SaintsBro

This is a very good question for you to ask and explore. Well, first, the Bucs actually didn't do anything to beat us -- our 6 ft 6" tight end Jimmy Graham ran into his own head coach on the sidelines at full speed, and blew out Sean Payton's entire knee, in a one-in-a-zillion freakazoid accident. That sent the whole Saints sideline into pandemonium for the first half, and the vaunted Saints offense was basically a headless chicken running around the field, for most of the 2nd quarter in Tampa... not too much chance of that happening again.

How did the Rams do it? Part of how they did it was, they had an insanely pumped up home crowd, because of the World Series win the night before, and a big beefy Pro Bowl caliber running back who was playing out of his mind that day...neither of which you have right now.

There was something else the Rams did to us. And that was drive-killing sacks. Not just any old sacks -- weird as it sounds, crazy, I know, but Drew Brees does get sacked and pressured from time to time -- but these were drive-killing sacks. You're watching the game, and if you see your Lions sack Brees or pressure him on 1st or 2nd down, don't get too excited just yet...third down coming up and the Saints are lethal on third downs.

And just remember as you watch the Saints line up on 3rd down, 3rd and 16 or 3rd and 10 is almost no different for the Saints than a 3rd and 3 -- it's not really any more difficult, nobody gets nervous, the Saints make those ridonkulous 3rd and long plays all the time. Routinely. Like it's no big deal.

And on 3rd down, ANY Saints weapon is on the table, all of them, including the above-mentioned screen or dump-off to Sproles or Thomas, the one that looks harmless, like it's nothing at all -- you'll be jumping out of your chair, thinking "tackle for a loss," until that RIDICULOUS WALL OF PRO BOWL BLOCKERS magically materializes from out of nowhere in front of Sproles or Thomas, and goes charging down the field leading the way for him, busting out 20+ yards.

So it's not just generic sacks or "we need to get pressure on Brees" -- that alone won't do it. We hear that a lot, and it never works out well for the opposing team. A sack on 1st or 2nd down only means, you've gotten Brees mad at you, making him more dangerous and even harder to defeat, and 3rd and long just means that Payton simply flips the big laminated play calling chart over, and calls out another different insane high octane play to run. The Lions would need sacks and pressure at the right time in the right place, to slow down the Saints, which is not easy.