New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com

8. I think these are the best nuggets from the enlightening America's Game 2009 New Orleans Saints show, airing on NFL Network Wednesday at 9 p.m. EDT:
a. Never knew Sean Payton, a strike-team quarterback for the 1987 Bears, threw an interception on his last NFL pass -- and it was a Saint who intercepted it.
b. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams showed his players nature videos of animals pouncing on their prey and devouring their victims ... to get them in the mood for the way he wanted them to attack quarterbacks.
c. When kicker Garrett Hartley missed a game-winning 37-yard field goal against Tampa Bay in Week 15, he came to the sidelines with a hangdog look. Peyton barked at him: "Let's go! Get that look off your face! Have some nuts!''
d. Second half, NFC Championship Game, Payton on the sidelines, to no one in particular about Brett Favre: "This guy's going to make a mistake now, I promise you.''
e. I still can't believe Hank Baskett blew the catch on the Super Bowl onside kick to start the second half. You'll see a great view of it on the show -- and you'll be amazed that a wide receiver on the front of the kickoff-return team, clearly there because of his hands, lets the ball bounce off him and right into a pigpile of Saints.
That's a vastly underrated part of the Super Bowl story. If Baskett recovers the simple bouncer at the Saints' 45, Peyton Manning takes the ball on a short field, and if he drives the Colts to a touchdown instead of Drew Brees driving the Saints to a touchdown, the game could have been changed in a huge way. But with 25 minutes left in the game, instead of Indy being up 17-6, the Colts trailed 13-10. Baskett gets off far too easy for his error.
f. On the Peyton Manning interception that Tracy Porter intercepted and ran back for a game-icing touchdown, NFL Films has a good iso camera on Reggie Wayne. Three points.
First: Poor throw by Manning, obviously, to a spot where he thought the receiver could be just beginning his cut, because Porter stepped into the hole and made an easy catch.
Second: Great anticipation by Porter made that play happen. Clearly he knew Wayne almost certainly would be running an incut route on the play, and he anticipated it brilliantly.
Third: I don't see Wayne on an iso camera running routes often, but this one was rounded and lazy and not run with the speed that could have had Wayne cutting off Porter. All in all, I'd credit Porter for a great football play, but I'd also criticize Wayne for his route and, to a lesser degree, Manning for making a throw that Porter saw coming a hundred miles away.
9. I think, speaking of strategy and the Saints, it's significant that Darren Sharper starts the season on the PUP list. As I wrote in my Sports Illustrated pro football preview essay on spread offenses and how defenses are trying to trump them this week, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams used Sharper as his blitzing missile in the NFC title game. Williams sent Sharper through the "A'' gap (the gap between center and guard) four times. Twice Sharper nailed Favre cleanly, once so hard he left Favre badly bruised.
The interesting part of the story, to me, is how Williams debriefed Sharper when he arrived in free agency and found out the Vikings wouldn't go back and watch every game to determine where the blitzes came from early in the season, and thus didn't expect Sharper to come through the A gap. I wonder if the Vikings will go back farther than eight games to study where Williams might send the pressure from this Thursday. The Vikes should.

much more here including his video picks... Saints NFC South Champs again