SaintsBro

I thought yesterday looked to me like a LOT of other Saints games from the past (especially 2010, it seemed to happen a lot then) where the offense kinda does a Rip Van Winkle, and goes to sleep for a while, for a quarter or so, then it suddenly wakes up and says "Oh, gee, I almost forgot, we're AWESOME" and then they just turn on the jets again and start humming.

I remember the quote from Aaron Kromer last year, that the Saints offense historically tends to be, it's either a three-and-out, or it's points. Historically that is the pattern they have observed.

Obviously, in theory the coaches want to score every time they have the ball, and are never satisfied with anything....in theory....but in reality, that pattern is okay by them, as long as they DO score a lot of points and as long as they can limit the three-and-outs.


But historically, in terms of the offense, once they get that first first down in a drive, or maybe the second first down, then it's usually off to the races from there on.

This was Sunday, BTW:

Itals: Three and outs (or close to it)
Bold = Points

01:34 - 4 plays 19 yards Punt
03:07 6 palys 23 yds Downs
05:35 12 plays 50 yds Field Goal
01:26 3 plays 31 yds Touchdown
04:02 6 plays 67 yds Field Goal
00:30 2plays 7 yards End of Half
01:08 3 plays -9 yards Punt
05:19 10 plays 80 yds Touchdown
00:08 1 play 0 Intercepted Pass ----
04:53 10 plays 55 yds Punt ---> In a way, this and the INT are the only times they truly "failed" all day
06:12 10 68 yds Field Goal
00:43 2 plays -2 End of Game

If either of those two in red had been POINTS, they would have had a ratio of almost exactly 2 to 1 between scores and punts/3 and outs.

poydras

Wow, another close one. I kinda had this one penciled in as a win but I didn't know we'd be playing under those conditions. Three yards in one game and 5 seconds in another separate us from being 0-2 instead of 2-0 so I'm still in a "we'll see" mode as to what this team is going to do. I think I'll know more after seeing them play this weekend. No hate-fest rivalry, no first game jitters, no inclement weather and sitting around in the locker room getting stiff after warm-ups; just a normal game at a normal time in the Super Dome against a pretty good opponent.

Danno

The only trouble I see are that injuries are piling up, and fast.

If we had just a normal amount of dinged up players we're an easy 2-0, probably double digit wins in both games.

You could see the D-line running out of gas in the 4th quarter. How they managed to keep fighting was amazing to me and they deserve major respect, and a day off.

Arizona is gameplanning to exploit our injured d-line as we speak.

SmashMouth

Good teams find a way to win these kinds of games.

SloMotion

Arizona is a dangerous team ... they ran a few trick plays yesterday with good results ... they're streaky, play good special teams, lead the NFL in blocked punts/FGA (I think), Patrick Peterson played both ways well at CB/WR except he did have problems with Megatron, a banged-up Larry Fitzgerald still managed to score and Kerry Taylor? from the practice squad has stepped up nicely ... Palmer is looking pretty comfortable in the pocket for a change and they have a very serviceable running game with Mendenhall ... the young guys on their D (honey-badger-don't-care, ) looked pretty good as well.

All-in-all, I think my early season observations that the Cards were a team easily dismissed may have been a little hasty ... if this game wasn't being played in the Dome, I may have had to go with ARI, .

Danno

Multiple choice question

The Saints offense (points/game) ranks
A-6th
B-23rd

The Saints defense (points/game) ranks
A-23rd
B-6th

Any other year A is the correct answer, not this year so far.

SloMotion

It's like 'bizarro world' seeing the Saints defense in the top ten & the Saints offense in the bottom third,

poydras

There's no way to assess either the offense or the defense based on the first two games. Look at what happened to the 49ers last night after a similar weather delay. They came back out and had nothing.

SloMotion

I agree and I'm just thinking when was the last time (post Dome Patrol) the Saints defense ever ranked higher then the Saints offense ... IDK what happened to the 49'ers and I certainly did not expect/predict something like that would happen, but I certainly enjoyed it, . Gotta' give Seattle credit though, .

SmashMouth

I just wonder.... Are we still in trouble.