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I picked up my mom, little sister and her husband bright and early to drive in for the game. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice ride to New Orleans. It was our first trip back to the dome and my mom was the most excited. She knows all the people who sit around us and they were happy to see her. It was like a reunion with a bunch of people you only know by their faces having sat by them and exchanged excitrd high fives over the years.
We sit directly behind the bench and I spent a good bit of time watching Payton during the warm up and game. Its been so much fun for me having a smart coach. I was looking forward to seeing him in action.
Well its just my luck that this was the week it seemed the coach and his team took a dumb pill. It was a very disappointing game, not just because they lost, but for the way they lost.
We were playing at home and that is supposed to get you a few false starts on the opponent and cause them to waste a couple time outs. But it was the saints who constantly shot themselves in the foot with false starts and bonehead penalties.
As I watched Payton on the sidelines in front of me he seemed to lose it a bit. They were having some problem it looked like with communication equipment and Payton was really upset. He just looked out of sorts.
Bad games happen and I understand that. There were a few strategy decisions Payton made that kind of surprised me.
The halfback pass was not one of them. It caught me off guard and I thought it was a reasonable call. I was much more disappointed with the two bonehead red zone penalties preceeeding that call which made it 1st and 20.
It was the second half strategy I did not get. They keep statistics for this stuff and I dont know the exact percentages, but the odds of overcoming a 21 point deficit are extremely high. You think it happens more than it does because the comebacks (or meltdowns) are so memorable when they happen. But it is truly rare and you need some breaks and you need to take chances you normally would not. You also need to lengthen the game as the clock is on your opponents side.
I really thought Coach Payton would go no huddle for most of the second half. I have watched so many dumb coaches over the years wait until the last five minutes to start conserving clock. When you are down by 21 or 28, you need to go into a virtual two minute offense right away. In a strange way it makes the defense play preventish which allows for some good underneath yardage.
The saints played with no urgency in the third quarter. Then they get a fourth and one at their forty halfway through the third quarter down 21 points and punt. I was shocked. At some point in that game to win you were going to have to take a chance. Later in the game they were throwing on fourth and ten. You just had to go for fourth and one down 21 if you were playing to win. Maybe you punt down 14 but not down 21. They punted and withing four plays the ravens had moved back to where we punted from.
I was also disappointed with Payton challenging the out of bounds call. He threw the red flag angrily at the officials twice and it was obvious the frustations of the whole game had boiled over. He had plenty of time to hear from his coaches in the booth whether the call should have been challenged. He challenged immediatly out of frustration, like a basketball adding to his teams misery by getting a technical foul.
Now I will grant you the game was probably over then and the loss of that timeout would have likely made no difference. But a smart coach, clinging to every chance he has, would not burn a valuable time out there. You go for it on fouth down and if you score, you still have the three timeouts you will need at the end to stop the clock and make them punt if you could score again.
It was just a bad game for Payton, his staff and his team. They played a very dumb game, coaches and players alike.
The good news is that its only one game. They made enough mistakes to lose 4 games yesterday. And if you are going to lose a game, a losss to a non conference foe hurts the least.
Payton and his staff have looked very smart this year, even in the loss to the panthers they looked smart and gave the team chances to win. I hope yesterday was just an aberration. I understand bad days with the ball not bouncing right, its hard for a coach to control that. I dont understand the strategy in the second half, particularly the third quarter. Just because they call it a two minute offense doesnt mean you have to wait until the last two minutes to use it.
I would have taken a 5-2 start in a heartbeat and like where we are in the standings. I hope we can get back to playing smart football. We took a step backwards yesterday, not because they lost but because of the way they lost. I have confidence they will play better against tampa.
We sit directly behind the bench and I spent a good bit of time watching Payton during the warm up and game. Its been so much fun for me having a smart coach. I was looking forward to seeing him in action.
Well its just my luck that this was the week it seemed the coach and his team took a dumb pill. It was a very disappointing game, not just because they lost, but for the way they lost.
We were playing at home and that is supposed to get you a few false starts on the opponent and cause them to waste a couple time outs. But it was the saints who constantly shot themselves in the foot with false starts and bonehead penalties.
As I watched Payton on the sidelines in front of me he seemed to lose it a bit. They were having some problem it looked like with communication equipment and Payton was really upset. He just looked out of sorts.
Bad games happen and I understand that. There were a few strategy decisions Payton made that kind of surprised me.
The halfback pass was not one of them. It caught me off guard and I thought it was a reasonable call. I was much more disappointed with the two bonehead red zone penalties preceeeding that call which made it 1st and 20.
It was the second half strategy I did not get. They keep statistics for this stuff and I dont know the exact percentages, but the odds of overcoming a 21 point deficit are extremely high. You think it happens more than it does because the comebacks (or meltdowns) are so memorable when they happen. But it is truly rare and you need some breaks and you need to take chances you normally would not. You also need to lengthen the game as the clock is on your opponents side.
I really thought Coach Payton would go no huddle for most of the second half. I have watched so many dumb coaches over the years wait until the last five minutes to start conserving clock. When you are down by 21 or 28, you need to go into a virtual two minute offense right away. In a strange way it makes the defense play preventish which allows for some good underneath yardage.
The saints played with no urgency in the third quarter. Then they get a fourth and one at their forty halfway through the third quarter down 21 points and punt. I was shocked. At some point in that game to win you were going to have to take a chance. Later in the game they were throwing on fourth and ten. You just had to go for fourth and one down 21 if you were playing to win. Maybe you punt down 14 but not down 21. They punted and withing four plays the ravens had moved back to where we punted from.
I was also disappointed with Payton challenging the out of bounds call. He threw the red flag angrily at the officials twice and it was obvious the frustations of the whole game had boiled over. He had plenty of time to hear from his coaches in the booth whether the call should have been challenged. He challenged immediatly out of frustration, like a basketball adding to his teams misery by getting a technical foul.
Now I will grant you the game was probably over then and the loss of that timeout would have likely made no difference. But a smart coach, clinging to every chance he has, would not burn a valuable time out there. You go for it on fouth down and if you score, you still have the three timeouts you will need at the end to stop the clock and make them punt if you could score again.
It was just a bad game for Payton, his staff and his team. They played a very dumb game, coaches and players alike.
The good news is that its only one game. They made enough mistakes to lose 4 games yesterday. And if you are going to lose a game, a losss to a non conference foe hurts the least.
Payton and his staff have looked very smart this year, even in the loss to the panthers they looked smart and gave the team chances to win. I hope yesterday was just an aberration. I understand bad days with the ball not bouncing right, its hard for a coach to control that. I dont understand the strategy in the second half, particularly the third quarter. Just because they call it a two minute offense doesnt mean you have to wait until the last two minutes to use it.
I would have taken a 5-2 start in a heartbeat and like where we are in the standings. I hope we can get back to playing smart football. We took a step backwards yesterday, not because they lost but because of the way they lost. I have confidence they will play better against tampa.
j/k.