Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

Jared Cook has lost the fire, intensity and hunger. Those INTS sure didn't help either.

At the elite level of football, you don't win turning over the ball that many times in a playoff game. Once some of you go back and review the film, you'll see how bad Alex Anzalone really is in coverage. If Kwon doesn't return, go find a replacement because Anzalone isn't good enough. Anyone see Devin White at LB ? We need to consider bringing back Mike Nolan and develop more talent at linebacker.

Drew Brees is pretty much done playing. Time to see what we have in Jameis Winston. He's had a complete season in this offense, so I'd like to see what he can do.

I thought Lattimore and Jenkins played well.

This team made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, something a lot of squads weren't able to do. We can only have one winner but losing sucks.

The playoffs are a different animal, I'm not even mad.

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

Kwon was a huge loss for us he was playing lights out football and Anzalone was nowhere near filling that gap. The Michael Thomas situation was a little more puzzling possibly still not recovered from the ankle injury. As for Drew expecting a 42 year old quarterback coming back from 11 bruised ribs and a collapsed lung was a stretch to say the least. Not having Taysom was probably the kiss of death for us, not having his versatility sadly weakened our attack. Now add Murray being out who consistently picked up those hard yards. If by some Saints VooDoo miracle
we limped into Green Bay the 22 degree snow predicted weather would have been a far reaching expectation. Key players are crucial, Mahomes
went down for KC in the Browns game and they barely held on to win.

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

Whilst I'm sad that this might be Drew's last ever game and annoyed at how his prime was squandered with poor squads, I'm optimistic and excited about the future.

It might not be pretty for a while, a lot of players being cap casualties, I think a change at QB will allow this team to re-establish their own identity and make use of the players we have at WR, with routes above 10-15 yards.

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

I agree with this. I’m gonna miss Brees- he’s truly a HOF quarterback who was surrounded by sh*t defenses for most of his career, and I feel like it deprived him of at least another Lombardi if not more, but I honestly feel good going forward with Jamie’s if that’s the plan. He threw that decently deep pass to Smith with accuracy and little effort. Our situation could be much worse honestly.

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

What happens to the remainder of Drew’s money if he retires? Do we have to eat it?

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

We went 12-4 this year with a very mediocre Brees.

This team will be just as good next season, if we can keep the rest of the team in tact.

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

-Future is bright.
-Can't turn the ball over in the playoffs.
-Cook play was the back breaker. Could have been up by two scores. Game over.
-Harris is a game changer. Hopefully the neck issue can be fixed.
-T. Smith has the ability. Hopefully he stays healthy.
-Thomas got no separation yesterday. Could have been injury related. Very disappointing.
-Murray and Hill being out was huge. Again, the few plays they make are difference makers.
-Dline pressure was good. Not great. But, the defense absolutely played well enough to win.
-Definitely time for Brees to go. Amazing run.
-Sad to see Campbell go.
-QB, LB, TE, RB, CB, S in the draft. Love Hill. Would move up to get Jones. Reminds me of Brady. Harris at RB with Kamara would be no drop off. Pitts at TE. Moses or Parsons at LB.

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

Biggest observation for me was that the Bucs coaching staff made the adjustments from the first two games and we didn’t have an answer. Our d-line was total no-show because TB neutralized the pass rush with the run game, shorter throws and more guys in protection. On the other side of the ball they got very aggressive with our receivers and played everyone up not having any fear of the deep ball. These adjustments combined with losing the turnover battle 4-0 was a recipe for another early playoff exit.

Also on a side note, when Cook fumbled up 7 and driving in the third I turned to my wife and said we’re losing. She seemed surprised since we were leading at the time but I knew, I’ve seen this team too many times in the playoffs. Once one thing goes wrong, everything seems to spiral with this team. We just never seem to be able to grab momentum back in these playoff games.

A lot of uncertainty going forward. It’s really hard to win a super bowl without an elite QB which we don’t have right now with Hill or Winston so my gut says we should probably blow things up, get out of salary cap hell and start building through the draft and hopefully find our next QB and rebuild.

Last, thank you Drew for everything you did for this franchise and city. We got so spoiled having him as our QB for 15 years. It’s a shame the FO couldn’t get the defense right until after his prime or else we’re probably looking at another super bowl or two. But, he did bring us one which if I’m being honest I never thought I’d see in my life so that’s something I’ll always remember about the Drew Brees era.

Who Dat B&G!

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

The Browns were victims of a "Non Call" that fumble at the goal line that ended as a touch back for KC was clear " leading with the crown of the helmet" be willing to bet that was the reason the Saints got that called in their favor. I'm sure the NFL is drafting "The Oops There It Is" letter to Cleveland as I write this.

Re: Observations from yet another Saints early exit in the playoffs
 

Good luck with that. The difference is a different QB will not beat a Brady-led team even once in a season(next year at least). Unless we go after someone like Stafford or Foles but I won't be around for that.