Saints Sideline Blog

BENGALS “BRAIN FREEZE”

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010      Email Print

DATELINE:Cincinnati, OH / December 6th,2010 (Down-Set-What?!)

 

Heath Evans has played pro football for 10 years and has never seen it work. Offensive Guard Carl Nicks says it may happen 1 out of every 10 attempts. Its the ole "i'm not gonna go for it on 4th down but I'm gonna try my darndest to draw you offsides," play. Down by 3 points with :34 seconds left, the Saints faced a 4th and 2 but instead of sending Garrett Hartley in to tie it, Sean Payton tried to tie up the home team. Amazingly, those Bengals took the bait at the most inopportune time as Cincinnati's defensive tackle Pat Sims jumped in the neutral zone and allowed the Saints offense to jump out of neutral and into overdrive. Sean Payton called the play a standard  "no brainer freeze" where Drew Brees elicits a series of hard counts and its a "no-brainer" his teammates musn't blink in this NFL version of a high stakes staring contest. Who Dat say you can't make one of the oldest tricks in the book work?

 

Payton never intended on going for it in that situation but once again his gamble paid off. He knew the worst case scenario was the Saints jump or have to call back to back timeouts which would merely back the ball up another 5 yards for a still makeable field goal for Hartley. Instead, the  Bengals Brain Freeze paved the way for more Deja Drew as for the second straight week Brees leads a comeback on the final drive. This team has now picked up five straight wins and some added mojo but understand they must clean up their act and not rely on Bengal brainbursts or Roy Williams strips down the stretch---you're not gonna get those kind of assists week in and week out.

 

In an ironic twist, a Bengals offsides penalty was the turning point in a game where the Saints gave Cincinnati a whole football field's worth of yellow hankies. How about 11 flags for 100 yards on the afternoon.From Tracy Porter's interference play which led to a field goal to having 12 men on the field which led to a touchdown, Sean Payton and the Saints know gotta play smarter with the Ravens and Falcons looming in the coming weeks and oh yeah those first place Rams charging into the Dome this weekend. The good news despite not playing their best football, these Saints are still finding new ways to win.

 

The Saints admitted last season that they were a team of destiny and fate hasn't been lost on this year's bunch. Sure Garrett Hartley's 29 yard miss against Atlanta early on has been the only hiccup separating them and the Falcons, but lately the breaks have gone this team's way. Freezing the Bengals is the latest for the black and gold who weren't overly excited or happy in the locker room following their lastest W. This group understands they can't afford to "blink" down the stretch or their playoff hopes could freeze as fast as Cincy's fate did on Sunday.

 

WHO DAT HITS

 

MONEY MEACHEM: I asked Drew afterwards if it was a requirement that every completion to Robert Meachem must be at least 35 yards and he admits Rapid Robert is coming through big of late. His 55 yard catch versus the Boys on Thanksgiving set up the winning score. Versus Cincy, Meachem averaged 35 yards a catch, finishing with a TD and 106 receiving yards.

 

CHRIS CROSSING: The last time Saints rookie running back Chris Ivory was toting the rock in the state of Ohio, was last fall for Tiffin University--a school just over three hours away in tiny Tiffin Ohio. A year later he's the leading rusher for the Defending Super Bowl Champs where he padded his stats with 117 yards and two scores. He now has 5 TD's in the last three games.

 

RECORD BREES: Three certainties in life---Death, Taxes and Drew Brees breaking Archie Manning records . The latest crown for the SI Sportsman of the Year, how about the Saints All-Time leader in passing yards. Drew's 52 yard completion rookie Jimmy Graham gave him the record which was accomplished in less than 5 seasons-- more than half the amount of time it took Archie. To his credit Drew admits "We passed the ball a lot more."

 

ROMAN RULES: It was the tale of two halves for the Saints defense in Cincinnati but Roman Harper continues to make plays. He nearly had an interception but led the team in tackles which included a sack and two tackles for a loss. The biggest play was when he and Vilma sacked Carson Palmer on a crucial 4th down play in the 2nd quarter.

 

WHODUNIT?: Sean Payton wasn't happy about a lot of mistakes after this one but the leader in the clubhouse was the Saints mind numbing too many men on the field flag courtesy the defense which gave the Bengals new life and eventually a touchdown. The marked man was linebacker Marvin Mitchell where Payton was still shaking his head afterwards not pinning all the blame on Marvin but calling the mistake the "Six Million Dollar question."

 

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT? Many thought the Bengals would be Super Bowl contenders in the AFC this year which was about as accurate as Janet Jackson making another halftime show appearance. Ok its December ---time to separate the contenders and pretenders and deliver our top 5 overrated teams.

 

(1) COWBOYS- Maybe they should have beaten the Saints last week, well guess what they didn't. Sure Jason Garrett has turned them around but it shows me what a bunch of headcases these guys are where obviously they mailed it in under Wade Philllips.

 

(2) COLTS: Injuries have decimated last year's AFC champs which have forced Peyton Manning to do it himself which is never a good idea even if you're Peyton Manning. This team is in danger of not making the playoffs for the first time in 9 years.

 

(3) VIKINGS: Brett Favre is acting his age and isn't getting the same help as he did a year ago. We've gone from wondering if he'll come back to well let's be honest...just hoping he goes away.

 

(4) BENGALS: Carson Palmer clearly isn't the same quarterback he used to be and Ochocinco would be well advised to drop the twitter account and spend more time in the endzone.

 

(5) DOLPHINS: This was supposed to be a Bill Parcells built franchise on the rise but Chad Henne has regressed where he was booed by the home fans on Sunday following his third INT of the day. The fins have lost 5 of 6 games at home this year.

 

UNTIL NEXT BLOG,

Mike Nabors

CST

By: Mike Nabors

An Emmy award winning sports reporter who covers a wide variety of events for CST. Primarily, Mike serves as the network's reporter for Saints coverage.

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