Observations from Tonight's Game (long) (1 Viewer)

rsonza

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16-9 loss to the Texans, who are actually a very good team. Top 5 Defense, Much Improved Offense especially with good speed at WR. So despite a loss, some good things notably on D, and not so good things on Offense, which should be graded with a caveat since our top WRs were out today:

1. First and foremost, our OL is probably weaker than last year. I know Peat has been the weak link, especially with his shuffling all over the line. In the end, he's probably better suited for Tackle, and that's saying a lot since he was bull-rushed by Clowney this pm. One, Peat's big and upright body makes him tough for a Guard. But unfortunately, the guy's been all over the place, it's hard to get some continuity.

2. I think Saints mgmt. needs to seriously call the Cowboys and offer either a 5th or 6th pick for Leary. Much better than what they have now.

3. Lelito stunk it up there. Again, our guard play is below-average. It's too bad Jahri Evans signed w the Seahawks, b/c I'm sure we would've called his agent by now.

4. We might have some talented RBs on the team, but if we can't open any holes, we can have Fournette or Barry Sanders back there, neither is getting a few yards.

5. Coleman plays like a 5'11 receiver. Like SP said in his post-game conference, he's just pedestrian. For someone that big, he should dominate. Does he have any trade value? Maybe package him and a draft pick for Leary?

5a. Let's keep someone who can compete, like TommyLee Lewis, who I thought made some nice catches and had some decent YAC too. My concern is if we cut Coleman and keep Lewis, are we missing a tall guy in the Red Zone.

6. Defense was stout all day. Liked Fairley a lot. Big-time player and glad we have him.

7. I think the TD that PJ Williams gave up will probably benefit him for the season. Needs to look back for the ball, but he will learn this watching tape. Best of all, he shook off the TD and grabbed an INT a few series later.

8. If I'm an opposing OC, I am targeting the Saints young corners, 3 of whom will have not played an official NFL game until this year. Stay away from Breaux, but target PJ, Crawley, Harris, and Swann. Gosh, I hope we don't regret cutting Keenan Lewis.

9. I think our ST coverage was decent, aside from miscues in the 4Q. Harris and Lasco looked good as cover guys during punts.

10. Not too sure what to make of CJ Spiller playing in the 4Q, but I thought his speed and breakaway talent was there. Will be nice to see him at 100%. Just strange he was playing in the 4Q.

11. Kinda weird, but Coby Fleener doesn't wow me. Seems too upright, and I hope we have him on more seam passes. He won't get any YAC during short-yardage. Maybe I'm comparing him too much w Graham, but I want to see some intermediate throws to Coby, not the short stuff.

12. I didn't hear much catches against our rookie corner Harris, which I guess is a good think. I saw Crawley give up some catches, including one in which he was 10 yds off the WR. With his height, he ought to play closer. Otherwise, they have potential.

13. In the end, I'd give our Defense a B for their pressure and coverage. And our Offense a D-, especially our O-Line. I'd like to think we need to trade for a Guard soon, so maybe that will happen, especially if we want to compete against good D-Lines in the league. See Carolina, Denver, Tampa.
 
Great post! I just can't figure out why our oline is regressing so badly with all the same players from a year ago. I thought that the young guys would at least benefit from another offseason of work and conditioning. Could it be coaching?
 
7. I think the TD that PJ Williams gave up will probably benefit him for the season. Needs to look back for the ball, but he will learn this watching tape. Best of all, he shook off the TD and grabbed an INT a few series later.

Agree. #40 had the same experience last season.
 
You can't say Coleman plays like a 5'11 receiver then say but if we trade him Id be worried about missing a RedZone threat. Can't miss what he already isn't.

We don't have a 5th to give up but I agree with the premise. We could use Leary if not for anything but the ground game. Avg 2.0 ypc isn't going to cut it. The shoddy pass blocking wouldn't stand out as much if it wasn't always 2nd and 8 or 3rd and 9

If anything it looked like some of the play calling was to scout certain players.

Good Post!
 
Great post! I just can't figure out why our oline is regressing so badly with all the same players from a year ago. I thought that the young guys would at least benefit from another offseason of work and conditioning. Could it be coaching?
We have never been great up front in the run game since Payton has been here.

We had some great G talent at one time when we ran the ball better from 2009-11. Prior to that, and since, we are bottom third of the league running team. It's been a consistent thing so I believe it's something in the scheme, coaching and play calling that persist.

But now we have a talent problem too so put the fundamental shortcomings of the program together with poor talent and this is what you get.
 
You can't say Coleman plays like a 5'11 receiver then say but if we trade him Id be worried about missing a RedZone threat. Can't miss what he already isn't.

We don't have a 5th to give up but I agree with the premise. We could use Leary if not for anything but the ground game. Avg 2.0 ypc isn't going to cut it. The shoddy pass blocking wouldn't stand out as much if it wasn't always 2nd and 8 or 3rd and 9

Well, when our Offense is not in the Red Zone, he does indeed play like a 5'11 receiver. He doesn't dominate his opponent in competing for the ball. When we are in the Red Zone, his height does pose as an advantage, so he is legitimately a threat. But it's just potential so far.
 
Well, when our Offense is not in the Red Zone, he does indeed play like a 5'11 receiver. He doesn't dominate his opponent in competing for the ball. When we are in the Red Zone, his height does pose as an advantage, so he is legitimately a threat. But it's just potential so far.

If you are 6'6 and your height advantage to serve as a RedZone threat is still potential u got a problem. That should be his bread/butter right out the box. Ijs
 
Re: 5a. Can Michael Thomas be our redzone threat?
I think he can. But the one time we threw to him there, the ball was underthrown. And I think Thomas will fight for the ball, he can't do it through the man guarding him's body. Not literally anyway. He's not Martian Manhunter.


...or is he? :scratch:
 
If Leary is that good somebody would've traded for him by now, he played between two pro bowlers but he's not one. Guard on the other side makes pro bowl as a rookie. Something tells me he's overrated but we're dying to give away yet another pick to get him.

Nothing wrong with having young corners if they can play and it looks like these guys can, Peters for example walked in and has been lockdown from day one. Fleener will show up as he gets more familiar with Drew and the offense, but the OL holds the key to this season.
 
I would not be surprised if PJ Williams gets at least 4 INT's this season. He will benefit from a good pass rush compared to what we had last year and also benefit from Breaux locking down the opposite side.
 
16-9 loss to the Texans, who are actually a very good team. Top 5 Defense, Much Improved Offense especially with good speed at WR. So despite a loss, some good things notably on D, and not so good things on Offense, which should be graded with a caveat since our top WRs were out today:

1. First and foremost, our OL is probably weaker than last year. I know Peat has been the weak link, especially with his shuffling all over the line. In the end, he's probably better suited for Tackle, and that's saying a lot since he was bull-rushed by Clowney this pm. One, Peat's big and upright body makes him tough for a Guard. But unfortunately, the guy's been all over the place, it's hard to get some continuity.

2. I think Saints mgmt. needs to seriously call the Cowboys and offer either a 5th or 6th pick for Leary. Much better than what they have now.

3. Lelito stunk it up there. Again, our guard play is below-average. It's too bad Jahri Evans signed w the Seahawks, b/c I'm sure we would've called his agent by now.

4. We might have some talented RBs on the team, but if we can't open any holes, we can have Fournette or Barry Sanders back there, neither is getting a few yards.

5. Coleman plays like a 5'11 receiver. Like SP said in his post-game conference, he's just pedestrian. For someone that big, he should dominate. Does he have any trade value? Maybe package him and a draft pick for Leary?

5a. Let's keep someone who can compete, like TommyLee Lewis, who I thought made some nice catches and had some decent YAC too. My concern is if we cut Coleman and keep Lewis, are we missing a tall guy in the Red Zone.

6. Defense was stout all day. Liked Fairley a lot. Big-time player and glad we have him.

7. I think the TD that PJ Williams gave up will probably benefit him for the season. Needs to look back for the ball, but he will learn this watching tape. Best of all, he shook off the TD and grabbed an INT a few series later.

8. If I'm an opposing OC, I am targeting the Saints young corners, 3 of whom will have not played an official NFL game until this year. Stay away from Breaux, but target PJ, Crawley, Harris, and Swann. Gosh, I hope we don't regret cutting Keenan Lewis.

9. I think our ST coverage was decent, aside from miscues in the 4Q. Harris and Lasco looked good as cover guys during punts.

10. Not too sure what to make of CJ Spiller playing in the 4Q, but I thought his speed and breakaway talent was there. Will be nice to see him at 100%. Just strange he was playing in the 4Q.

11. Kinda weird, but Coby Fleener doesn't wow me. Seems too upright, and I hope we have him on more seam passes. He won't get any YAC during short-yardage. Maybe I'm comparing him too much w Graham, but I want to see some intermediate throws to Coby, not the short stuff.

12. I didn't hear much catches against our rookie corner Harris, which I guess is a good think. I saw Crawley give up some catches, including one in which he was 10 yds off the WR. With his height, he ought to play closer. Otherwise, they have potential.

13. In the end, I'd give our Defense a B for their pressure and coverage. And our Offense a D-, especially our O-Line. I'd like to think we need to trade for a Guard soon, so maybe that will happen, especially if we want to compete against good D-Lines in the league. See Carolina, Denver, Tampa.

It seems like a lot of similar issues are spilling over from last weeks game. Turnovers, Oline play,lack of a running game, etc...

It also seems like we will be improved this year on defense but our offense has taken a step back.

It's to early to really tell but you get the feeling that we are learning how to win consistently again.

We are still a very young team, Brees, Strief, Unger, Laurinaitis, Byrd, Ellerbe, Spiller are the only starters over 30.

We don't have enough middle depth especially at O-line to overcome a lot of injuries this year.

We may be another year or two away from competing in another Superbowl.

We have too much dead money on the books to compete this year especially with the release of Keenan Lewis.

Teams with an excessive amount of dead cap space always struggle to win week in and week out.

Last years free agent signings have been a total disappointment and will set us back further than we expected.

Next off-season we have more money to spend but can't afford to wiff anymore..

Am I wrong?
 
I hear Coach kind of teeing off on certain guys, like Murphy and Coleman, but isn't that sort of where the issues are? Why are we relying on guys like that?

I feel like I should be upset with what we have seen, but I can't just can't be. This team is seriously defunct of legitimate contributors and depth.
 
my biggest observation .... 1. Landon Turner played better at RG than everyone else .... 2. Jack Allen is a keeper after we part ways with Unger .... 3. Lelito was so bad, it wasnt even funny ....4. Ideal line would be

LT - Armstead
LG - Kelemente
C - Unger
RG - Turner
RT - Peat
 

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