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Sloppy play leaves the unbeaten New Orleans Saints with some work to do

By Brian Allee-Walsh, The Times-Picayune

November 10, 2009, 1:00AM

To err is human but the New Orleans Saints might have pushed the envelope in the latest chapter of their perfect season, an angst-filled 30-20 win against the vexing Carolina Panthers at the Superdome on Sunday

"I do think we can play a lot better than we played yesterday," Saints Coach Sean Payton said Monday at his weekly press conference. "And I'm not just saying that because it's time to come in here and throw water on a party. I thought it was sloppy yesterday. If we had played well and won it would be one thing, but we didn't.

"It's frustrating because as a coach the first thing you look at is yourself. If what we're seeing on film is what we're coaching, it becomes an indictment on us. We have to get some things cleaned up and we have to do that before we sit in here and say it finally cost us a game. I really mean that."

For perhaps the first time this season, Payton's analysis on "Victory Monday" didn't ring hollow. He even chastised himself for wasting two timeouts on a challenge call during a critical stage of the fourth quarter.

Yes, Payton was pleased his team overcame multiple mistakes and escaped with a franchise-best eighth consecutive victory to start a season. But, there is a fine line between winning and losing in the NFL and he knows the Saints have been living dangerously on the edge the past few weeks.

Against Miami on Oct. 26, the Saints staged a rally for the ages, digging out from a 24-3 hole to win 46-34. Against Atlanta in a nationally televised game Nov. 2, the Saints trailed by a touchdown early but prevailed 35-26.

Then on Sunday, the Panthers sprinted to leads of 14-0 and 17-3 only to join a growing list of teams that have wilted under the Saints pressure in the fourth quarter.

In keeping with a season-long theme of finishing strong, the Saints outscored Carolina 10-0 down the stretch and now have outscored the opposition 91-18 in the final 15 minutes.

"We can't keep doing this," Saints running back Pierre Thomas said after the game. "Some team is eventually going to take advantage of our mistakes and shove it down our throats."

On the car ride home with his family Sunday night, Payton took time to pause and reflect on the good, bad and ugly.

"You think about things you didn't do as well and those things bug you a little bit," he said. "It's certainly easier to come in and coach off of a win than a loss. Nonetheless, I think the mistake would be to shove the film away and move on to St. Louis without really pointing out what we're talking about.

"We talked about this in Miami and here it is again; another big run, a turnover here. We shouldn't have alignment errors, formations. We had too many dropped balls, which has been uncharacteristic of our receivers and there's some route issues that we have to clean up. Defensively, I think we can tackle better and get to the ball better. So these are the things that run through your mind."

They also are the things that Payton and his staff will use in the coming days to prepare for Sunday's road game against the lowly St. Louis Rams (1-7), who are coming off a bye week after posting their first win of the season, 17-10 at Detroit on Nov. 1.

The Saints are prohibitive favorites to defeat the Rams and stay ahead of the Minnesota Vikings (7-1) in the race for homefield advantage in the NFC.

But stranger things have happened. For example, a winless Rams team came into the Superdome after a bye week in Week 10 of the 2007 season and upset the Saints 37-29.

A loss to an NFL bottom feeder, particularly to an NFC team like the Rams, could be costly for the Saints, which is why Payton plans to get his players' attention Wednesday when they return from a two-day break.

"We'll have a tough practice and clean up a lot of the mistakes that hurt us, not only on offense, but on defense, and we'll see if we can get this return game going," Payton said, alluding perhaps to the punt return unit which is averaging a meager 3.9 yards per return.

The mistakes Payton is referring to are correctable, such as missed tackles, turnovers and dead-ball penalties.

"I think yesterday's game was more sloppy than we've seen," Payton said. "When you have an illegal formation or you have 'X' number of drops or 'X' number of turnovers or another big run for 50-plus yards against you -- that concerns you any week.

"Our challenge as players and coaches is to be better and not try to say that was good enough. We have to be better and we have to look to improve and play better football, have better ball security, tackle better, create the plays that we're looking for and not have to settle for a field goal where we had to yesterday.

"All of us -- that includes the coaches and starting with myself with a timeout and a challenge -- those are all areas that we have to clean up and look closely at and try to be objective when we look at the film and find where we can improve."

And despite what their spotless record might suggest, the Saints appear to have ample room for improvement.

"You're not going to play a perfect game, and certainly we didn't yesterday when you watch the tape," Payton said

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