New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com

Just wanted to post a few points I noticed from watching the game in the stadium, haven't posted a thread in quite a long time!

It was great actually being at a game again! Let's start from where my mind first goes.

Andy Dalton - by no means was perfect, but seeing it live, the offense seemed more methodical with him at the helm. He went through his progressions, he checked down when he had to, and honestly I think he threw some very nice passes.
The deep one to Callaway was right in front of us and looked fantastic, as did the Olave seam pass near the end.

I'd be more comfortable with Dalton going the rest of the way, Winston makes me too nervous.

Running Game - I respect all that Ingram has done, but I think he is in fact done. The minute that Murray came into the game, the offense just changed. Murray was getting gains of 6,8,5,7 yards consistently.
Murray is decisive and Ingram, this late in his career still likes to dance too much.
The Vikings fans around us kept asking why Ingram was replacing Murray all the time.

OL - was shoddy in the early going but they seemed to get better, I noticed some Max Protect calls for Dalton, especially on play action. They also seem to respond better with Murray at RB.

Olave is honestly a stud, so fluid and catches the ball with his hands. I hate that he kept taking hard hits in the middle of the field but every time he got right back up. Dalton had him a few times, one was an underthrow that brought Peterson back towards it.

Turnovers - We just can't shake the fumblitus.
I'm in no way Nostradamus, but I feel I've watched enough to get a feel for the game. When I saw the punt, I said to my wife, "Harty needs to leave that" he didn't and then he fumbled.

Not-Nostradamus Pt2 - I called the Vikings fake punt to my wife too. I saw Cousins signal to the sideline that they were going to stay on the field, the sideline hesitated for a good 3 seconds and then called him off.
I said to my wife, "I think it's a fake, it's only 2 yards." Unfortunately I was right.

Defense

They've kept us in every game this year, this one being no exception. The Vikings fans around us were getting agitated that their team couldn't get 7 points in the redzone.
Quick fire points here

- Werner is the real deal and honestly, I'm sure after every play, most of the time the announcer would say "Werner with the tackle"

- Cam Jordan and the D line started to get more pressure, after a slow first half

- The Vikings made a mistake by not calling more toss / outside runs, we lack any real tacklers on the outside. They kept running inside where the D line and Werner / Davis were there for.

- Marshon got worked all day by Jefferson, he had no answer and was lucky Jefferson dropped a TD.
Big time players make big time plays in big time games, unfortunately, teams seem to go after Marshon in big time spots and they have a good amount of success doing so.
JJ's routes made Marshon look silly a bunch of times and that last long pass was the icing.

-Tyrann Mathieu, I have to say, other than the int, I've spent 4 games being unimpressed. He is not a willing tackler, I'm not surprised his mentor was Deion Sanders, because the business decisions he makes are uncanny.

I think we've let a lot of talent in the secondary walk.

Lutz - 2 fantastic kicks, I'm not holding a 62 yarder against him. For a missed kick, it was still a great one.

Zebras - this one I hate.
Early in the game on our first punt, the Vikings got away with a blatant block in the back.
On an early WR screen, one of the Vikings had Lattimore in a headlock.

The worst bit however, was that the end of the game felt extremely scripted.
We went 25-22 up and that was almost "activate flag mode"
3 straight stops on 3rd down, all negated from penalties. It seemed almost too blatant, sure there'd been some missed calls, but it looked and felt like they were only watching us the minute we went ahead.

All in All, an enjoyable game and Dalton, Olave and Lutz almost sent it to OT but it wasn't to be.
Had a great time nonetheless, met some very nice Saints Fans from Las Vegas and I think we made a decent team panic.

Apologies for the long post, enjoy some pictures from the game, we've got a very good video of Murray's TD that I'll post!