Loss of RB Thomas hurts Saints offense
 

His loss was a major one for the Saints because of his versatility as a runner and receiver out of the backfield — especially on screen passes.

“He’s going to be OK, that’s most important,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “Pierre does a lot of things well for us and screens are a part of it.”

“It’s tough to lose a player like Pierre, especially on the first series,” quarterback Drew Brees said. “He’s a big part of what we do.”

Full article.
Loss of RB Thomas hurts Saints offense | Saints | The Advocate

Yep, I really felt that was the one event that set off the chain of events causing the Saints to lose.

Even if Pierre didn't score on that run, and even if the Saints only got a field goal.
Or hell, even if Pierre fumbled but didn't get injured, I think everything would have worked out fine in the end.

The moment I saw Roby back to field that kick, I'm yelling "why, why do that??" Sproles has been doing it ALL year. Don't change it now!! But they wanted to save Sproles to fill in for the injured Thomas.

So, Pierre fumbles. They score. If Pierre wasn't injured, Roby would not have been back there to receive the kick, and the kick probably isn't fumbled, and we probably tie it up on the next drive. But, instead, the kickoff is fumbled, and we go down 14-0.

I'm not hating on Roby... he's been a great returner for us the past couple years. I'm just hating on the situation. He got put in there cold. When was the last time he fielded a kick return for us? Probably been a while.

Can you say "targeted?"

I posted before the game that Thomas was exactly the kind of runner they are going to need against SF, and their style of play. Who knew they were so vile as to target him.

But it's like 9/11, there had been movies of planes crashing into buildings, so of course they knew, just like key players of other teams SF had won against, were targeted. And I personally don't really think Thomas had "established" himself, as he'd scarcely turned around.

Funny how they end the article with an out of context "Huey Louis performed the national anthem." Um...OK...thanks for that, I guess.

Pierre was sorely missed the rest of the game.
He had 11 yards in just that first series: 6 yard run and 5 yard catch.
He was in for another +100 yard day had he been able to slip that hit
the way he had been doing all season. Lance Moore was also missing.
His ability to get open quickly to gutt the middle of the defense would
have been huge. All water under the bridge now.
Another good season where we just came up short.
We could not make it happen in the moments we needed it to.
We'll be back for more, and hopefully Payton will read some of my emails in his spare time.

I don't think Pierre was targeted by the 49'r defense any more than any other Saints skill player. Whitner was in position to lay a wicked hit, and he did. It was nothing more than an opportunistic cheap shot. Legal, but cheap.

Losing Pierre early in the game hurt us, no doubt, but it was not completely the deciding factor. The Saints didn't abandon the running game because it wasn't working. Most of the game we were playing from behind and the pass was our strong suit to score quickly to regain the lead. And it worked. We had the game won with 1:37 left on the clock and we let the 49'rs best skill players beat us even though we KNEW they were going to take shots down the field.
I suppose one could make the argument that if we had Pierre for the entire game we could have controlled the game better, but when we have the lead, and the opposing offense has to go 80 yards in 1:30 to score, that's a game we should've won, with or without Pierre.

There was a lot of things that went wrong in that game, I agree with you, but it was just the start. Glad to see PT in o.k..

After PT went out we got one dimensional. Only ran like 14 times? Every time we do that, it is usually a loss. Brees threw 60+ times. The defensive calls on the last few niners series were suspect to say the least. Mistakes killed us from players to coach(GW). And even after all that, still had a chance to pull it out. Just not ment to be this year. Just sucks that we have been knocked out two years in a row by lesser teams.

Well technically, San Fran did have a 13-3 record. Lets face it, how many of us thought there defense was that good?

I wanna yack when thinking about that Seattle game because they WERE a lesser team.
I wanna yack when thinking about 49ers not because they were a lesser team but because after all the stupid mistakes we still had a chance.

Tell you what, bad @$$es or not, if I was an offensive player for the Saints and watched PT get taken out of the game, I'd move on. If I was on offensive player for the Saints and heard on the sideline that he was KNOCKED OUT, I'll admit it would have gotten to me a little. He's a hard runner and he was wearing a helmet. Whitner wasn't even running full speed or anything. That was definitely in the offense's heads. Like a skinny receiver catching balls in traffic after getting laid out by a hawking SS.