Henderson: Better team won; Hartley should stay & more
 

by WWLTV.com

wwltv.com

Posted on September 27, 2010 at 8:54 AM


Jim Henderson appeared on the Eyewitness Morning News with Sally and Eric and touched on the following thoughts.


- A physical football game
You knew the way the Falcons play football that was the way it was going to be. They have two excellent running backs and had a third in Jerious Norwood who was hurt last week. They’ve got a veteran offensive line and the Saints really didn’t defend the run that well late last season and haven’t really made any improvements up front among the defensive tackles to defend it better this year, so you knew you were going to get a lot of Michael Turner, you knew you were going to get a lot of Jason Snelling and the Saints certainly did. Atlanta ran the ball 50 times yesterday and had time of possession lead of 45:50 to 27:15, I can never recall seeing that.

- Important win for Falcons

It was a huge game for Atlanta. As I said prior to the game, if they’re really going to be considered, perhaps the front runner to win the NFC South, or certainly to make the playoffs out of the NFC South, they had to make this rivalry more even on the road. Sean Payton was 7-1 against them. They had done so well against the Falcons in the Superdome of late. Mike Smith had never won there. This was a game the Falcons truly had to win to get the credibility that they seek as the potential division champion, so I think it meant a little more to them than it did to the Saints and I think the best team won yesterday.

- What to do about Hartley?

That’s going to be a really interesting question. You’ve seen the reports that John Carney will be brought in and they’ll probably look at some other kickers if for no other reason than to keep their ready list up to date, but this is always a tough call. There a lot of reasons that these guys are on the street. As I will say in my commentary tonight, I’d like to see Carney come back, but as the kicking consultant he was late last year. You look at a kicker like Garrett Hartley, a young kicker, these are the only guys who have people coaching them who have never played the position. So, I’d really like to see Carney as a kicking consultant, if you put him on the roster, it’s going to create some roster problems and we’ve been through that before in 2006 when we had Carney and Billy Cundiff kicking the long field goals and that never worked out very well, so it’s going to be a tough call.

He’d never missed inside of 30 yards – 5 of 5 – as a Saint. The hard part will be to keep his confidence. Every kicker goes through stuff like this for the most part and it’s up to the coach to make the very hard decision to ride it out or to have the turnstile roll again. You bring in a Martin Grammatica or the Olindo Mares of the world and they hit a couple of kicks for you and then they go flat and you go back to the scrap heap. Garrett Hartley’s a young kicker with a very strong leg and I think he’s very strong mentally.

- Saints problems had been masked by wins

The Saints had been living on borrowed time with the way they played against SF, they were out played really in many respects b y the Niners, they were certainly outplayed by the Falcons yesterday and a lot of things get overlooked in victory. They certainly won’t be overlooked now and the schedule gets quite a bit easier over the next four games and that’s going to help, but I’m really concerned about the Saints running game with Pierre Thomas. If you look at the depth of the Saints RB corps, there’s nothing behind him to speak of. Chris Ivory certainly didn’t look ready yet.

Henderson: Better team won; Hartley should stay & more | New Orleans News, Local News, Breaking News, Weather | wwltv.com | Eye on Black and Gold

Saints problems have been masked by wins...Thank you

I’d like to see Carney come back, but as the kicking consultant he was late last year.

The sky isn't falling but we better get some issues addressed and taken care of. The O line and D line have been apathetic(not pathetic but close). There is no pressure on opposing QB's and the run stopping hasn't been good to date. Drew hasn't had time in the pocket to be effective even with his quick release. There are no holes for the backs to get through and the receivers don't seem to be able to get open. But we have a soft schedule ahead for the next month and no tough games for quite awhile. We could easily be 6-1 by the end of October. Time enough to take care of business. As a consultant Carney could be just the one to help Hartley.

I'm guessing no one is sweeping these things under the rug anymore.

I don't want to hear crap from 'No hands', Henderson what ever he has to say means nothing to me. Yeah they are better cause the can actually catch the ball - idiot.

You could not make a field goal period so what makes you an expert?
You're a couch potato arm chair expert. What is more realistic is to disregard anything you have to say. Lance Moore and Brees have both also stood up for Hartley. I'll take those three guys word for it before your drivel.

Does this statement qualify as an oxymoron?

that came out like i'm baiting someone for this. but he really missed it.LOL