New Orleans Saints Review

Oh what a feeling!  A win on opening day always feels good.  Despite the margin of victory, what started out as a romp for the Saints gave us a few tense moments.

The Saints led 28-10 at halftime, and aside from a Drew Brees interception it was a darn near perfect effort.  The offense seemed to be able to accomplish anything and everything they wanted against a befuddled Lions squad.

Defensively, the revamped unit led by coordinator Gregg Williams effectively confused rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford (16/37, 205 yards, 3 interceptions).  The running game was non-existent, with the Lions rushing for only 33 yards on 20 carries for the game.  Other than a 64 yard catch by Calvin Johnson, the Saints were all over the Lions offense.

The game still provided a host of errors that coach Sean Payton can show his players before they head to Philadelphia.

Two muffed punts by Reggie Bush (one recovered, one lost), a fumble by running back Mike Bell that was returned by a Lions defender for a 65 yard touchdown and 7 penalties on the day will give this team something to talk about in the film room.

The errors not only look bad on film, they also let the hapless, yet determined Lions hang around in the game.  Do that against the Eagles next week and the final score may not favor the Saints.

Who Dat Awards:

• Drew Brees (26/34, 358 yards, 6 touchdowns, 1 interception) – Really, could you ask for anything more out of your quarterback?  Drew was accurate and basically turned the Lions secondary into mince meat.
• Mike Bell (28 carries, 143 yards) – Despite the fumble, Bell was every bit as effective in the regular season opener as he was in the preseason.  The amazing part was that he really was just filling in for the injured Pierre Thomas.
• Devery Henderson (5 catches, 103 yards, 1 touchdown) – His 58 yard touchdown reception in the 3rd quarter was a thing of beauty.
• Jeremy Shockey (4 catches, 31 yards, 2 touchdowns) – He was a BEAST in the first half!  And already has 2 more TDs than he had in all of 2008.
• Robert Meachem (2 catches, 51 yards, 1 touchdown) – Not only was he effective as a receiver, he also had a 42 yard kickoff return.
• Darren Sharper (2 interceptions) – The cagey veteran made an impressive Saints debut, running those to picks back for a combined 79 yards.
• Scott Shanle (5 tackles, 1 interception) – He was all over the field.
• Jonathan Vilma (4 tackles, 1 sack) – The only sack of the game for the Saints defense, but he and the rest of the linebackers were on point all day long.
• Thomas Morstead (2 punts for 98 yards) – The hangtime on his punts were impressive and he also kicked off quite well.
• Gregg Williams – Our new defensive coordinator showed that he plans on being very aggressive.  Finally, we put the heat on somebody!

Rating:

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Opinion, Super Bowl Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.