The Saints continued their stumble out of the gate this week with a loss to Tampa Bay.  Perhaps the three biggest areas that hurt the Saints this week were the offensive line, overall offense, and the defensive secondary.  These three seemed to plague the Saints for yet another week as they try to figure out what is wrong.

Heading into this season the Saints thought they had addressed all the problems that they had, adding help on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.  However, for the second week in a row the Saints stumbled on offense and the defensive secondary appeared unable to stop anybody.  Tampa Bay seemed to pass the ball at will, able to pull off big play after big play.  However, unlike last season, the Saints offense appeared unable to keep up with the Tampa offense, leading some to wonder what types of changes Coach Payton and his staff will make this week.  With a loss to the Colts and to the Bucs, the Saints appear not to have addressed some of their glaring needs in the off-season, which leads fans to wonder how long before Saints rookie Usama Young is given the start to determine if he can help add some support to the secondary.

Hopefully next week the Saints will go into the game prepared and able to contain their opponents, something they were unable to do to the Bucs this week.  However, if the Saints are going to want to turn their season around they will need to make corrections to the offense, offensive line, and the defensive secondary, all three areas that have plagued the Saints so far in this early season.  If there were any positive to take out of this week’s loss is the fact that in the second half the Saints appeared to have a few moments where the offense appeared to be coming to life, something that they were unable to do for the first game and a half.

 

Saints vs. Titans Game Preview

The Saints will be facing the Titans this week in an effort to turn their season around.  While there are many areas the Saints will need to focus on this week if they want to compete next week against the Titans, perhaps one stands out the most.  That one area is for the Saints to limit the big plays by Titans quarterback Vince Young.  Young is a game breaker who can keep any team in the game if given the opportunity.  The Saints will need to assign somebody either to spy the quarterback or make sure that the defensive front four stays in their zones during the game and not to allow Young to make any big plays with his legs.  

Offensively the Saints will need to stretch the field and find ways to open up the run and the screen pass.  It appears that teams are not currently worried about the deep pass and if the Saints receivers continue to drop passes, it could make next week another long game for Saints fans.  Hopefully the team will be able to make corrections and the real Saints will show up for the Titans game.

 

Saints Player of the Game

Once again it was a struggle to determine who should be named player of the game for this game, not because of the fact that the Saints played that well, but instead because the Saints played so poorly that it’s tough to give any player a pat on the back for performances so far.  With that in mind, this week’s player of the game award goes to David Patten.  While Patten didn’t really have an exceptional week, he did do one thing that many on the offense seemed to struggle with this past week, catch and hold onto the ball.  Patten had two catches for 66 yards.  He has the potential to be that go to receiver that the Saints need with sure hands who can provide them with a solid third down option.  Hopefully the coaching staff will take a look at the game film and the struggles some of the young receivers had and then notice how Patten made the most of his chances and give him the opportunity to play.  With that in mind, Patten gets this week’s player of the game award and hopefully the opportunity to win a few more.

 

Q & A

Q & A is the question and answer section.  If you have a question you would like answered, email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with the subject heading of Q&A and we will try to answer the question to the best of our ability.

 

Psycho’s View

Okay, while this is only the second week, I have to say that it is time to start calling for the rookie Usama Young.  He is a star quality cornerback and while he will have growing pains, it can’t be any worse than what we are seeing from the secondary right now.  Offensively and defensively the Saints need to get their heads in the game and start making some adjustments or by the end of the season the Saints will have to focus on whom they are going to take with an early draft choice instead of who they are going to be playing in the playoffs.  Perhaps the one bright spot is that the rest of the division has stumbled out of the gate also and leaves the door open to the Saints even with the slow start.
 

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Deuce McAllister  Drew Brees  Indianapolis Colts  New Orleans Saints  Tenessee Titans