Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Brees' amazing plays was the head storyline as it should, but there were five takeaways from this game that stood out for me...

One...Coby Fleener made clutch receptions...

...I have been his been one of his biggest critics here in our community, but since the haircut, he's really started to play hard and make some tough catches...

...now, it's still real early, but hopefully this is a game that he starts to build on and continues the great play...

Two...Again, on offense, but Can't Guard Mike Thomas has become our No. 1 receiver and now leads the team in receptions; that's a rookie leading the team in receptions...

...with Snead working the slot, underneath routes and Cooks the most dangerous vertical threat, sleepless nights for the other kids...

Three...Cam Jordan is underwhelming when you factor his contract number and even uglier is Jordan in space trying to contain his side of the field, much less bring pressure...

...Jordan wasn't going against the best pass protectors and got punked by Cam Jordan on a few plays, Edebali, a backup, outplayed him...

Four...Drew Brees will have to be his own pass protections because injuries and neglecting development of the offensive line has created some real problems up front and will be the priority in the offseason...

...Brees just thought he was punched in the mouth, don't want to think about facing the Seahawks who'll hold and PI our receivers without penalty...

Five...Great, great game by Kasim Edebali who showed up in a big way and played the run much better than previous games (though he did have some gaffes as well); really took advantage of the Panthers' backup O-line...

...Dennis Allen seems to have given up on this guy before he even took over, but Kasim has consistently graded our best pass rusher (PFF) all season...

Worth mentioning is that we finally got to see Daniel Lasco on a few plays and the rookie who fell to us in the seventh round looks like a good fit to our offense; maybe it lights a fire under Marcus Murphy (our Darren Sproles proxy)...

What were yours?

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Our DB's need to learn to turn their heads around.

On the 2pt conversion, Funchess runs along the goal line, you are taught to guard the goal line. If BW Webb simply turned and located the ball he could have had a 99 yard pick six, but he stared down Funchess and just gave him a push through the end zone.

Agreed about Michael Thomas, I've been saying for weeks that despite his slim frame, the guy is powerful and fights for extra yards. He is a model of consistency already and will only get better.

I'll have to re-watch the game to see Lasco as I missed the first quarter, but in the San Diego game he had some nice runs, he could push Ingram for carries eventually.

Coby Fleener has really played well the past few weeks.

Sean Payton won both challenges!!

The league really needs to take a look at their refs, Kenny had great coverage against olsen, turned round and located the ball and batted it down then got flagged. Its unreal!

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Fleener is coming around but he did have a couple of drops he should have caught.

Clean up some of the penalties that would be a huge plus. A couple of the Pass interfernce calls were complete BS but some were legit. I don't fault them because well they wouldn't be on the roster if not for the injuries. More concerned with the O line penalties.

- Showed we could stop the run FINALLY. They were able to contain the run the whole game. I don't care about half a game the game to stop the run you have to be consistant. Stopping the run for a half the game you just got lucky.

I like seeing the development in our younger players keep growing week to week which is great. Give us another year or 2 we could make another run at a SB. It's going to come down to defending the pass.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

O-line is decent as a whole considering the material we have to work with. Sure hope Peats injury isn't anything serious and that Armstead gets back Quick.

Aaron Glenn is the Saints coach of the year. He is just squeezing everything he can out of the Young guys and they are Learning on the fly.

Ken Crawley will be good for us in the future. He is raw and still makes mistakes but is getting better while facing stiff competition. I'd like to see him add 10lbs of muscle in the offseason thou.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Losing Sterling Moore & having to play Brian Dixon sure didn't help. BJ Webb had good moments. Morstead is in Pro Bowl form. Michael Thomas is open even when he's covered & my man Nick F is still disruptive in the middle & lastly LUTZ is a keeper.

Side note : The refs were bad. There is no consistency. Not just in the dome but across the league. The "suits" need to have a long discussion about this and the way PI are called this off season.

The flag thrown on Kenny V was ridiculous.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

We have players that can make plays but we neglect them often to get uninspiring players involved. I would not use Hill or Cadet unless in the redzone.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Thought Cadet was pretty clutch on that last minute drive...

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

1. Great start. Both sides of the ball.

2. Special teams didn't eff it up.

3. Fleener showed up.

4. Kicker was a strength.

5. Concerned about self-fulfilling prophecies. Seems like they constantly preaching "it's going to go down to the wire," and inevitably they make sure it happens. You can even see it in the play calling. When you're up 21 points, you don't keep lining up in shotgun, throwing passes, and going out of bounds. You methodically put together long, demoralizing drives to eat up time. VERY CONCERNED about this, but honestly it's not a new issue.

Happy with a win against Carolina for sure!

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

My only takeaway: NFL games are won and lost by the refs. Period.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

My take away is that Sean Payton and Dennis Allen are doing great jobs , and the haters need to go away. The team is broken in every way imaginable.. I'm not sure I've ever seen a defense this badly depleted. It almost feels like our defense is cursed. Yet somehow we are finding ways to win games. The defense is staying competitive(I know they lost control towards the end). I think people need to just shut up about how Payton needs to go, because I can promise you that the grass isn't always greener.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Well said hitta !!!

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

These DBs are going to be good once they get a year under their belt. Add a veteran for tutoring and most of them could start. Our backups at that position are better than I expected. Love to see them if we could get pressure.

Offense is great again.

I think we have a kicker. Yes he has a crappy record but they have asked a lot out of him. I think Payton is trying to toughin him up mentally with these long attempts. If he can make a few of the long ones it is great for his confidence and the short ones should be easy. He missed one yesterday but most all others were a long shot.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

I have to agree...

its not always greenier and as long as there is progress and development going on that you can see. I find its hard to replace them.

Defense progressing no matter how slow. There is progress. We are starting to see talent peek is head out from the younger players.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

I don't get it JP.
I thought Cam Jordan had a great game.

My main takeaway was that we blew a huge lead, and that typically spells a loss for us. But we bounced back and won it anyway.

That was huge in my book.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

I think eventually you are going to have a group of people in the booth that will have the authority to dispute close or bad calls by the Ref's and they should be reviewable and or challengeable and no limits. May not be able to get them off the field but there has to be something to mitigate the damage. Scarry how the lead was blown some bad calls contributed to that. Still have to play 60 minutes without that drop off.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Takeaways:
Our young defense has potential.
Our kicker has all the talent to succeed at a high level in the NFL.
Our O-line has to chip and bring in extra blockers to protect Drew. A first round draft pick is not too high next year with a limited number of talented guards in the draft.
Drew is still The Man.
The Dome still rocks.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

I'm not saying he has to go but needs to adapt. We're out of the spotlight because we're not sexy. And we would be getting more respect when we were winning had we had playmakers. We limit our explosive players often. You're going to see in KC what will and won't work. I know people like Cadet but he's not better than Snead nor can he change a game like him. Yeah he made a key third down. He got a TD week 1 but who doesn't score in the redzone for us? Lottery offense.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Hills TD catch was awesome! Talk about serious focus. Did you not see that? It was one of the better catches I've seen.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

The refs didn't get to decide this game, probably the reason for the random drug test to Lutz

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

There was a fantastic photo of the catch on the Saints Instagram. Unfortunately I don't know how to get it up here in an easy way.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

As Drew goes so do the saints

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Glad you brought this up ... I went back and looked at special teams ... Jake Lampman stood out. I counted 3 tackles ... plays angry and with aggression. Not sure if coach Payton mentioned his play post game but I thought he looked good vs Carolina.

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

Danno...I'd sure like to sit in with PFF and get schooled up on how the hell they grade...

Sometimes I think they rubberstamp it because they're some players (e.g. Unger, Cooks, Thomas, Robertson) who's play seems better than their PFF grades...

Now, I know Newton is not your average quarterback, but twice Jordan had him in the grasp, in the grasp, but couldn't get him down; if it had been any other QB, it would've been an in-the-grasp call, but Newton being Cam Gigantor Newton, different set of rules...

But G-d*mn, Jordan's still an NFL defensive end, get the MFer on the ground...

Jordan also lost edge containment on at least three different runs plus the Newton touchdown...

For me, when I judge players, gotta believe you apply a factor on what they're being paid...

Example, you and I have both agreed many B&G fans here are overly critical of the RB Travaris Cadet and the expectations don't match what he produces, the many roles he fills and for what he's compensated...

Simply, that works up the ladder as well...

And for the four man rush to produce little to no pressure, especially seeing how we've faced some backups the past few weeks, I just can't help but think Cam Jordan's best days as a 4-3 defensive end...

In fact, thought we saw better pressure from Edebali, who's a backup...

So that's my reasoning, rationale for getting down on him...

But I'd totally agree with you that it was nice for Brees and Lutz to somehow overcome that big momentum shift and eek out the win...

Re: Five Takeaways From the Game...
 

You know, I am as guilty as anyone for not realizing what an incredible play that was, especially considering how this guy is just coming off a bad ankle injury...

jnormand is right, that was an incredible catch, even if one of the league-boy refs tried to nullify his reception...