Yep Drew should have went to Hill more he was not being double teamed a mugged all day.In off season the Refs need to be told to crack down on teams like seahawks an Carolina.kinda lot they were told by old roger to do so as the one team in the playoffs with a studd TE was the saints.

This. It seems to me around mid season teams like the two you mentioned started getting away with mauling the stud TE's like Tony G. and Gronk they started doing it every game. I'm all for letting the players play because PI calls had gotten out of hand but my goodness when is it ok to practically bear hug a receiver and get away with it.

The problem with the Saints passing offense was PI wasn't being called...



Especially on defenders of Graham, Watson and Hill...



It's the Shaq Syndrome with Refs - "He's a big guy, he can take it" attitude...



Total BS; but Graham has to get healthy, step up and separate...

So all of our receivers were being interfered with? None of them found a way to outrun the defender?

I saw them being checked at the line and not getting a release....

Either way the refs are not as much of a problem as reviewers not finding a way to get open. With 4-5 receivers on the field there are not enough defenders to double team each one and put pressure on Drew.

So all of our receivers were being interfered with? None of them found a way to outrun the defender?

I saw them being checked at the line and not getting a release....

Either way the refs are not as much of a problem as reviewers not finding a way to get open. With 4-5 receivers on the field there are not enough defenders to double team each one and put pressure on Drew.

Oak, there was a really good preview/matchup show of the playoff game with Trent Dilfer et al and they did a great job of showing, illustrating by way of comparison,contrast of Seattle defenders vs other defenders...

Liken it was the same thing you had in the NBA when the Bad Boys period of the Detroit Pistons would foul ad nauseum - eventually the referees are not going to continue to blow the whistle, after a while they "accept" that style of play when that team is involved; that's what Pete Carrol has done...

And the receivers were not just being held at the line, they were harassed throughout their routes above and beyond contemporary rules that could have warranted a flag; really, if you can re-watch the game, it's definitely there...

But getting back to your statement, with multiple receiver sets, defenders still anticipated where the ball was going because they often had two to three defenders on the play of the ball at arrival; Seattle is fast, not that fast; they scouted and found tendencies with the Saints who were unable to deduce the adjustment(s) needed to counter...

And when there were advantages, Brees threw the ball to the back shoulder of the receiver, taking away the advantage on the curl, cut or the route or they were thrown behind or altogether inaccurate throws...

And so it's not just on Graham...

Also look how much the running game opened things up for the Saints, Philly is probably still at the pub wondering they ran the ball, the Saints actually ran the ball...

We've got to get back and maintain balance and unpredicatability we had and we've got to make sure Brees' arm is still capable to strike anywhere, including downfield, on the field to strech, spread teams to defend the entire field and not allow them to jam us at the line or pack in with nickel, dime packages under twenty yards...