Forecast: Saints believe they'll always find a way
 

What’s the opposite of a team having a Super Bowl hangover? I don’t know what you call it but the New Orleans Saints have it and used it beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 Monday night.

The Saints got outgained and outplayed for three quarters, the 49ers finally tied the game at 22, and then Drew Brees shrugged and drove the Saints for a game winning field goal. It was like every 49ers-Saints game from my childhood except Drew Brees played the role of Joe Montana as soul crushing world champion.
A lot of the national media predicted New Orleans would have the dreaded Super Bowl letdown but it looks to me like the Lombardi Trophy has injected the Saints with the belief they’ll always find a way. Did you have any doubt the Saints were winning that game? I didn’t and since the scars remain from all the heartbreak San Francisco inflicted on my youth watching last night was delightful.
The defense created turnovers to offset getting run over by Frank Gore and Marques Colston finally broke out late so the Saints have back to back 2-0 starts for the first time in team history.
After two games the Saints have a couple of things that should be a concern and surprisingly most of those are on offense. The Saints defense survives on making big plays and key stops. They aren’t going to morph into the ‘85 Bears and they aren’t going to suddenly develop a pass rush that doesn’t involve Gregg Williams attacking the quarterback with more players than the opposing offense can block. The Saints defensive line made Alex Smith look like an elite NFL quarterback. Breaking News…he’s not and you’ll be hard pressed to find a game he looks as good the rest of the year.
A friend of mine in college had one of my all time favorite lines, “When a girl shows you she’s crazy, believe her.” Same thing applies to the Saints defense. They’ve shown us what they are so don’t expect things to change. The secondary is elite perhaps even better than everyone expected and the expectations were it would be really good. Roman Harper looks fantastic and Malcolm Jenkins might not head back to the bench if Darren Sharper ever gets healthy. The defensive line has one really good player (Will Smith) and a bunch of guys who have moments but seem to only play well at home.
I joked on my podcast last week if the Saints didn’t score 30 against the 49ers the over/under on columns about what’s wrong with the Saints offense would be 47,890. So for one of the rare moments here in my little internet real estate I won’t push the panic button about the offense. Sean Payton and Drew Brees have four years of history showing they will score points…a lot of them. The injuries at running back are a huge problem while the lack of big plays from the receivers won’t worry me for a couple more games.
That’s a lie. If Colston, Lance Moore, Devery Henderson, and Robert Meachem only combine for one pass reception of over 20 yards against Atlanta like they did Monday I’ll be hosting a seminar ‘How to reach full blown panic in 60 minutes’. But I’m not there yet.

read more

They will, and we have the coach to lead us.

Yeah, and while I'm not pushing the panic button, my hand is on the panel and I can see it out of the corner of my eye. I think SP & DB will get things rolling on offense and I hope Betts can help out in the running game. We're dangerously thin at that position now.

The real reason for this is the horse show up my ass. Usually it is umcomfy during the week but game days, doesn't feel so bad.

It's simple. Winners find a way to win. Often times that is because they are prepared and have plenty of options that they have done right repeatedly. It's not like they are trying something they haven't used before. This team prepares to win......they know they are winners and they just hunker down and fend off the storm.

We have areas we MUST address & if we don't it may be a long season!!

What we missed Monday night was push on the O-side and penetration on the D-side. No one broke through to make Gore do something before hitting the stack that was already 2 yards down the field. Even after that, there weren't even white jerseys on the ground reaching for him or trying to trip him up before he decided to break it outside to get some more. On the other side, PT was getting ankle-strapped when he hit the pile. He also seemed to miss a few openings to cut-back when they came open. The good thing is that we have another chance to improve and do it better this week, on both sides of the ball.

What were missing is points for TO's also. We usually don't leave an opposing team any openings, and put them away when we get TO's.
4 TO's = 12 pts ( 4 FG at least). This would have forced SF to play catchup , which we love. But we couldn't convert any of the TO's to points.

I am not a bandwagoneer.
However,it is really any given Sunday.
TheSaints are playing it close these last two games.They won and it is early in the season so they will tighten up as games go by.
Remember, the Saints before SB , I mean of the Saints 70's,80's,90's, ruined many teams Sunday by winning. Some high mighty teams came through the Dome and lost to the 8-8, 3-8 , 5-11 Saints.