You Don't Win Turning the Ball Over, and Anazlone is Terrible + Future Thoughts (1 Viewer)

[DaveXA]

Cook's fumble completely turned the game on its head. Brees' INTs sealed it.

You can not turn it over 4 times and win. Murray is also a lot more important to this team than it might seem. Meanwhile, almost every bad defensive play had Anzalone written on it. This guy can not be on this team next year. Do what it takes to get Kwon back and draft more LBs.

Drew is obviously done. There's zero reason for him to change his mind this time, nor should Payton let him. Jameis is the future IMO with a draft pick thrown in for competition. I'm cautiously optimistic Payton can have him ready to give us more next year than Brees was able to give us this year as his age and ability. We may not miss a beat, but who knows.

There's 32 teams and only one can win it all. We are making it a lot further than most, but it still sucks. It is what it is.

Excellent post. I'm right there with you. I'm done with Cook. I'm also done with Anzalone. He has flashes, but against good offenses, he gets exposed, badly. Anzalone either has to ride the pine or play in a very limited role. He's simply not a starting lb right now. Not sure he'll ever be.

Kwon would be great if only he could stay healthy.

I would draft a qb and keep Winston. Hill can continue his roles he plays in the offense. Really missed him yesterday. Not having both Murray and Hill was just a big blow to the offense.

I think the team can reload with Winston or another FA qb. There are a few good ones hitting the market this offseason. The salary cap is going to be a challenge, but Loomis has always managed to find a way. Big challenges ahead, even for him.

I'm not taking this loss nearly as hard as I thought. It was a nice run and while losing to Tampa sucked, there were some definite problems with the offense at times.

On to the offesason and hope the front office has a vision for life beyond Brees.

 

[Saint Droopy]

Rushing 4 vs max protect is just a horrendous gameplan.

That same gameplan held the Bucs to 27 points in 2 games. The defense was not the problem yesterday. We had a 20-13 lead with the ball... in scoring position before Cook fumbled the ball. If we go even by 10 this is a different ballgame. You cannot turn the ball over 4 times and win even the 2000 Ravens would lose the game.

 

[gregh]

I don't buy that at all. Winston is very talented (he will absolutely be re-signed) or we could hit on a draft pick at QB. No reason to believe we are entering the dark ages, no matter how much tonight makes me want to be negative.

they have most of the pieces other than missing Kwon a, a better qb, and some key players were hurt in this game..

 

[SoggyBottomBoy]

Cook's fumble completely turned the game on its head. Brees' INTs sealed it.

You can not turn it over 4 times and win. Murray is also a lot more important to this team than it might seem. Meanwhile, almost every bad defensive play had Anzalone written on it. This guy can not be on this team next year. Do what it takes to get Kwon back and draft more LBs.

Drew is obviously done. There's zero reason for him to change his mind this time, nor should Payton let him. Jameis is the future IMO with a draft pick thrown in for competition. I'm cautiously optimistic Payton can have him ready to give us more next year than Brees was able to give us this year as his age and ability. We may not miss a beat, but who knows.

There's 32 teams and only one can win it all. We are making it a lot further than most, but it still sucks. It is what it is.

Pretty much agree with this. The game played out like I expected it to. Figured it would be close and come down to turnovers.

I think Drew was good enough to win this game, but yeah, arm isn't the same. He was picking up key third downs and moving the ball. The first interception, the Bucs got away with a hold on MT, but I can't complain about the officiating in this one. They were consistent and didn't seem to favor a team. The Interception to Kamara, well that's on them. The two smartest guys on the field and they weren't on the same page.

The big turning point was the Cook's fumble. We were actually up by 7 in spite of giving up 14 points on turnovers and that pass was a good third down conversion. We were converting third downs pretty well (6-11) and needed to finish that drive with a score. That was a probable 10 or 14 point swing.

I'm at peace with this loss. That is a good team we played. Brady will get the accolades, but seemed to be just meh. Especially considering the weapons at his disposal - Evans, Bryant, Brate, Gronk, Goodwin, Miller, Fournette, etc. The defense actually played pretty well, IMO. The turnovers and they attacked our weak spot, Anzalone and that did it.

 

[BreesusSaves]

That same gameplan held the Bucs to 27 points in 2 games. The defense was not the problem yesterday. We had a 20-13 lead with the ball... in scoring position before Cook fumbled the ball. If we go even by 10 this is a different ballgame. You cannot turn the ball over 4 times and win even the 2000 Ravens would lose the game.

I'm not saying the four turnovers were not a horrendous issue and the biggest reason the Saints lost. I am simply saying rushing 4 against max protect and not getting home, the defensive game plan has got to adjust. The bucs ran essentially the same offense the Raiders did to beat the Saints. Max protect with quick passes. Dennis Allen kept calling the same defensive plays expecting the results to somehow change.

 

[MLU]

Cook's fumble completely turned the game on its head. Brees' INTs sealed it.

You can not turn it over 4 times and win. Murray is also a lot more important to this team than it might seem. Meanwhile, almost every bad defensive play had Anzalone written on it. This guy can not be on this team next year. Do what it takes to get Kwon back and draft more LBs.

Drew is obviously done. There's zero reason for him to change his mind this time, nor should Payton let him. Jameis is the future IMO with a draft pick thrown in for competition. I'm cautiously optimistic Payton can have him ready to give us more next year than Brees was able to give us this year as his age and ability. We may not miss a beat, but who knows.

There's 32 teams and only one can win it all. We are making it a lot further than most, but it still sucks. It is what it is.

What draft pick would give competition to Winston?

 

[blackadder]

I don’t think we need a TE other then as a backup. Trautman should have replaced Cook by mid season and should be the starter for a very long time.

This.

It's one of those little things that is a head scratcher that turns out to be big.

There is some weird reason Payton had to put up with Cook, but that moment was coming all season. You knew it. Should have benched him to stop it.

 

[Shines44]

Honestly if you look at the roster for next season it’s pretty much the same team. Yeah it’s going to suck when Trey Hendrickson gets paid from some other team. I don’t know how we will be able to keep Marcus Williams and Anzalone can walk in my opinion. Cook is 34 years old and will get his $7 Million from another team.

I think Zack Baun can fill that need until Kwon Alexander comes back and Trautman is pretty good at blocking and catching. Don’t forget that Trautman is 6’5 and caught 15 passes out of 16 targets.

 

[Pkessling]

This.

It's one of those little things that is a head scratcher that turns out to be big.

There is some weird reason Payton had to put up with Cook, but that moment was coming all season. You knew it. Should have benched him to stop it.

Some of the personnel decisions are a little baffling. I know the coaches see the players in practice every day but I don’t understand how Cook was starting over Trautman. Trautman showed potential every time he got an opportunity. Cook seemed to have major mental lapses leading to turnovers and drops.
I would liked to have seen Baun get an opportunity whenKwon went down, even if it was just as a pass rusher.

 

[Jesse Custer]

I don't think Cook had mental lapses. He was just playing like he didn't care. No fight. No passion. He was just there.

 

[SweetT]

Been saying for the longest time that we need LBs!

 

[Eman5805]

I don't think Cook had mental lapses. He was just playing like he didn't care. No fight. No passion. He was just there.

I don’t believe that for one instant. He’s got massively long arms. Everytime he runs the ball comes far off his body. It’s a habit he never broke. Doesn’t mean he didn’t care or had no passion.

 

[Boudie123456]

Cook's fumble completely turned the game on its head. Brees' INTs sealed it.

You can not turn it over 4 times and win. Murray is also a lot more important to this team than it might seem. Meanwhile, almost every bad defensive play had Anzalone written on it. This guy can not be on this team next year. Do what it takes to get Kwon back and draft more LBs.

Drew is obviously done. There's zero reason for him to change his mind this time, nor should Payton let him. Jameis is the future IMO with a draft pick thrown in for competition. I'm cautiously optimistic Payton can have him ready to give us more next year than Brees was able to give us this year as his age and ability. We may not miss a beat, but who knows.

There's 32 teams and only one can win it all. We are making it a lot further than most, but it still sucks. It is what it is.

i said this about Anzalone when Kwon went out. there had to be a better option than him to replace Kwon. i'm sure his stat line is close to 0 tackles, 0 sacks, 0 passes defended. He is always on the outside looking in on every play.Dump him!

 

[blackadder]

I don't think Cook had mental lapses. He was just playing like he didn't care. No fight. No passion. He was just there.

All season.

I get Drew goes to the open guy but seems they kept going to him when like every 3rd target was a near INT due to lazy route or miscommunication or poor effort. And he didn't care...

It was so clearly building up to a disaster and I don't know why the coach couldn't see it, or thought Cook was so invaluable. He should have been on the pine weeks ago.

 

[Boy_of_wonder75]

Payton going to be in a class of his own in "Won One and Done".

Sure, as long as you don't look at all the other games.

Honestly, how short is your attention span?