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Some random thoughts and observations on Friday night’s New Orleans Saints-Tennessee Titans game.

DIRTY LAUNDRY: The Saints committed 10 penalties in the entirety of their 26-24 win at St. Louis in their preseason opener. They committed 14 penalties in the first half alone, an unbelievable 22 for 184 yards in the game, though two of those were on Jimmy Graham for dunking the ball after touchdown catches (a no-no in the No Fun League this season) and one may have been on rookie Brandin Cooks for speeding.

Saints coach Sean Payton gave Graham a pass on the first one but gave Dr. Dunkenstein the business after the second. Payton suffers few exhibitions of foolishness even if it’s in an exhibition game, and that’s understandable. Graham’s misplaced exuberance may have inspired some of the Saints’ sloppiness.

Whatever the cause, the Saints need to cut down on the flags, pronto, with two preseason games left. A good goal would be single- digit hankies next Saturday at Indianapolis.

BAKED GOODS: Causing turnovers has been THE cause célèbre for the Saints defense this preseason after New Orleans forced just 19 all of last season.

The Saints came up empty in St. Louis, but struck a gusher against the team once known as the Houston Oilers (Luv ya blue!). New Orleans forced five turnovers, four fumbles and an interception of former LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger (more on him shortly).

Now some of that perhaps can be attributed to Titans ineptness, but it was the best stat of the night for New Orleans. If this defense can be top 10 in turnovers (29 made the top 10 in 2013) and maintain last year’s high level of play, it will result in some real wins this season.


Read more: Rabalais: Plenty of flags and turnovers for Saints | Sports | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

All little common sense goes a long way.