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Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/sp...ints.html?_r=1 But in crafting the biggest win of his Cowboys tenure on the strength of his defense, he exposed the shortcomings that have been building in New Orleans for a least a month and could make the Saints vulnerable in ...

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Old 12-20-2009, 09:51 PM   #1
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Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/sp...ints.html?_r=1

But in crafting the biggest win of his Cowboys tenure on the strength of his defense, he exposed the shortcomings that have been building in New Orleans for a least a month and could make the Saints vulnerable in the playoffs. The Saints have scored 40 or more points four times this season, but they have turned into slow starters — they went three-and-out on their first two drives, were down by 14-0 to the Cowboys after less than 10 minutes and managed just a field goal in the first half — which means their offense becomes one-dimensional. “When they throw that many times, they’ll get yards,” Phillips said. “You’ve got to keep them out of the end zone.”

The Cowboys were then able to do what they wanted: play deep, rush the passer, allow Brees to cherry-pick the short and medium pass patterns. It was nothing new — surely Bill Belichick would have liked to get that kind of pressure on Brees, too. But with DeMarcus Ware, who was taken off the field on a back board last week and playing only on passing down to preserve his energy, the Cowboys put more pressure on Brees than he had faced all season. With Jeremy Shockey injured, the Saints could not use a two tight-end set to protect Brees, who was sacked four times, fumbled twice and was sent running for his life throughout the night.

The Saints’ offensive line looked like a liability, with left tackle Jermon Bushrod leaving his quarterback’s blind side so exposed on one sack that the entire Superdome gasped as it saw Anthony Spencer closing in on a clueless Brees.

The end result: the Saints had just three plays of more than 20 yards — the 35-yard pass play Brees is credited for was actually a short pass and long run by Marques Colston — a remarkable statistic considering that against the Patriots less than a month ago, Brees averaged 20 yards per pass play. Against the Cowboys, it was just half that. According to an unofficial tally, Brees did not complete one of the six deep passes he attempted Saturday night. And if one play foretold disaster it was Brees’s deep attempt down the left sideline intended for Devery Henderson. On a normal night, that would have been a 41-yard touchdown pass. Instead, it was a red-zone interception at the 4-yard-line.

“It was one of those nights we weren’t quite clicking,” Brees said. “When you’re throwing the ball every play, they can pin their ears back and rush. They did a good job of staying back and not allowing big plays. We didn’t do a good job of taking the underneath stuff.”

It did not help that Brees was without one of his security blankets — Shockey (turf toe) all night — and without another, running back Reggie Bush (pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury) for the second half. Their absence was especially glaring because the Saints could not sustain drives, going 1 of 7 on third down. That certainly does not give a quarterback time to establish a rhythm, and it does not give a break to an injury-depleted defense that was being shredded by the Cowboys. The Saints held the ball for 13 fewer minutes than the Cowboys, an eternity when the offense has the Saints’ big-play ability.

“We need to get back to scoring fast,” Brees said.

All of that is correctable — the Saints will get plenty of players back from injury for the playoffs, if not sooner — and their defense should hark back to the aggressive unit it was in the first half of the season. Late on Saturday night, Brees was disappointed that the quest for perfection had ended because he wondered how many times a team could get that close to history. But in the locker room, the page had already turned.

“It became a short-term goal,” linebacker Scott Shanle said. “We have the long-term goal out there. Maybe the whole focus can shift to getting home-field advantage.”

On a night when their big play game disappeared, the Saints were finally able to take the long view.


The 14-0 hole was something we could have come out of. In hindsight, I'm sure Payton wished he had protected Brees more and maybe run more early.

Can't wait to see how this team responds.
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Old 12-20-2009, 09:54 PM   #2
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

I wish we ran a lot more. Thomas and Bell why wouldn't ya
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Old 12-20-2009, 09:56 PM   #3
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

Originally Posted by QBREES9 View Post
I wish we ran a lot more. Thomas and Bell why wouldn't ya
I'm sure Payton is thinking the same thing.
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Old 12-20-2009, 10:00 PM   #4
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

Yeah we shot ourselves in the foot early...and if were gonna start slow we should defer the opening coin toss if we win it..bottom line is we stunk for 3 quarters and Dallas came to play..lets hope this loss
sparks this team and the coaches see their mistakes and go about correcting them...
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Old 12-20-2009, 10:02 PM   #5
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

The beauty of hindsight.........

I still think they were trying to give Bell and Thomas lighter duty because of niggling injuries.
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Old 12-20-2009, 10:04 PM   #6
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

Originally Posted by UK_WhoDat View Post
The beauty of hindsight.........

I still think they were trying to give Bell and Thomas lighter duty because of niggling injuries.
You know, something we really haven't discussed is the fact that Bush was having success until he came up lame. That really changed things.
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Old 12-20-2009, 10:09 PM   #7
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

BUSH!!!!!!!!!...he was ..and we needed him to help on Ware...boy cant stay healthy..
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Old 12-20-2009, 10:24 PM   #8
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

They said he was ok.....but maybe he wasn't. Payton doesn't really use Bush much late in the games.....Dunno
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Old 12-20-2009, 10:37 PM   #9
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

Cowboys expose Saints weakness
Uh, no. The Saints offense is perpetually evolving and adjusting. What worked against them this week, won't necessarily work next week. Payton is constantly self evaluating. As a matter of fact, what works in the first quarter, usually no longer works by the middle of the second quarter because the Saints have been great at in game adjustments.

Dallas did come in with a nice game plan, has nice talent on defense, and to their credit, consistantly won some individual matchups. Brees was a bit off of his game, the teams concentration as a whole and intensity was the worst it's been in any game this year. Did Dallas outplay the Saints Saturday? Yes. Did Dallas lay the "blueprint" (I hate that word) for stopping the Saints? No.

With our normal above-average execution, and decent talent on that side of the ball, the Saints offense can exploit any defense. Payton's general offensive design wizardry uses deception, imagination in creating favorable matchups, and multiple formations and personnel groupings allowing us to attack where the defense is most vunerable. We throw to all quadrants of the field both horizontally and vertically so that the defense can never load up on any one thing without taking a big risk. With Drew Brees' understanding, recognition, and accuracy, making it all click, Sean Payton's awareness of his own play calling tendencies and the importance of going against them on occasion, and the fact that most of our skilled people have been together, in this offense for 3-4 yrs now making the execution brisk, the Saints, when fairly healthy, are as close to indefensible as any team I've ever seen.

The Cowboys certainly played well, no doubt but, I can't help but think that Saturday was an anomaly.

Now if this article is saying all it takes to beat the Saints is jumping out to a 21 point lead, well, yes, that worked for the Cowboys and didn't work for Miami but i don't think it's anyone's game plan to get behind by 21.

We're not the Chicago Cubs, we're not the pre 2004 Red Sox, and this organization as it stands now, has nothing in common with Saint teams of the past.

WE WILL BE BACK AND WILL START A NEW STREAK NEXT WEEK.

Any ******* questions????????????????????????????????????



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Old 12-21-2009, 06:16 AM   #10
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Re: Cowboys expose Saints weakness (from NY Times)

Ok the saints got beat by a good club. Not like they were playing their best up to this point. It's the cowboys who are getting healthy and fighting for there playoff lives. Not the Saints. It is just the opposite. We are trying to get healthy before the playoffs and focus on that.

Cowboys went after our weakest link on defense. The rookie Jenkins. They took him deep and dragged him across the field. They attacked our back up DTs with the run game.

Do not give the cowgirls any credit here, that was the Skins who exposed their old DC. Not Wade

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins
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