"The Lull"
 

Serious question here. Does it look to YOU like this year's team routinely comes out in the first quarter looking like one of the greatest football teams EVER ASSEMBLED, then seems to take a nap in most of the second and third, only to wake up startled in the 4th, and then has to pull some magic pixie dust out of their collective offensive/defensive backsides to win the game at the last possible moment?

Last year it was like, we owned the 4th quarter. At the end of the 3rd quarter, whatever the score, I could turn to my friends and say, "who plays lights out in the 4th, fellas?" and they'd all smile knowingly. You could FEEL the defense ratcheting it up all through the game, you could SMELL the greatness of the offense percolating like coffee.

This year, it's like we own the FIRST quarter, maybe a two minute drill before the half, and not much else. Then the last four minutes of the 4th, we will suddenly look SCARY GOOD again, but it's entirely nerve wracking, gut-wrenching, and sometimes tremendously unpleasant to sit through. Even when we win!

What are you folks seeing. What are your impressions. I want to know what people think about WHY this year's games all sorta look like this, with the LULL in them, where the other team hangs around or claws their way back in. It has to be something more complicated than just "Payton takes his foot off the gas" because I dunno. Is he really taking his foot off the gas? That just doesn't seem like something he would do in the second quarter... I think it has to be something else, or a combination of things, but I don't quite know what that IT is.

Thoughts? Theories? Ideas?

There was a stat yesterday that said that we're the number 1 first possession team.

Our opponents shift into "nothing to lose" mode. They start taking chances. Going for it on 4th down. They start playing over their heads. It speaks to the greatness of the Saints' that they have been able to fight off these attacks and still pull out a win.

TOTALLY RIGHT ON

Totally agree. You can tell teams really get up to play the Saints this year. Nobody called trick plays on us last year and without PT and Bush it simplified things for defenses quite a bit. But the Dallas and Bengals game you can tell that fight is still there. As far as Saints seasons go this is actually a very good one. Nothing can top last year but another SB win and they are still on track to do just that just not as pretty as last season.

We don't have that killer instinct in my opinion. Once we have the lead, we stop attacking and do a little more ball control. We need to punch them in the throat when they're down... not let them catch up. As soon as it gets close, we start playing more uptempo and score at will. Play aggressive football 4 quarters long... keep the pedal to the medal.

Sometimes we look asleep at the wheel. We should be blowing teams away and it seems like we get lucky to get the win.

I agree with this.

Thought it was just me, but once we start we need to finish it and finish it quickly and early. These fourth quarter games are causing too much stress. The other teams might have talent and definitely have nothing to lose, but we have better talent and much more to lose. :twisted:

No fire, no sense of purpose. Burn hot then fizzle by 1st quarter's end. At game's end they pile what's left together and make a bonfire and manage to come away having a pretty good time. I can't stand it! There's no consistency...no pass rush...no killer instinct when we do manage a turnover. We fight pretty and politically correct like the U.S. on foreign soil, rather than making a parking lot out of the place. Our turnover ratio is way down this year. I think we should run our two-minute offense all game long - Start winning 62-10.

We better get fixed before the Ravens Game. Their Defense does not quit.

Heard that about Polamalu and the Steelers Defense also.... We did just fine.

We build a lead. We protect it. We lose it. We get it back.

Saw the same things last year...

I really believe that our coaches do NOT want to show too much after building a lead.

Think about it. With all the tape players watch and how smart QB's can exploit defenses - PERFECT example: Tom Brady vs the Jets on Monday Night Football.

Our playoff team will be stronger.

I agree. Payton is intentionally playing soft ball so that he doesn't show his hand. Why show another team what your plays are unless you have too?

You play to win the game. I say show them what you want it's up to them to stop you. Indy has a basic offense they run but wn and win and win..until this year.

If that is what Payton is doing, it's insane and not in a good way.

I'd agree with that except the Ravens are a different breed. The steelers Defense quit. I have never seen the Ravens defense give up. They are a 60 minute defense. Steelers D is good but they are not the Ravens.

They quit against the Falcons when we needed them.

Falcons are playing with the "luck" we had last year.

My main point of all of my posts in this thread is we can not try and play catchup against their Defense. Now If they do quit, or we just outright smoke them awesome. If they play 60 minutes of Ravens Defense and we need to come from behind on a last drive or need two scores....they are not the Bengals.

Payton is a master at deception. I would hate to play Poker against him.

Everything is smoke and mirrors:
Injury Report
Initial Offense line up on the ball.
Initial Defense line up on the ball.
Half Time onside kick.
6 foot undersized Quarterback
7th Round Hofstra Receiver
............

I think there's a bit more to it. Defensive Coordinators around the league have learned to make the Saints offense play small ball. The most amazing thing about the Sunday game was that Meachem got behind the defense twice.

Last year that 50 yard bomb down the field occurred 2-4 times a game. Primarily because play action was so good because we could cram the ball down teams throats.

Note that with Ivory we're getting back to that point. Also do not dismiss Reggie just being on the field forcing the D to account for him.

SFIAH

Nice to see you pop back in SFIAH.