New Orleans Saints Review

Well isn’t that a lump of coal in our stockings?  After the quest for a perfect season ended last week in a loss to Dallas, the Saints were looking to get back on track against the 2-12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  For about one half of football, things appeared to be going according to the script.

The Saints jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead, and must have thought that Tampa wouldn’t fight back.  They were wrong.

Bucs running back Cadillac Williams ran for 129 yards and a touchdown, rookie QB Josh Freeman made some key throws and before they knew it, the Saints’ comfortable lead turned into a tie at the end of regulation.  New Orleans had a chance to win it in regulation, but Garrett Hartley shanked a 37 yard field goal with just seconds left in the 4th quarter.

Tampa Bay won the overtime coin toss and proceeded to ram the ball down the Saints’ collective throat, winning the game on a 47 yard field goal from Connor Barth.

Offensively, the Saints were on fire early on.  But after that quick start, they seemed to pack it in for the day.  New Orleans moved the ball, but were unable to put points on the board.  Aside from that final drive that resulted in the missed field goal, there seemed to be very little sense of urgency.  That goes against the unit’s performance throughout 2009.

On defense, it was a very similar story.  The Saints were able to pressure Josh Freeman on occasion and also forced 2 turnovers.  But all too often they seemed to sit back in coverage and allowed the young Tampa quarterback a chance to make some plays, and more importantly it allowed Cadillac Williams to rip off big gains on the ground.

A win against the Buccaneers would have clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  It also would have made a few decisions regarding Week 17 much easier for coach Sean Payton.  Now, there is a real possibility that next week’s regular season finale in Carolina will mean something.  And, the way Carolina is knocking off contenders, it doesn’t appear to be a cakewalk.

I’m willing to give this team the benefit of the doubt.  A rough game or two down the stretch isn’t a reason to panic.  What matters most is what happens when the playoffs begin.  Still, this can’t be how the Saints would have envisioned the regular season ending – not after a 13-0 start.

Who Dat Awards:

• Darren Sharper – Picked up another interception and set the NFL record for interception return yards in a season.
• Pierre Thomas – Had a brilliant performance before leaving with a rib injury.  If I’m Sean Payton, he sits next week no matter how he feels.
• Drew Brees - 32/37, 258 yards, 1 TD, 104.7 QB Rating.  Really, Drew played as well as he could have.  No complaints here.
• Charles Grant – Batted down a pass on a key 4th down play.
• Will Smith – Continues to get to the QB.

Rating:

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 27th, 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.