xan

Several players did not show up last night. I'm sure the film will expose the full extent of their failures, but a partial list:

Gregg Williams - 6 months of film study and you break out the New York Knicks Matador Defense? Press coverage starts at 10 yards off the ball? Blitz packages that focus on A-Gap domination when (see below)? Tackle drills? Communication of assignments looked haphazard or not in time? Robinson on their #1?

Franklin/Rogers/Ellis - How is it possible in this universe that the undersized (comparatively) GB line manhandle you all night, especially in critical downs. Thrown around like rag dolls. Is a spin move going to make you throw up afterwards?

Streif/Bushrod. Can either of you play with stiffer hips? Many times, you never laid a finger on your assigned man until he was about to decapitate Brees. Who taught you leverage, Lehman Brothers?

Special Teams - 108? Really? All your talent, speed and ability and no pursuit to the ball?

Sean Payton - Worst critical situation play calling in your 5 years at the helm. Do you HAVE a red zone plan or do those 7 on 7 drills give you that much confidence?

Drew Brees - The 4/inches and last play reads were so obvious my cat was calling an audible. What the hell were you thinking? Did you go to a psychic in the offseason to channel Aaron Brooks' pocket awareness?

WR's - NO SEPARATION. none of you looked urgent. Telegraphed routes, Brees had to make absolutely perfect throws because you had no mystery about where you were going. Your eyes and hips gave everything away.

I'm not going to call out the LBs because of my already low expectations.

Calvin: "I wish I was a Tiger."
Hobbes: "Common lament."

SaintsRule11

I can't disagree with anything that has been said here. Saints defense was piss-poor. This is a huge wakeup call. There were a couple of positive things, like getting to Aaron Rodgers every once in a while. I also think our secondary is getting worse. If we lose to the Bears next week, I'm going to eye the paper bags.

jcp026

Sounds pretty accurate.

BringTheWood

Brees did have some red zone shakiness, and Paytons play-calling was very underwhelming. As for the WRs; It's true that they didn't seem to be getting a lot of separation, but each one contributed well. Devery was 6 for 100 and a TD, Meach had 2-3 nice grabs and a TD, and Colston made the catch that kept us in the game. We'll be fine at WR, we just have to get in our groove. Our second half started to show that. DEF as a whole should be ashamed. Junior was the only person I saw myself watching because he got some pressure at one point. Otherwise, I was just watching to see where Rodgers completed his pass, not if. Greer actually did decent, as most of Jennings success was against Robinson, and he only caught 7 balls (a decent haul, surely, but not as bad as the game made it seem). Tackling has to improve, by leaps and bounds. GW has to step his game up. I'm starting to question his ability to coach defense at a high level. It seems like his success in 09 and the SB was attributed almost entirely to ball awareness and turnovers. We can't rely on turnovers, we have to force punts, or atleast hold to field goals. I'm not gonna get all over Robinson either, atleast not just yet, because honestly, he's still pretty much a rook. He has not seen enough reps to hang with NFL quality receivers, especially not the likes of Jennings, a stud #1.

strato

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Danno

Our new and improved D-line looked exactly like our Old D-line. Wake me when Sedrick Ellis makes a play. I thought he'd improve with two wide bodies next to him, but he was his same old mediocre self.

Gregg Williams - How can an experienced defense like ours look so lost and unorganized?

Our Guards - They're supposed to be the best in the NFL. They looked mediocre last night.

Special Teams Coaching - How can we stock our roster with all these players who are supposed to be excellent special teams players yet we look so bad.

Mystery - We were slipping and sliding all over the place last night. It wasn't a wet field... what gives?

BringTheWood

Everyone except our O flat out looked like crap last night. Plain and simple.
Can Brees play defense and practice with them too? Perhaps that is the only answer.

xan

I'm not "sky is falling," I'm pointing out patterns of repetitive failure.

Good thing is that we played against the best team in the NFL. If we can't fix these seemingly fixable problems, then we may have a long season in store.

9 Days until our next chance to demonstrate higher learning functions.

homerj07

I think the D line knocks up 2 or 3 steps when SMith gets back & we can get constant pressure.

I am concerned about the O line. If we had played that game in any dome - Drew would be would have chest/shoulder injuries.

SaintPauly

So questioning decisions, and pointing out glaring weaknesses is considered "sky is falling" attitudes now? Why have a discussion group at all, if we all just start agreeing on everything, and having a "ho hum, awww shucks" way of looking at games? I certainly hope the coaches arent thinking that way. I agree with everything said in this post. I would also like to add, NO PASSION on the defensive side of the ball. No gel. Looks like the first time those guys had all been on the field at the same time. In fact, the entire defense needs to take a field trip to six flags together to get to know each other!

What's popular is not always right, and what's right is not always popular.....