John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Houston – New Orleans learned against Houston on Sunday exactly what it probably wanted to learn in Reliant Stadium, against the two-time, defending AFC South Division champions.

Namely, that the Saints’ jaw appears to be sturdy enough to take a flush punch or two, and their own counter punches pack a force that can be pretty formidable.

In their third preseason game – the one that traditionally, most-closely has approximated a regular-season game – the Saints’ front-liners spotted the Texans a 10-0 lead, then clawed back to take a 17-16 lead into halftime of New Orleans’ 31-23 victory over Houston.

The Saints, in fact, stretched their halftime lead to 24-16 on the first drive of the third quarter when backup quarterback Luke McCown, who replaced Drew Brees on the Saints’ second series of the second quarter, led his second consecutive touchdown drive.

“There’s some encouraging things,” Coach Sean Payton said. “There are also some things we’ve got to get cleaned up.

“There’s still a number of things we’re going to have to work on and improve on.”

The improvement and work are ongoing, and the trajectory appears to be upward.

By the time McCown connected with Andy Tanner for an 8-yard score and the eight-point lead, the Saints had seen all they needed to see. With the Texans providing a measuring stick, New Orleans couldn’t have been displeased with how it sized up against a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Houston zipped to a 7-0 lead after the first quarter, as it piled up 164 yards, 136 more than the Saints. And the Texans added a field goal to open the second quarter, completing a drive that ended the first period.

But even though Houston’s drive ended on Randy Bullock’s 48-yarder, it was a harbinger of New Orleans turning the momentum in its favor. Because in the three plays the Texans ran to open the quarter, they lost eight yards – defensive end Cam Jordan sacked Matt Schaub for a 9-yard loss on third-and-9 from the Saints’ 21-yard line.

From there, the Saints more than held their own in their first road game of the preseason.

The next offensive possession, and the final one for Brees, was a 3-play, 80-yard, 94-second bolt of lightning – a 29-yard screen pass to Mark Ingram, a run for no gain by Ingram, and a bullet pass to running back Pierre Thomas, who lined up in the slot right and beat his defender inside, dodged a couple of more and sprinted down the middle of the field to the end zone.

“The play to Pierre kind of sparked us a little bit,” Payton said.

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Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Overall we played well. Yes there are some things to work on but it looked ok

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Well, it's a matter of time before we're attacked at the Outside Linebacking Spots, but then again, we've got to see Martez and Junior start playing together...

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

I'd like to see that too.:bng:

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

I thought we played well. Well, well enough.

I watched the game distracted. My son wanted to set up his Thomas The Train tent in the living room, and so we did, and I watched the game from inside the tent, listening mostly, and peeking out when I could, so I'm not commenting as though I watched with an eagle eye...

But is it just me, or were their WRs WIDE open WAY too much?

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Johnson was way too open. But he did push off on one play.

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

It looked like a football game usually does with momentum swinging back and forth. We held them to field goals a bunch of times and stopped that 4th down try near the goalline. Defence started out slow but got better. I still think RR is holding back a lot.

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Thats the sad thing about it smash, there was absolutely no push off, Lewis just couldn't make a play on the ball all night - watch at 1:17

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

I was in the stands, there was push off.. I even said something to my wife just as he caught the ball, i expected a flag but nothing was dropped. It was not much but it was enough to get separation.. Watch the video, he puts his hands on him and makes a small movement.... Johnson has been playing long enough to know how to do it with out getting caught.. He is no Roddy White.

If there was not push off then a mystical force caused Lewis to go in a different direction than he was running very quickly.

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Defense was porous, we were down by three when Drew left the field. The OL looked like they were playing on old school roller skates. We weren't winning with the first team out there. Just sayin'...

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

I'll take seeing 10-7 rather than what we were accustomed to last year. With Spags, we would have been down 21-7 or worse...

And I truly feel that if our offense would have had sustained that first drive, we would not have given up that TD...

Punt, TD, FG, FG, Punt, FG in the first half is not bad against a good offense...

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

But we took the lead against their starters with McCown running with mostly ones. The texans played their starters the whole first half.

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

1 of the greatest things about Sean Payton is how he changes the gameplan at halftime n we come back out 2nd half n kick a$$.... So glad we have SP !! !!

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

That makes me question why Brees wasnt able to perform better. It seems as though Houston may have placed some second and third stringers out there for defense. I dont know enough about the Texans to tell though. Also two of the starters for Houston were out on defense, one suspended and the other im not sure why. Could Breehave done better if he stayed in? McCown isnt considered an elite QB, but he sure as hell played like one. I hope we get to see more out of Brees next week. He seems to be getting off to a slow start.

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

McCowan and our starters did more against Houston's 1st string defense than Brees and our starters did..

That being said, our offense is historically slow to get started, we were in the Texans home, and McCowan wants a job.. even if it is at back up. We also shouldnt forget that Brees first laid his hands on the ball where? I believe it was about 2 yards from the endzone after that hellacious punt.

I suspect after the Jets debacle some starting QBs were pulled a few plays before planned this week.

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Keep in mind....Jahri Evans did not play. Eric Olsen (who spends most of his time at backup Center instead of Guard) played while Brees was in and was not able to really step up in the pocket, got pressured and sacked up the middle. Wasn't until Brees worked that TD drive that you saw SP took Olsen out and put Lelito in at guard and the protection was much better.

So in other words I think him not being able to do what he needed fell more on the OL than it did Brees himself...

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

You know as well as I do Watt did not play!! If so things could have been ugly at times!!

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

1 player?

Ok.. Out starting LB corps didnt play.. Could have been ugly.

Colston didn't play, could have been ugly..

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

Did not play...

Marques Colston
Jahri Evans
Jed Collins
Junior Galette
Martez Wilson
Jonathan Vilma

Thats three of our top 4 LB's, and our All-World OG and best WR.

Re: John DeShazier: New Orleans Saints learned they can take a punch, bounce back
 

I'm ready for Thursday.