I'm going straight into the bullet points today. Here are my notes and observations from yesterday's game. Photos and roll call after that.
- Local trumpet player Jeremy Davenport played the National Anthem.
- Jahri Evans signaled the start of the Who Dat chant to fans after the National Anthem. I didn't realize this is going to be an every game thing; I thought it was specific just to the Vikings game. I guess we have a new pre-game tradition, Saints fans.
- I'm pretty sure Jon Stinchcomb was throwing up on the sideline very early in the game.
- What else can you say about Lance Moore that everyone hasn't already said. Not only was yesterday his coming back party, it was also a career performance for Lance. I don't think we can expect production like this from Lance on a regular basis and I wouldn't immediately jump to start him on your fantasy team next week. But it's good to know he's still capable and that Drew can still trust him.
- Tony Gonzalez had a monster game with eight catches for 110 yards. This is now the third game in a row that tight ends have been able to rack up some significant yardage against the Saints defense. Here's a fun fact: In three games so far this season, opponents tight ends have caught for 310 yards. That's 46% of all receiving yards (674) given up. In other words, playing against the Saints defense tight ends are nearly equaling the production of their wide receivers. Have opponents found a chink in the armor?
- Drew Brees still isn't looking just like Drew Brees. The pass off the fleaflicker play early in the game was under thrown. He threw a worm-burner to Lance Moore who was open in the end zone late in the game. And the interception resulting from his Brett Favre-esque desperation throw was not a wise decision.
- In his defense some of Drew's receivers weren't giving him as much help as usual, in particular Devery Henderson, who looked more like his former self and dropped two passes that probably should have been caught. Robert Meachem hasn't been his usual self either.
- The offensive line seemed to put together a sub-par performance. They let Drew hit the dirt twice and couldn't get enough push late in the game when trying to run the ball. At one point, Carl Nicks got a mouthful from Sean Payton over on the sideline.
- I was much happier with the pressure the Saints defense was able to get from their front four this week over last, though I'm not sure that's saying much. Matt Ryan looked to be hurried or flushed out of the pocket quite frequently. It's certainly nowhere near dominant, however. Sedrick Ellis notched a sack, then quickly celebrated with the Pee Wee Herman dance. Will Smith came up with a big sack on a key third down in overtime. And dare I say this was Alex Brown's best game thus far?
- Tracy Porter spent much of the game on the sideline and riding the stationary bike. Roman Harper also missed some time while getting looked at on the sideline. Their presence in the secondary was missed.
- Every game during a break in play they put up a boat race on the video board sponsored by Copeland's. It's always between three speed boats: the Original Copeland's boat, the Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro boat and the Copeland's Social City boat. If the boat on the card you received matches the winning boat, you can redeem that card for a free appetizer at one of the restaurants. Yesterday, the never-before-seen Phenomenon boat came from nowhere and won the race, meaning everyone is a winner. Woohoo!
- The recovered punt by Jason Kyle was a heads up play by both Kyle and Jimmy Graham who kept the ball in bounds.
- On the Falcons first play of overtime, Matt Ryan went deep to Harry Douglas down the left sideline but overthrew him. Douglas had burnt Patrick Robinson like toast and was wide open. If Ryan makes that throw, overtime is over before it even starts.
- I was surprised to see Chris Ivory check into the game so early. With those first two rushes, he looked pretty good. Things were looking up. Then I was surprised to see him not come back in for a while. Then I was upset when he fumbled the ball and couldn't get anything going later in the game. It didn't look like he had much room to work with or that the offensive line was giving him much help, however. Then I was sad when I saw him limping off the field. I hope the team didn't rush his return to play and risk further injury because I wasn't expecting him to be ready this week and was surprised when I learned that he would.
- Even with Tracy Porter out of the game, the Falcons still weren't afraid to throw to Jabari Greer's side of the field. Unfortunately, Greer didn't have his best performance yesterday. The pass interference call against him - which was extremely questionable and had Payton irate on the sidelines - was very costly.
- You can argue all day about whether or not the offense looked worse without the presence of Reggie Bush but he certainly wasn't missed on punt returns. Lance Moore racked up 72 yards on his one return. The last time Bush returned for that many yards in a game was October 6th, 2008 against the Minnesota Vikings.
- Some Saints fans are saying that this game will be a good wake up call for the team. I thought that's what everyone said last week after narrowly escaping with a win against a weaker 49ers team. You can't keep using that line as a crutch of hope. The time for the Saints to wake up was three weeks ago.
Fox is on the big screen in Champions Square before the game.
Offensive player introductions.
Opening coin flip.
Opening kickoff.
Ivory getting screwed in again.
The beginning of Lance Moore's 72-yard punt return.
Offensive meeting.
Super Saint.
Roman Harper getting worked on the bench and Tracy Porter in the distance riding the stationary bike.
Devery Henderson tossing the ball around.
This isn't the New Orleans Arena and it's 2010. Stupid cup.
Hispanic heritage halftime performance.
Hispanic heritage halftime performance.
Hispanic heritage halftime performance.
Nice quality. It even had a handle on the back for easy gripping and holding.
Deuce just won't go away!
Payton having a word or two with Carl Nicks.
Patrick Robinson talking with trainers.
Saving the best for last.
Here's the roll call and timeline from our open game thread yesterday. Thanks to all who participated.
Name | # of Posts |
---|---|
rustdog74 | 141 |
SaintShark | 119 |
mississippisaintsfan | 84 |
metryman | 69 |
AKAY47 | 65 |
Jee | 65 |
lovingmma25 | 55 |
HansDat | 46 |
BRSaintsFan | 44 |
saintslam | 43 |
SaintsFan-KS | 38 |
N_O_1saintfan | 37 |
Brazil meets LA | 36 |
Dang Hu Dat | 30 |
TComm | 29 |
Just Some Guy | 28 |
Saintsfan75 | 25 |
Cajun in CA | 25 |
jon08ban | 24 |
triplea20x | 22 |
skinnykinney | 21 |
iiAndyiiii | 20 |
NOSFan4Life | 18 |
Dave Choate | 15 |
VAsaintsfan | 14 |
HB-NOLA | 9 |
sainthomas | 7 |
Joseph William Stern | 7 |
Ace Venom | 6 |
MoonDog33 | 6 |
Andrew Juge | 5 |
MobileSaint | 5 |
saintsfan77 | 4 |
theprogrammerman | 4 |
Saintsfan66 | 4 |
Andrew Tessier | 4 |
Dan39465 | 4 |
TAYDIGGA | 3 |
TigerPaw | 3 |
Ball Hawk | 3 |
saint-sly | 3 |
FrenchFreak | 3 |
nanvinnie | 3 |
KilnBill | 2 |
alcoholic_insight | 2 |
crzycajn | 2 |
procon4 | 2 |
ShadowFlash | 2 |
saint_chew | 1 |
Malsby | 1 |
LeeCaz | 1 |
WhoDatPHaltnMD | 1 |
CajunCavern | 1 |
IllHaveAMattyIcePlease | 1 |
CobraJet428 | 1 |
born in areacode 318 | 1 |
Malbrough | 1 |
dalleoman | 1 |
Timeline
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