LKelley67

mine-

1) This looked like the antitype of the Haslett era... heart, grit, determination, fortitude, etc. Those are characteristics. Maybe this character thing has merit after all.

2) All that with only 4 penalties for 14 yards.

3) More impressed with Payton- Of play calling, the 4th down pass to a FB that hasn't been with the team a week is ballsy. If they wanna jam the box and shutdown the run then we'll throw in up 41 times if need be. I loved him when Moore dropped that first down pass- he looked like he was going to slug him. On the replay, he threw down his play card in sync when I slugged the couch.

4) My apologies to John Carney one more time. He is proving many of us wrong that thought he was headed down the backside of the hill fast.

5) I think I heard it said the Colston is the leading rookie receiver in the entire league. A TD catch a week, especially for the national Monday night game and he won't be much of a secret anymore.

6) Colston of receivers but Bush has to now be considered a possible season leader for receptions league wide.

7) I think Venturi was as bad as we thought. Adding Thomas and 3 backup LBs alone couldn't improve the run D this much. It looks real.

8) The pass D is another story. Unless a good free agent corner is obtained in the off season I am sticking with my prediction that a CB will be our first draft pick next spring.

9) Brees can tighten up the ball handling but one was an unexpected great play by Kampman when he was winding up to throw, the other was in heavy traffic, and the pick was off a tip. His obvious leadership in the comeback more than made up for the miscues.

10) Nice to see Joe as an integral part of the game.

LKelley67

just throwing in some nice national press buzz here-

Another guy doing a terrific job is New Orleans offensive coordinator Doug Marrone, whose primary area of expertise is the offensive line. The Saints have a unit that's been cobbled together but, for the most part, the line has played well. That's especially true of fourth-year veteran right tackle Jon Stinchcomb, who had never started a game before this season, and who missed all of 2005 with a ruptured patella tendon. The Saints might even approach Stinchcomb, who can be an unrestricted free agent after this season, about a contract extension at some point this year.

scroll down to Pastarelli

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/lastca...lastcall/week2

thib82

First off, where are all the Brees bashers now. This guy showed amazing composer after having such a tuff start to the game, and was able to put up 353 yards. Looks like to me, Brees's arm is fine. Like Kelley said, this is a big change from the Hazlett era. I think it was 2 penalties for 14 yards in the game for us. That in itself is a huge improvment. I completely agree that Payton's play calling was impressive this weekend. He was able to get alot of different players involved. Backup TE Campbell made a big catch, 3rd string runningback Stecker was used early in the game, 4th string receiver, although he dropped the pass, still atleast was thrown too, then the big 4th and 1 pass to a newley aquired FB for a first down. He did a great job at keeping the defense guessing who was going to get the ball next. There was a 3rd down play where Reggie ran a pattern just before the 1st down marker, the packers bit, and followed Reggie, allowing Devery to get open and convert for the firstdown. We didn't stretch the field against Cleveland alot, but yesterday, we had 2 big TD on longer passes, this will open up the shorter passes for next week, IMO. Our pass defense is bad right now, but considering our division being a weak passing division, stopping the run is the most important key to winning games, and we are doing a good job of that right now. All in all, it was nice to be on the other end of the spectrum, overcoming the 13-0 deficit in one quarter, forcing the fumble late in the game, then icing the game with a big TD run by Duece. It was a good day to be a Saints fan.

TheDeuce

Good point LKelley. I questioned some of the moves that Payton made this offseason because there were more talented players in free agency, but he took these guys with good "character." I think we had been missing players like this for so long, and that might be the reason why we blew so many games in so many ways. Kudos to Payton.

Penalties have been way down this season. Only 6 in the first game, and now 4. If people ever wondered one of the reasons Haslett couldn't make it here, this is just one of the many.

I apologize too, he's been really solid so far. But he still better continue making his kicks, because kicking is a "what have you done for me lately kind of thing."

This kid is amazing. All of the hype seems to be for real. I love the way that Payton is using him in the passing game. He's only a rookie, but we're getting him the ball 6,7,8 times a game through the air. With his explosiveness (and surpisingly good hands) he's a threat to make something happen every play. I know it's not like he came out of nowhere, but I don't think I envisioned him making this kind of impact so soon, especially receiving.

Yes and no. I do think that Venturi was really bad. BUT, I don't think that the players we picked up should necessarily be called backup LBs. Fujita started for Dallas last year and was solid. Simoneau was playing on a talented Eagles defense and got bumped down the depth chart, but last time he started for Philly he had over 100 tackles. Thomas I think just needed a change of scenery.

Maybe. I still think that if a guy like Psoluszny is there we'd probably take him. However, our passing defense is so bad, I think we'll definitely use a high draft pick and also try to address the situation through free agency.

A few thoughts of my own:

1. Deuce is back. Watch out. He might not have had the yards, but he's going to find a way to get in that end zone. I'm pumped. I think that part of the reason he looks so good is because he's slimmed down tremendously. He looked so fat the last few years and seemed to have lost his ability to accelerate. Now he's cutting and bursting and still flattening people.

2. Brees is a heady player with exceptional leadership skills. Last year, this team would have hung their heads and given up. If AB had three turnovers in the first quarter, he'd be laughing it off and accepting a loss. Brees didn't. He strapped it up and went out there and took over. He started out 10-18 with an interception and two lost fumbles. That's a pretty bad start. I know AB never would have recovered. But Brees did, and he finished 25 of 41 for 353 yards and 2 touchdowns. I'm so impressed and so excited to have a quarterback like this on our team.

3. DLine is still playing better than anybody expected them to. They only had two sacks, but Grant forced a fumble, and Favre's interception was a result of defensive line pressure.

4. Fujita is still on fire. 9 more tackles. Good character player.

FatiusJeebs

The game was great. The Saints showed a resiliance that I have not seen in years if not ever. (Really I have to think hard to remember a time when they fought like this.) Brees is getting better, the backs are finding the holes, Wr's are catching and making plays. Defense our run D is beginning to turn heads, Our Db's were not too bad but there is room for improvement. Now, for those of you in the NOLA area......sell the damn season out and make sure the Dome is sooo loud on Monday that we start losing timeouts because Vick can't hear himself. ;0)

BINGO!!

jergensl

the best thing i saw during the game probably went unnoticed by most.

on his way to running out to a screen pass, reggie bush helped his OT jamal brown out by knocking the packers defensive end on his butt and then ran his route, caught the pass and ran for a 20yd gain.

this is the kind of grit i like to see!!!

xan

It is rare in the NFL that a team losing by more than a td by the end of the 1st quarter rallies to win. Simply losing at the end of the 1st quarter by any amount yields over a 70% statistical correlation to losing (an espn link that i'm trying to find but has been cited on this site before). It is a very impressive feat to overcome that deficit on the road in a must win situation for the home team. I'm not a Brees basher, but I'm very impressed so far.

LKelley67

I had to throw in this from ESPN. I love the sarcasm about texas passing on Bush-

16. The Texans say they drafted Mario Williams because they needed a dominant pass-rusher to help slow down Peyton Manning, whom they face twice a year in the AFC South. Well, Williams had no sacks and just two tackles in his first game against the Colts. That sounds bad, but when you consider their No. 1 pick alternative, Reggie Bush, didn't have any tackles yesterday, it's clear the Texans made the right decision.

20. Oh, speaking of next Monday's Saints-Falcons matchup, I'd like to humbly propose a pregame intro feature to the good folks over at ESPN television. Why not have Atlanta running back Warrick Dunn give a free house to Reggie Bush's parents? It seems like a no-brainer to me.


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...e=gallo/060918

GoldRush26

I have to admit this was pretty funny lol.