Saints State Of The Union: A Fan's Perspective (1 Viewer)

SaintsFanInLA

BREES SMASH!!
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
16,071
Reaction score
17,200
Location
Los Angeles
Offline
As a fan of the NFL who has been watching this sport for years but only recently getting into the nuts and bolts and the understanding of the game, I have a few observations. Long read. Sorry but I just had to say it.

Last year, the Saints were 6-2 at home and 2-6 on the road with a porous seive-like defense. It was wrought with nightmares of Josh Bullocks, Fred Thomas(3 years ago) and Jason David (who was in essence the ghost of Fred Thomas) giving up last minute 80-yard bombs or getting flagged for PI on 80-yard bombs while getting ZERO interceptions. Even with that, of the 8 games we lost, the average point differential was 6.85.

- 05 New Orleans Saints 24 - 29 Washington Redskins
- 02 New Orleans Saints 32 - 34 Denver Broncos
- 03 New Orleans Saints 27 - 30 Minnesota Vikings
- 23 New Orleans Saints 07 - 30 Carolina Panthers
- 14 New Orleans Saints 20 - 34 Atlanta Falcons
- 07 New Orleans Saints 20 - 23 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- 03 New Orleans Saints 24 - 27 Chicago Bears
- 02 New Orleans Saints 31 - 33 Carolina Panthers
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- 55 (Point Differential for 8 losses)

If you take out the Carolina debacle of the 23-point meltdown (which I blame Coach Payton for as he was trying to force the ball to Marques Colston who just came back from an injury, instead of taking the 9 yards per carry that Reggie Bush was averaging) then the point differential is 4.5.

So my point is, last year even with a substandard defense we were in EVERY game. Why? Because we had the league's #1 Offense. And the pressure we put on our number one offense by putting the Big Lot's/K-Mart version of a defense on the field was criminal. Every time we didn't convert on 3rd or 4th and short, the signifigance was MAGNIFIED because we knew that our defense would immediately pay us off by letting us down. If our offense had ANY sort of middle of the road defensive support we were possibly a 10-6 or 11-5 team and we make the playoffs. We definitely could not have won the Superbowl but we would have been a playoff caliber team.

We also had a season plagued by more injuries than I'd ever seen a team face in one season and the announcers couldn't care less. Injuries are no excuse, everybody has them. Show up and play. However, this year, it does appear that our opponents are given excuse slips by pundits for having injuries. C'est la vie.

I still insist that having the #1 offense with the type of defense we had last couple of years was criminal negligence and somebody should have been flogged publicly for that traveshamockery. But maybe, just maybe it took that deplorable lack of competency, that swiss-cheese, porous secondary and vanilla non-blitzing awful excuse of a defense to get rid of the likes of Gary Gibbs as coordinator and Bullocks, Thomas and David (who were in essence the same person) in the secondary, the hiring of Gregg Williams and bringing in the likes of Darren Sharper and Jonathan Vilma. Sometimes the Lord will allow things to bring us low so that he can elevate us to far HIGHER grounds.

Which brings us to this year's version of the New Orleans Saints or what I like to refer to as God's Gift to the NFL.

I know it is not necessarily good to compare teams by victory over other teams but I am gonna eschew that nugget of wisdom and tell you what I've seen.

In preseason:

New Orleans Saints 17 - 07 Cincinatti Bengals
The starters were in for a good deal of the first half of the game and pretty much pushed the Bengals around. Really had no trouble in this game establishing dominance and a good pace.

New Orleans Saints 38 - 14 Houston Texans
The starters were in for the entire first half, IIRC and REALLY layed the wood to their starters. In fact, the Saints were so dominant that the sportscasters afterward in Houston were literally almost crying, talking about our no-named players playing like all-stars, it was quite funny. Our offense did any and everything they wanted and the defense stifled almost everything the offense wanted. I am not sure but I believe the Texans only scored once our starters were out, in the second half. The Texans are a good team that plays inconsistently but were NO match for the Saints.

New Orleans Saints 45 - 07 Oakland Raiders
This is game 3 of the preseason; a game in which most coaches treat as the full and final dress rehearsal for the starters of their team. However, this game was an absolute embarrassment for the Raider Nation and it did not tell us anything from a coaching perspective because there was literally no challenge for us. It didn't show us what we needed to work on or fix because every doggone thing worked. It felt like the Saints scored on every possession. Defensively we were able to do whatever we wanted. I think our starters were out EARLY in the third quarter and I don't believe the Raiders scored until late in the 4th quarter when our 3rd stringers were in.

New Orleans Saints 07 - 10 Miami Dolphins
There is no point in discussing this one because most of our starters didn't play in this one. The one highlight being the special teams TD. I don't know the Miami Roster, so if their starters played and that was the best they could do against our scrubs, then the regular season rematch will be a blitzkrieg.

Regular Season:
+ 18 New Orleans Saints 45 - 27 Detroit Lions
+ 26 New Orleans Saints 48 - 22 Philadelphia Eagles
+ 20 New Orleans Saints 27 - 07 Buffalo Bills
+ 14 New Orleans Saints 24 - 10 New York Jets
+ 21 New Orleans Saints 48 - 27 New York Giants
+99 (Margin of Victory over 5 games)

Average margin of victory +19.8 (the missed XP brings it to a cool 20, if he makes it).

Detroit: This game was over before it started. Even though this year's version of the Lions is better, they were clearly outclassed as the Saints offense scored a TD on it's first possession and NEVER looked back. A theme that has become commonplace in their games. Drew Brees threw for 6 TD in a dressing down of a far inferior team. We looked great but not too many people were feeling celebratory because there was a glaring deficiency in the special teams units as we gave up BIG yards on kick returns and we had a couple of turnovers that made the game far closer than it should have been. I know that's crazy to say with a 20+ point victory but is true, nevertheless. Doubters abound, this was just Detroit. Right? They haven't won a game in over a year. Who cares that you beat them? Well, ask Washington if they care that they lost to Detroit.

Philadelphia: Once again, the Saints scored a TD on the opening drive, only to return the favor and allow a Kolb to Jackson bomb that evened the game at 7. Things were tight up until the waning moments of the first half when Brees orchestrated a two-minute drive that ended in a brilliant TD pass to Colston with less than a minute on the clock. But wait, Philly then marches down in those 40 some odd seconds and then kicks a field goal to bring the game closer at 17-13 Saints AND they got the ball back at the start of the 3rd.

The 3rd quarter started but MALCOM JENKINS strips the kick-returner of the ball and the Saints are in business as Brees almost immediately makes them pay for their mistake and the Saints stretch the lead to double-digits. The very next possession for the Eagles ends no better as Scott Shanle steps in front of a quick out and picks it off. Once again, Brees makes them pay and before you know it, the game that was 17-13 Saints at halftime is now a laugher at 31-13. And to cap things off, Darren Sharper has a 97 yard interception return for a TD to drop a heavy 48-Burger on the vaunted Eagles defense. Still we had our doubters. After all, the Eagles didn't have McNabb and as everybody clearly knows, Donovan plays a helluva mean defense.

Buffalo: This game was close. It was tight for a good 3 quarters. I knew Buffalo was in trouble when the only real movement they could get was the fake field goal that led to 7 points BUT THAT'S IT! Nothing else, zip, zilch, nada, the defense pitched a shut-out. In fact, they ended TO's games with a catch streak. Impressive. And Flu-ridden Pierre Thomas came in during the second half to run roughshod over the Bills to the tune of 100+ yards and two TDs. This was the first game where our defense held tight as the offense seemed to struggle a little. This is what pundits would call an ugly win, and yet the Saints STILL won by a margin of two TDs and it could have been worse. Furthermore, the benefit of that special teams touchdown by Buffalo to us was a COACHABLE MOMENT. I'll bet you dollars to Donuts that Gregg Williams IMMEDIATELY addressed Field Goal formations and assignments for possible fakes in THE VERY NEXT PRACTICE.

NY Jets: This was the game that was to separate the wheat from the chaff. Who would leave this game still undefeated and who would suffer their first loss. The Jets D was stingy. Drew Brees marched us down the field and this was the first game in which we were not able to score an opening drive TD, instead, we got a field goal. That's when I knew that we were in for a fight. And the Jets were giving us one. They tied the game with a Field goal of their own and then stopped us on D. However, the second quarter started with the threat of us trailing in a game for the first time this season but Darren Sharper got a 99-yard pick 6 from our 1 yard line, that opened the lead for us and we never looked back. After a series of exchanges Brees and Thomas lead us down to inside the 5 where we stalled and could not score on 4 straight attempts. But the defense STEPPED it UP and sacked Sanchez forcing a fumble in the endzone and opening the lead even further. However a fumble by Reggie deep on our side of the field allowed them to run the ball in and cut the lead to 10. However, once again the defense stepped up and was able to pick off Sanchez two more times. The INT by Greer put us inside the 5 in victory formation where I wished we punched it in for a smoov 21 point margin of victory. Less doubters at this point but the excuse was that Sanchez was a rookie QB due for this sort of game. No biggie. The Saints are good but not as good as the numbers show. Pundits are still touting the Giants as the benchmark for the NFC.

NY Giants: According to experts, even though we have faced "true tests" in the Eagles and Jets, this here is the true litmus test. The Number 1 Defense against our top ranked Offense. Two heavyweights, the 5-0 Giants against the 4-0 "Untested" Saints. This will tell us who the true #1 team in the NFC is, as long as the Giants win it. If the Saints win, then obviously it must be the Vikings. Well, this match was OVER before it began. Once again our offense marched down the field on a time-consuming drive and scored an oppening possession TD; before the Giants realized what was going on, they found themselves in a 20-3 hole. The Giants were pointing fingers, blaming each other and in general disbelief and denial that a team could be THAT much better than them. The Saints had 7 different players score TDs. Sharper's pick 6 was taken away on a penalty that literally did not affect the actual play itself and Sharper could have had another one as he was in position with his hands on the ball when Manningham ripped it away from him and scored. I honestly felt like if Payton really wanted to pour it on, we could have scored 60 on this team. About the ONLY problems I found in this were the kick return yardage allowed and the missed XP. If this was Mortal Combat, you would have heard the announcer say: Finish Him! Flawless Victory! Fatality!

This is the sort of game that if the Giants were boxers, they might retire after and I am not joking. They were thoroughly dismantled, humialited and even though they should have been humbled, from post game comments and interviews, they weren't. This game was SO one-sided that denial was the order of the day for the Giant organization. The only bright spots for them being their special teams play, a long pass, and a garbage time TD. The Giants were outclassed and embarrased. Seriously, have you ever seen a team after such a devastatin beatdown, act as if the game was a 1-3 point win for the opponent? This shellacking was so thorough that they were literally in denial because if they were to acknowledge the difference in skill level and talent that was evident to everybody else, then they'd have to admit in WEEK 6 of the season that they might as well pack it up and play for pride because the road to the Super Bowl goes through New Orleans and NOBODY is going to beat the Saints in the Superdome. Nobody. The doubters are all gone. The only ones who still remain are the haters.


The Addition of Gregg Williams, Jonathan Vilma, Tracy Porter, Darren Sharper and the subtraction of Gary Gibbs, Jason David and Fred Thomas has made this team lethal. In these games whe have amassed 11 INTs (5 by Darren Sharper) and 327 of INT ret yards. Think about that. This defense has generated at least 9 more drives for the leagues already most potent offense, 11 INTs and 3 fumbles that I can remember is 14 turnovers but the defense has scored TD's on 3 of those picks and one of those fumbles.

The Saints are for real and they are playing through the bad calls, no calls and bad situations. TWICE after our offense could not score within the red zone, our defense took the ball back from the opponents offense within 2-3 plays and as a result we scored TDs. I don't even know what our Field Goal kicker is doing during games, maybe playing Spider Solitaire maybe he's designing a perpetual motion machine. I don't know but I do know that he certainly isn't kicking field goals because our offense is scoring TDs.


Now, in essence, we have the number 1 one offense last year and it has gotten Number Onier because it has been given a running game and a ball-hawking defense. It's just not fair to everyone else. Because when I look at the teams we face and the difficulties they have against other teams and the ease with which we dispatch them, I just don't think that there is another team that should beat the Saints. And if we miss a 3rd and short of 4th and short, we don't seem to care so much because we KNOW our defense has the offense's back and we know that most times out, the offense will be able to score and score and score.

Our talent level and coaching prowess put us head and shoulders above the competition. The Saints philosophy is to come right out, punch you squarely in the mouth and score and score and score, a veritable torrential downpour/a tsunami of points and then dare you to try to keep up. Teams will find themselves abandoning their gameplans early as 14-0 and 21-3 scores will become more and more commonplace and they realize that they HAVE to try and keep pace with this BEAST of an offense. That will only allow our ball-hawking defense to blitz more and get more INTs and possibly fumbles from well-timed blitzes resulting in blindside sacks/fumbles.

If you haven't already noticed, opposing coaches are now starting to go for it on 4th and long because they KNOW scoring field goals is not going to be enough to keep up with this offensive Juggernaut. This plays directly into the capable yet deadly hands of Gregg Williams.

We are the best team in the NFL right now and the only thing that can beat us, is us. This is our year, what we have here is special. Enjoy every moment of it.
 
Last edited:
Good post dude. I usually don't read long post like that but it was good from the start! :9:
 
I have read quite a few long threads and always rep but relarely comment... Good post. I'm VERY superstitious and am worried about everyone calling the saints the superbowl winners after 5 wins, but this is easily the best team I have ever seen the saints put on the field.

Time to get back to the whiskey and go back to lurking and vaguely remembering what I read
 
Fred Thomas wasn't on our team last year, but our defense was so bad last year I understand the mistake. How good is our secondary now, by the way?! Sharper, Porter, Greer, Harper, Gay, and Young. It's a major improvement!
 
Fred Thomas wasn't on our team last year, but our defense was so bad last year I understand the mistake. How good is our secondary now, by the way?! Sharper, Porter, Greer, Harper, Gay, and Young. It's a major improvement!

I know I should have clarified this but I was really talking about the last 3 years of defensive ineptness. But all culminating in last year being the final straw.

And yes, to echo your point, the improvement in the defensive secondary is miraculous.
 
The Saints philosophy is to come right out, punch you squarely in the mouth and score and score and score, a veritable torrential downpour/a tsunami of points and then dare you to try to keep up..
We are the best team in the NFL right now and the only thing that can beat us, is us. This is our year, what we have here is special. Enjoy every moment of it.


You said it, SaintsFanInLA. And then some. :9: Good stuff.
 
I don't know about being the best team in football. The Vikings, Colts, Pats, and Broncos
may have something to say about that. Since we're always whining for respect, we've
got to give them respect for what they've done.

The way the NFL season works, we're bound to get ambushed. Teams that are down
would love to beat us to gain respect. So I think they will be game planning us extra
hard. If this is the team I think it is, we'll shrug it off and go on another win streak.
 
I don't know about being the best team in football. The Vikings, Colts, Pats, and Broncos
may have something to say about that. Since we're always whining for respect, we've
got to give them respect for what they've done.

The way the NFL season works, we're bound to get ambushed. Teams that are down
would love to beat us to gain respect. So I think they will be game planning us extra
hard. If this is the team I think it is, we'll shrug it off and go on another win streak.

Here you can eat it, cause I want nothing to do with it.
saupload_pie_01.jpg
 
I don't know about being the best team in football. The Vikings, Colts, Pats, and Broncos
may have something to say about that. Since we're always whining for respect, we've
got to give them respect for what they've done.

I do. First of all, the Pats have already lost to a team we've beaten by double-digits and were one bone-headed play from a return man from losing to another team that we've beaten by double-digits.

The Vikes and Broncos have trailed inferior teams and were mistakes by other teams awy from having "L"s.

The Colts defense is no where near as stout as ours.

So, I do know that we are the best team in the NFL now and it isn't even close.

Nothing from this team indicates that a letdown is imminent or would be tolerated.
 
Last edited:
Great exept the Jets didn't tie the game with a field goal. They were driving to atleast tie or possibly take the lead when Sharper scored his TD. We were up 10-0 when we went for it on 4th and goal and I totally agreed with the call cause at the very least we'd still be up 10 and they'd be playing from their own goaline....which in turn led to a 17-0 lead that was later cut to 17-10 before we closed it out 24-10.
 
Oh my goodness!!! What can I say about this team. The benefit of this game today is that the Saints now KNOW that they can come from behind to win. They KNOW that they are in ANY game no matter what the score or situation says.

So now no matter how far behind they are, they can still come in an get it done. So, in the Playoffs, if we are ever behind by more than 2 scores then they can still be comfortable and have enough faith in themselves to come back.

The Saints are like "The Most Interesting Man In The World" who once had an awkward moment, just to see what it feels like.

The Saints, The Most Interesting Team in the World, once trailed in a game, just to see what if feels like.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom