Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

Sean Payton stated the obvious when he walked to the podium for his post-game press conference.

"The first thing that stands out in a game like that is the four turnovers," the Saints head coach said after the Saints' 34-22 loss to the New England Patriots in the exhibition opener for both teams. "That's disappointing."

The Saints committed turnovers on two of their first four plays. Not how you want to start a game or the preseason.

Twenty-two of the Patriots' 34 points came as the result of Saints turnovers. Two of the Patriots' takeaways were returned for touchdowns.

In all, the Saints threw two interceptions and lost two of their four fumbles. Second-year quarterback Garrett Grayson threw a pick-6 to Jamie Collins on his first pass attempt.

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I guarantee you the four turnovers will be the first item on Payton's agenda when he addresses his team after film study on Friday.

It's going to be an interesting week of work at training camp in West Virginia.

Other observations from the Saints' preseason opener against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium:

--Payton was clearly perturbed after the game but I think this will be a case where the loss wasn't as bad as the final score might indicate. I actually thought the Saints' regulars outplayed the Patriots, especially in the first quarter. They at least held their own. Something tells me Payton is going to feel better about his team's overall performance upon second look.

-- The turnovers weren't the only problems for the Saints. After going penalty-free in the first quarter, they hemorrhaged yellow flags in the final three quarters. They finished with nine infractions for 93 yards. Many of the miscues nullified big gains and first-down conversions.

-- Mike Thomas is the real deal. The Saints are clearly trying to temper the hype around the second-round draft pick out of Ohio State. By design, he almost sounds robotic in his answers to reporter's questions. Regardless, Thomas looks like a burgeoning star. His play on the field speaks for itself.

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Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

The one positive I take from this;

The defense did not give up 34 points, the offense gave up 14 of them directly and another 14 from 2 takeaways that were later turned into TD's.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

Agreed.

I'd give the defense a B+ (Run defense got sloppy), and give the offense a C-.

But I'm not really worried about our offense, that played without Drew Brees for all but 1 series.

Our defense is loaded with a lot of very young talent. I haven't been this excited about our Defense in a very long time.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

tommy lee lewis is a wes welker in the making , how we keep him on this team is the problem. 6 receivers? where does lasco fit in? we need that guy.that pass on graysons first snap was bad, as bad as the play called. we have done that before in joint practices with pats, they saw it they doubled on it and got a bad throw from garret and a tip drill from brandon coleman. i bet next week payton does it again to make sure they get it right.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

Put Brees behind center for more than three plays and we have a beast of an offense; like always...

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

I don't think even Brees helps the oline play all that much. The offense is in trouble I think if they can't protect.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

The O-line is no worse than last year. In fact we're probably better and deeper.

Our problems weren't O-line... They were having one of the worst defenses in NFL history for 3 years straight.

Why is anyone worried about our offense being good? Its a freaking given that we'll be a top 5 unit.

Do that many people honestly don't see what the problem was?

I'm shaking my damn head at that level of stupidity.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

We had just made some o-line changes when McCown started not sucking. I'm also hard on the o-line. I can be counted on to point it out when they suck. I didn't think they sucked as a whole. Peat kinda sucked tho.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

I truly wish I could like this twice.

As I posted before, "It's like worrying about a hangnail on a leg that's been blown off at the knee."

SFIAH

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

Maybe even more so with the way Lewis and Thomas are emerging. Also think Cooks is going to have a ball out year.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

We didn't stumble out of the gate. Drew came out firing a beautiful deep ball. Ingram fumbled but that is a rare thing and I'm not worried. The one's looked good on both offense and defense.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

I think the defense played well for the most part throughout the game considering the youth that was playing later in the game. I didn't see the defense giving away huge chunks of yards like last year. If they can eliminate the big plays we will be in good shape. I would however like to see the defense create more turnovers

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

Speaking of the O line .... I re watched the Pats pre season game and focused on the offense this time.

A Peat still looks extremely raw to me. I understand he is being switched around however he was beaten pretty badly by a good defensive end. Not a elite DE one but good. He will face good ones every week. I'm hoping he develops but I just don't see it this year.

FWIW, no one has emerged yet to seriously challenge Zach out of a starting job.

UNGER looks to be in ELITE form thus far.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

I can't remember if it was you or Hagan that pointed out that Peat is best suited as a LT. He played LT his entire life, and is a prototypical LT in the NFL.

I've also read that he did fine at LT in PS1, but struggled when he shifted to RT.

Obviously the problem is that we already have a fantastic LT in Armstead who is also strictly a LT. Perhaps our mistake was assuming that Peat could easily adjust to RT. It doesn't look like thats the case at all. The footwork and mentality is completely different.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

all in all not bad.

Sticking with time to jell then pass judgement.

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

Originally Posted by Danno View Post
The O-line is no worse than last year. In fact we're probably better and deeper.

Our problems weren't O-line... They were having one of the worst defenses in NFL history for 3 years straight.

Why is anyone worried about our offense being good? Its a freaking given that we'll be a top 5 unit.

Do that many people honestly don't see what the problem was?

I'm shaking my damn head at that level of stupidity.
I truly wish I could like this twice.

As I posted before, "It's like worrying about a hangnail on a leg that's been blown off at the knee."

SFIAH
OK since you can't I'll like it for you

Re: Saints stumble out the gate with penalties, turnovers vs. Patriots
 

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers... they were the killers.
Set those aside and I saw some very good stuff.
Much of it away from the ball.
The defense looks like they come to play. That's huge.
Give Dennis Allen a few more weeks and I think he's going to make us proud.
O-line has some kinks to work out but were able to score adequately w/o Brees.
Once the offense gets into a rhythm, its going to be something pretty.
It's still early. But I like it.