AlaskaSaints

The components of FIRE are:

Spark, Fuel, Oxygen.

We had Spark Plus One, but not two.

Alaska

skymike

squib: I was thinking the same thing.

dizzle88

morestead atleast gave a better effort to tackle the returner than half of the coverage guys did

you could have literally drove a truck threw the holes we were leaving open on kickoffs

SaintsBro

This is the thing -- special teams coach Greg McMahon is a close friend of Payton's from way way back, he's Payton's guy. He does things that are completely boneheaded sometimes, and things that are kinda okay at other times. He is every bit a product of Payton as much as all these other assistant coaches are, in a very weird way that we are learning this season. Without him they are just...not QUITE empty suits, but much less than what we all thought they were.

There's been a subtle thing over the years where, if Payton doesn't ride McMahon and stay on him, or keep a close eye on him, the special teams go to hell. There have been stretches of games where it starts screwing up, and then Payton steps in and tweaks and fixes whatever McMahon is doing wrong. Or just chews him out etc. We've had periods where the Saints just rolled in on Sundays with some of the worst, most unprepared special teams units in the league, then it gets better and Payton tweaks and fixes it, or puts pressure on the coaches and players to get it fixed.

Payton stepped in and personally intervened on special teams during the playoff run in '09; and the result was that after being really sloppy for many weeks, and losing to Tampa Bay on the missed field goal, after Payton sat down with the X's and O's and focused on special teams, we got all that crazy Reggie Bush punt return stuff Reggie did against the Cardinals, that huge kick return from Pierre Thomas in the overtime of the NFC Championship game, and of course, Ambush.

But not having Payton around to watch over him, it looks like the Giants saw that and exploited it.

SOMETHING was going on with that return stuff yesterday -- you don't just play coverage that badly all of a sudden, it was something the Giants saw in the X's and O's on film, something that McMahon was doing all year, and they exploited it.

But again, this is one of those case where without Payton, the sum of the parts is less than Payton. Thoroughly depressing.

TheOak

I am almost positive there is a better kick off plan that run to the hashes and let him return up the center un-touched.


Either way, kicking it out of bounds at the 30 untouched would have been better than letting then run it back to our 30.

vpheughan

Living in Indy I watched the Colts fall apart last year now they are the 2012 version of the 2006 Saints. I can't get excited over them though. I am and will always be a Saints fan.

UK_WhoDat

Sickening

skymike

know what you mean. Everyone at my work is jumping up and down over the Texans,
and Im like Im sitting in a funeral home. I just cant get into the Texans, and even if they win the SB, ho hum. Im a Saints fan.

Budsdrinker

Curious to see what their mood is tomorrow morning.

Mardigras9

Yes, I do believe he was pissed.