Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

The New Orleans Saints opened up their 2015 preseason on the road Thursday night, and the visitors dropped a close one to the Baltimore Ravens, 30-27.

Position Grades for New Orleans

Position Grade
QB B+
RB B
WR/TE C+
OL B
DL C-
LB C
DB B
Special Teams A-
Coaching C

Offense
Drew Brees didn’t make an appearance in this one, as the Saints opted to run with three quarterbacks.
Starter Luke McCown, like the rest of the No. 1 offense, got off to a very slow start. In McCown's defense, the Saints’ offense is rhythm-based, and it’s difficult for an offense to work into any sort of a rhythm when the opposition holds the ball for nine of the game’s first ten minutes.

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Defense
On the other side of the ball, the Saints got off to an awful start, as the Ravens ate over 12 minutes off the clock on two first-quarter scoring marches.
If the New Orleans defensive line was graded solely on the performance of the starters, they would have received a failing grade. Fortunately for coordinator Rob Ryan’s unit, there were some linemen who turned in noteworthy performances in the second, third and fourth quarters.

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Saints Pile Up Penalties

The scoreboard is hardly the most important aspect of a preseason contest. After all, most teams are still in the process of evaluating players for roster spots, and coaches are typically more concerned with effort and execution than they are with winning and statistics, at this point.

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Injuries Stack Up for New Orleans

Preseason injuries can inflict serious damage on a team's chances at success in the regular season. Most squads are elated to emerge from these exhibition contests with a low number of injuries, although a few scrapes are to be expected over the course of four games.
The injury bug was extremely unkind to the Saints Thursday, as numerous key defensive players made trips to the locker room for examination.

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Quote: Sean Payton on Young Quarterbacks

I think the two younger quarterbacks handled themselves well. They got a lot of snaps. They moved the ball, and I felt they made good decisions. The first thing that happens with a young quarterback is it’s just happening quicker. The play clock is quicker, on and off, in and out, up and down. It has to pick up quicker. I thought both of those guys handled it pretty well. They got a lot of snaps between them, and that was the goal coming in.

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Quote: Keenan Lewis on the Saints Defensive Starters Giving Up 80-Yard Drive

We just have to go back to the drawing board and fix it. Make corrections. We’ll be alright. I don’t even remember last year. I’m the wrong guy to ask about last year, but we’re going to fix it. It’s training camp. Things happen in football. We’ve got time, and we’re going to go back to Greenbrier and fix it.

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Saints vs. Ravens: Postgame Grades, Notes and Quotes for New Orleans | Bleacher Report

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

"We're going to go back to Greenbriar and fix this"

Sums up exactly what's wrong with the team in one short sentence, I bet there are spa's waiting for them when they get back.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

DL C- ?

DT/NT F-

lost gap assignments all game lone and got absolutely no push. Even the few bright spots could not cover up the poor showing.

DE D+
They got pushed all around in the run game. A few pass rushes saves this unit.

Gotta cut the dead weight and get these guys some reps. If this continues it will mean i will be starting even third string RB against the saints defense this year in FF.

Not sure how much i can blame the LB for not filling the gaps just yet because the DL as a whole stunk up the joint.

Secondary gets a a bit of a pass due to the lack of anything up front in the way of a pass rush. But still more than once I:dead:

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

One thing about injuries: not ALL injuries are caused this way, of course, but one factor that can influence them: if you are out of shape, out of conditioning, and not ready for fierce competition and not up to game speed, you can end up hurting yourself pretty easily out there. In general, the defense got pushed around like rag dolls, all night. When people are out-physicalled or out muscled, or when they try and do things but they're not in game shape, going against a team that is faster/stronger and in better game shape, that can be a factor on the "injury bug" as well.


Think about what killed Harry Houdini. Somebody threw a punch at him (which was part of his stage act) but he wasn't ready for it. If someone punches you, and you're not ready for it, it's gonna hurt. It's only preseason, but the Saints REALLY didn't look ready for it.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

"We just have to go back to the drawing board and fix it. Make corrections. We’ll be alright."

The time to make corrections was the off season during retooling. Pre-season is time for execution and tweaking what you have. Apparently, the Defensive game plan sucked.

Is the Big Lebowski on a short leash?

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Penalties are very concerning for me. The defense was slapped in the mouth early. Credit to the Ravens - that ball club is extremely physical and we had no counter punch for them with the 1st team.

In order to succeed at this level, we must consistently beat the man in front of us. Last night I didn't see it. There is time to fix issues, but the sense of urgency must be right now.


Edit: I need to take a closer look at big John. Not sure if he did anything positive last night.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I can't disagree at all. We're soft.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I really like how RG4 looked. Confident, poised, and looked to have provided a spark.

Its only PS-1 but I'm thinking we go with Brees, Griffin, Grayson.

Also liked what I saw with Snead, Lewis, Robinson, Ingram, Cooks (wow!!), both kickers, Hill, Peat, Unger, Spencer, Edibali, SJB, and several others.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

We're going back to Greenbriar to fix this.

http://www.amazingskincarespausa.com...5-ladies31.jpg

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

We're going to clean this up in camp this week

http://www.singlegirlsurvival.com/wp.../06/girls3.jpg

If Bruce Jenner trained in Mississippi, he'd still be a man.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

-Griffin should be the #2. He's better than McNown and will either have value in a trade or will be a great backup when Grayson takes over.
-Robinson is a beast. I list him as 1b to Ingram being 1a.
-If Spiller doesn't get healthy, he might be cut or put on bring back IR.
-Hightower still has it or he's got it back.
-Murphy is a legit return guy. He has it.
-Cooks just needs to stay healthy. Has ALL the skills.
-Joe Morgan has the skills.
-Snead makes the team.
-Every other WR is in the numbers game. Nothing to get excited about.
-Hill suprised me. He's not Jimmy but he doesn't have to be.
-The OLine was good overall.
-A personal apology to Peat. Sorry big fella. You got it.

-The starting DLine was a no show. Just like last year.
-The backup DLine showed big potential.
-Jenkins is just a big dude. Nothing special.
-Anthony has the skills. Needs reps at the NFL level.
-Kikaha is hardworking. Lack of speed shows a little outside the box.
-Spencer has the skills. Potential sack/pressure guy.
-Don't sleep on Coley. Dude deserves more reps. Just a football player.
-The safeties are just not impressive to me.
-SJB shut his side down. Just sayin'. :)
-Swann has potential.
-Two young kickers with BIG legs. Maybe the Saints can steal a 6th for the non-winner if a team has a need.

3 big injuries to the D. Get well soon Browner, Breaux, and Ellerbe.
Losing confidence in Ryan. Not getting results.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I'll give them an F+ :brood:

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Don't forget about Marcus Murphy, he looked like a real threat on kick return

He was one ankle tackle from taking it the distance!

SJB has improved and somehow Cooks looks faster!

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I'd seriously give them an F, at least with the 1's. 14-0 and two 3 and outs, with the starters in there. It's not the most sophisticated in-depth way to judge or analyze, but I do pay attention to what happens in preseason when the real 1's are in there on both sides of the ball. We looked absolutely terrible without Drew (God help us!), and we looked absolutely terrible on D, even at what was supposed to be close to full strength. We stank against both Flacco and Schaub, who are both considered decent to very good QB's like something we might face in a real game. The rest of the team probably graded higher in scrubs vs. scrubs. But it's gonna be a long preseason now.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Very impressed with young QBs. We might have a franchise guy in one of them but that's not gonna help this year. I liked Snead, all the running backs looks good. It will be nice to have a stable like that for the next couple years as Drew ages. Kicking game finally doesn't scare me and I liked all the draft picks. Even Pete looked decent.
Yes our first string D got butt raped but most of those guys were rookies who have never experienced going up against a pro team and players who weren't on the team last year. It's not surprising they are a little lost.
8-8 or 9-7 is my guess at this point.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Yes, and it was quite noticeable wasn't it.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Yeah e D-line was really bad. Like worse than last year bad. I say F-

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Definitely, they showed SJB playing man coverage on a replay and his coverage looked excellent, quicker hips on turning from a back pedal and running stride for stride with the receiver, he even made a nice tackle on the running back.

As for cooks, if we can use him properly the sky is the limit.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

All of last year we were going to get it fixed, lol

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Really good post boss

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Dline seems to be an issue but I really wasn't sure who played tackle

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Then after a few games...

http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/...ps671d71c9.jpg

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I'm not terribly worried about the results of this game. The staggering amount of penalties are probably the only thing that bother me right now. Would've liked to see the D line get more push, but I wasn't expecting much there either. Remember folks, this was the first game and they didn't even look at any film on the Ravens until Tuesday night. Then they traveled Wednesday, so I doubt they watched anything more than that. No specific game planning for them, just putting guys on the field to see how they look in live action. Lots of things need to be worked on, but there's still a fair amount of time to do it.

At this point it's still about finding out the right group of players for the right situations. If they're really committed to picking the "right 53" this year, and I believe they are, then some of these presumed starters might need to give way to younger guys. Seems like a few of them are hungrier for the job than the vets.

We'll see how this plays out. Still almost a month before the season starts. The playbook isn't even fully installed yet. I think we'll be alright. Despite all the bad, I saw several bright spots. Just gotta build on those and move forward.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...ck-640x480.jpg

speaking of country clubs

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I know they are not going to be polished but come on, that was pitiful defensive play and it looked exactly like last season; no pressure and whiffed. Ryan better figure out how to get fire out of these twigs or else he will be fired mid season.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Greenbriar isn't the problem. It wasn't the problem last year and isn't the problem this year.

Greenbriar doesn't miss tackles, or leave a 20 yard gap between the CB and Safety on 3rd and long, or drop passes, or blitz 7 on 4th and 20...

Many teams practice in cool weather with no problems.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

It was part of the problem last season and will again this year. Soft camp = soft team

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Location has nothing to do with a camp being soft or strong.

We practiced exclusively in the Louisiana heat in 2012 and fielded the worst defense in NFL history.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

:pissed: Penalties suck

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

Posted this in another thread and think it applies here:

Why can't Payton just leave well enough alone when it comes to defense? One minute he's announcing we're switching to a 3-4 and hires an appropriate coordinator to run it. After one up and one down season he brings in Dennis Allen and we switch back to a 4-3 essentially making Rob Ryan a lame duck defensive coordinator.

Wanna know why we might suck on defense again this year? How about having a coordinator on his way out, a defensive assistant who is already affecting the scheme, and a head coach who is offensive-minded overriding both of them to call defensive plays. It's a mess folks.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I mean I'd give credence to this, but RR went from fielding the fourth ranked D to the 31rst....I think he ha salways been about middle of the road with his defense or back. I am happy to be corrected about that.

I was against the RR hiring, I thought he blew as a Dcoord, didn't understand the hiring, and I wanted Romeo... I ate Crow in 13, and I hope I am full of crow this season, but he's not off to a great start.

I am happy when we do well and if that means I am all kinds of wrong about RR, all the better. Hope I am.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

On a positive note we did lose the game. The negative: The Ravens weren't hurting Friday.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

I remember getting cold cocked our first preseason game one year against Houston in Houston they came as usual with there vanilla run block right and run block left and the cut back era began, we would continue to get pummeled every team than ran that play, atlanta would get seventy yards a pop. Kansas city, Houston, Carolina, whoever tried the cut back on our D. would make us look turable and i'm sick of it. yes we always corrected the defense to stop the cut back but buy that time we were beat silly. its what Baltimore did . and we just can't hold our ground again and again get pushed back 5 to 7 yards till a de back breaks a leg stopping the run. do we push the dam sled anymore. or just hit it and say next up. gees rob ride that dam sled for 10-20 yards with that bowling ball gut dammit.

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

a blocking sled would require work, is that even allowed under the new CBA?

Re: Saints vs. Ravens: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Saints
 

hilarious.