Top Ten Points About The Carolina Game
 

I like to see everyone's capsulized thoughts about the game rather than 10 different threads. Give it a try. Here's mine-

1. Even in losing I felt good about the team. They had a shot, they played competitively, they never gave up. There were mistakes but not total self implosion like so many Haslett coached games were.

2. The Carney missed FG could have made a diff but I still cannot fault the guy for his performance so far this year- especially when I dissed him so bad in preseason.

3. Brees looks better and better to me. I continue to keep thinking... could there be anymore antitype to Fumbles the Clown than this guy?

4. More penalties in this game than the first 3 but they did not stand out as the game changers or terribly stupid ones still.

5. The big losing points- missed FG, Bush fumble in the redzone, 90yd 6 min go ahead drive by CAR in the 4th qtr, the 43yd Foster TD instead of getting the ball back down 14-10 with a minute and a half to go.

6. Many of us considered the O-Line a great cause of concern starting the season. They have been a good surprise story. Even before this game though, I think the pass blocking has been REALLY surprising and good. The run blocking doesnt seem to be near as good though.

7. The Bucs game will show a lot about Payton as a leader and motivator. Okay, we lost. But we still lead the division and a team is coming into our house that is ripe for the picking. This is one we will be favored to win and should.

8. Is Colston now the frontrunner for R-O-Y beyond our opinions now?

9. After the great pass rush in past weeks and the banged up Panther O-Line I was disappointed in not having more sacks. Jake does show good pocket presence though in getting rid of the ball.

10. I heard multiple more times on all networks than in previous weeks that "the Saints are for real". The quality play upgrades my outlook to 8-8+ and Payton as a Coach of the Year contender.

RE: Top Ten Points About The Carolina Game
 

Aikman was saying that, even though they lost, he is still impressed with the Saints. Now that could have been because he said that so many times in the game that he had to keep it up afterwards. But it was good to hear anyway.
Also, they never would have made that 2 point conversion last year. IMO, of course.

My key point is that this was Payton's worst coached game.

I was screaming to call a TO on that Keyshawn catch. I saw live that he may have trapped it. It's worth risking it to have a big momentum swing and force the FG attempt. I think that call would have been reversed and we give up 3 instead of 6.

I didn't really care for the playcalling most of the game. I thought we pounded the middle too much based on the lack of any real success doing it. The Bush fumble was a result of this IMO.

Speaking of the Bush fumble....those jacknuts blew the whistle while the ball was still laying on the ground and nobody tried to get it. That should have been the old "inadvertant whistle" and we should have kept the ball. Yes, it was a fumble. But they blew the damn whistle while the ball was laying on the ground. The announcers totally missed that detail.

We didn't stretch the field. In this regard, they looked a bit like the old Saints. All the throws were in the less than 20 yard range, other than the desperation TD to Colston. I think we have to take at least 2 shots early in the game to loosen up the Safeties and open up the running game.

Having said all this, we still look like a well coached team. It was just not a real good day for us. We moved the ball well between the twenties and are still not scoring like I think we can.

Let's give the rookie hell on Sunday and go to 4-1.

Duece AINT a back-up
 

Duece is a former 1600 yard rusher who can control the clock. He is a workhorse who can pound out the tough yards. Why did Payton start our third down back and play him like he's an everydown back. Reggie is great..right now he's a third down back, a slot reciever and a punt returner. I'm sorry to say this, and I love N.O. to death, but that loss is on the coaching staff...

RE: Duece AINT a back-up
 

I agree with all of you. I think our passing game would've benefited quite a bit with more Deuce up the middle.

agree with those good points-

*too much pounding (especially with Bush) without enough success.

*ya do need to air one out at least once a half IMO. Even with fast Devery out still give it a shot to keep the DBs honest.

>>>also, there were so many borderline calls both ways I wonder if it was just that crew. I read an article last year that tracked the officiating crews. Some were much more let'em play and others had higher amounts of calls. Kinda like umps with strike zones. I wonder if this is well enough established that teams prep for it? As in, say, this week you need to be really careful how tight you bump receivers or don't be afraid to jam this with this crew. Eh?

I'm most concerned with the fact that we gave up 167 yards rushing, considering their o-line is patchwork and one of those guys left the game early. Our run D still has a LONG way to go.

Wow, I couldn't agree more with the playcalling. I am making this very point on another forum. We NEED to at least take a shot or two deep a game. You can't give a good defense such a small area to defend. We had 407 yards of offense, 60 something of it rushing. That is WAY out of balance for a game we were in up until the end. This is due to Carolina being able to play the safeties and LBs closer to the line, cause we won't throw a pass over 7 yards. And when we did cause we were forced to, and Carolina knows we were focred to, Colston makes a huge play. He is not the fastest guy, but I will take him one on one against any DB in the league right now as a good match up for us. But by not even taking a shot all game until that point, we never cleared any running lanes at all. Everyone on the defense was playing for the run and the short stuff. We have to put a shot up once in a while to keep the defenses honest, especially with the defenses we have to play this year. We don;t wanna give them any more advantages. But damn, the whole chat I kept saying we need to take a shot or two deep to open things up. It came too little too late.

i agree yasoon about the whistle being blown while the ball was still on the ground. i wasnt too happy with that call, as well as not trying to review the keyshawn "catch"

one thing no one has mentioned that i think is a problem is carney on kick offs....ill admit i trashed him in the preseason and ill openly admit ive been wrong (so far) for his FG attempts....kicking off however he doesnt seem to have the leg strength he once had, i dont think hes kicked one into the end zone yet and too many times hes kicking it to the 10-15 and giving the other team a chance for a return and setting up good field position. anyone else notice this?

The big Colston gain wasn't exactly a fly pattern either. Same thing with Horn last week, it was more run after the catch. (Colston did show some speed there also!) It serves a lot of purposes as noted. Personally I love three downs running for a first then play action the next first and toss it up down the sideline.

I'm continually impressed by the degree of insight found in these devoted fan forums. I wish we could have a roundup of our points that could forwarded to the OC, DC, and ST coaches. I'm also still enjoying that our thoughts are still of the relatively minor variety. Payton brings both creativity and the unknown factor being a new full fledged signal caller in the league. Sheez, those last three Haslett years were driving me nuts. I may not have the expertise but I know I had more creativity than they did.

agree on Carney WV but no better options that I see. Berger was good for that additionally.

Makes me think... The quality of coaching and play could so dramatically improve here that it becomes a preferred destination by free agents. There are a bunch of good kickers in the NFL right now IMO. They aren't guys that often get tied up too long term in contracts though. Kicking on turf in a dome guaranteed 9 games a year for a contending team of a franchise on the upswing is a good option.

I agree here too. I was glad they evened out. I considered it a wash.

That 4th down pass interference was pretty lame, but I'll take it. The Keyshawn catch was also lame and the ref was staring right at it.

There was also a play where you could see a guys arm basically clotheslining Hollis' chest. I know there are holds on every play, but when there is separation and you can see the O lineman still grappling, those are easy to call. I can't remember which play it was, but I think they had a pretty good gain.

We also needed some more pass rush today.

And it is weird how well we pass block and we can't really open any big holes in the rushing game. That points to more Deuce and less Reggie in the running game if I'm coaching. Then you throw that ball to Reggie in space.

I think not having holes to run, goes back to the not throwing the ball over 7 yards deal. Carolina knew they didn't have to defend deep, so the safeties and LBs were up. That's how Thomas Davis got semi picked on the Reggie Bush pass. He was practically touching the linemen moving down the line of scrimmage to get to Reggie, then got caught behind Reggie once the ball was snapped. With no respect for anything deep, they played the short pass and the run. If we don't make teams respect deep, it will be tough to run all year, especially with the defenses we face.

I think our coaches forum is worth a listen. LOL Also on the thought of opening it up, commentators said exactly that of the Panthers and Steve Smith: his continuos deep threat opened up lanes for the Foster and Williams.

Maroney's a good one.




8)

Overall a great showing in my opinion. I agree that the playcalling wasn't so great this time and they played virtually mistake proof football against us even though we outgained them and had the time of possession in our favor. The 43yd TD run inflated the numbers against our rushing D, which did a solid job again until late in the 4th quarter, but without whitehead and ninkovich to spell the line I guess they got tired. Also without that TD run, we wouldnt have gotten the ball back at all and they win - remember they just got a 1st down before he broke the run on the corner and we had no timeouts left. So i didnt mind it especially after the sweet hookup to colston to make things interesting.

I think we need to find a way to get bush the ball more in open field. That one pass where they sent him on an out route was brilliant and i hope they use more of those calls, but he just isnt able to to turn the corner as easy in the NFL, and seems a bit too impatient to wait on the holes to open up. I am hopeful that once he gets his first score he calms down a bit. And i am just not impressed with him on punt returns so far....got to run forward Bush.

Colston has gotta be up there with the pats RB for ROY thus far, but soon enough teams will start covering him differently and the offense will shift back to joe and reggie since he continues to prove that single coverage isnt gonna stop this rookie. love this guy!

I want more deuce... reggie is gonna be fantastic but has alot to learn still.

O-line is doing great against the pass defense, but isnt getting the push for the run. that carolina line made me jealous in the 4th quarter when they were able to take the entire line 5 yds with the ball. nevertheless they have blown away my expectations.

D-line and defense in general is 100% legit...its so nice to watch and i dont think there will be a problem rebounding next week against the Bucs. Poor gradkowski...gonna be a painful learnigng curve next week i predict.

Solid overall effort...gameplan not as sharp..and a bit of a letdown with the fumble and missed FG that would have been enough to give us the win in this hardfought matchup in their home turf....im proud as hell of this team and i think this will turn out to be a healthy loss as its a young team that will learn a lot from it and turn the pressure down a bit. Undefeated is a bullseye for everyteam you play and gives them a little more motivation.

this was the best D-Line to practice run blocking against. Is one way to look at it. Look at the teams we are going to face after the bye.

Iffin he's be so goot, why dey be call him Phony Maroney. :lol:

Agree in general on all Sarsippus except for this-It was 3rd and 7 on the 43 when Foster broke that. Stop them on that play and they have to pooch punt or try a 4th down play. Stopping then would be no score and getting the ball back at 14-10. The Colston score in that case would have been a game winner.

Re: Duece AINT a back-up
 

i agree...bush getting the ball almost every play is not fooling anyone...
DUECE, HORN, then when noone is ready hit bush for a big gain