice squad William Kershaw and David Roach. Some notes on practice, it was a little bit of a different schedule. Because of the Monday night game we went later today, obviously, and in a more reduced fashion. Most of it was base, first and second downs.”

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