After the New Orleans Saints embarrassing loss to the St. Louis Rams last Sunday night I could barely bring myself to write this. How could New Orleans, again, go up one of the worst teams in the league and preform so poorly?
After the excellent game the previous Sunday night against the Carolina Panthers, with a 31-13 win putting themselves one game ahead of Carolina in the NFC South and with an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth, New Orleans seemed to do what they do so often, fall apart. On the Saints first possession QB Drew Brees launched a pass intended for TE Jimmy Graham but was intercepted by Rams safety T.J. Mcdonald. It all went downhill from there. The Rams defense were out from the jump to put it down on the Saints offense, with another interception and multiple sacks on Drew Brees; two blocked field goal attempts, and even an onside kick there was nothing the Rams were leaving to chance, dotting every I and crossing every T.
The thing that really bothers me is that New Orleans has no excuse for this particular loss. There was no weather to place blame on, no short week, no plane malfunction. But the real thing that stings are the stats from the game against Carolina exactly a week before and how they compare with this week’s stats.
- Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw for 313 yards against the Panthers and 393 against the Rams.
- Against the Panthers, Brees was 30/42 passing and against Rams 39/56, ,averaging 7.5 yards against Carolina and 7.0 yards against the Rams.
- With four touchdowns in the Carolina game and just one in the Rams game the numbers definitely differ.
- Brees was sacked twice by Carolina and and four times by the Rams.
- Brees did not throw an interception against Carolina but had 2 in St. Louis.
- QBR against Carolina 124.4 and against Rams 80.4.
Where New Orleans can seem to mix it up offensively in one game and completely flop in another is astounding to me. If the offensive coordinator can’t get a little more depth from the offense and learn to adjust to EVERY POSSIBLE SCENARIO that could potentially shutdown any attempts by Brees to get ball down field and keep him from getting knocked on his butt, then they may as well call it a wrap and go home.
Whats missing in the above stats though is the the Saints inability to run the ball, picking up just 69 yards vs the Panthers and just 61 yards against the Rams. This is a lot lower than what they put up in other wins.
I have said this so many times I am almost sick of even saying it. Where has the run game been, and why does it magically appear and disappear from time to time? Why can’t the Saints find a way to run the ball consistently?
Relying upon a receivers and tight ends is not always an option. The Saints have got to come up with a plan and quick if they have any aspirations of going any further this season. With the amount of talent and endless possibilities with a brilliant play caller like Drew Brees there is just no excuse not to be able to go the distance.
Coach Sean Payton has started cleaning house with Saints Kicker Garrett Hartley being the first to go this week quickly followed by Cornerback Cris Carr. A good decision but is it too little too late for New Orleans.
The Saints defense also has got to be aware of all possibility that not only will Carolina’s offense do whatever it takes to get into the end zone, but Tampa Bay will do the same. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan had better have cracked some skulls over this week and got back to the defensive assault that the Saints came on so strong with earlier in the season.
With all of New Orleans’ losses being on the road this season they will have a real task ahead of them this weekend against Carolina in their house. The common denominator in all the losses… games at or after 4:00 pm EST. This Sundays game is at 1pm EST and call me superstitious but this may be the key to breaking the on the road losing streak. And I hope that this week they have worked harder than ever before and are mentally prepared for this game, as a die hard Saints fan I want to see my team go the distance, but they continue to play with such dysfunction as they did in game against the Rams, then I don’t think they deserve to go the distance. -Who Dat
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