Saints Sideline Blog

DESERT DISASTER

Monday, October 11th, 2010      Email Print

DATELINE: October 10th, 2010 Glendale, AZ (10/10/10----ends in a 10 pt loss,after a 10 pt lead?!!)
 
Covering the Saints since the inception of the Sean Payton era, its hard to find a game where the offense struggled this much. You had the feeling in this one,that OK, now the Saints will start pulling away but the "now" moment never happened. Drew Brees made a bevy of un-Brees like moves turning the ball over and struggling in the red zone where the Oasis known as the endzone looked at times to be as distant as the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The Cardinals were a team ripe for the taking: rookie quarterback making his 1st start, a spotty defense and a home enviroment where many of the fans showed up halfway through the first half? A stadium which isn't close to being as intimidating as the Who Dat Nation in the Superdome.. On the surface, it seemed the stars would align as this would finally be the game the Saints offense would break out, instead they would blow up..
 
The cactus here in Arizona were symbolic of the Saints very offensive play as there were several thorns in its body of work.
It begins with Brees who says he feels fine and doesn't make any excuses but his performance this season is a far cry to what we're used to. It seems the Super Bowl MVP is a victim of his own success where his play has been so stellar the past four seasons, we've grown accustomed to downfield plays, 300 yard games and near perfect QB rating.. So far though, Brees has seen a major dropoff in play. A shocking development where the biggest surprise for Drew has been his uncharacteristic mistakes. Sunday against Arizona, he threw a 4th quarter interception for the first time in 26 games!! Brees' plays such as the off balance pitch turned pick against Atlanta a few weeks ago and then a risky fastball to Ladell Betts out of his own endzone were pivotal plays in the Saints two losses this year. Following the Atlanta game, Drew seemed optimistic the mistakes could be corrected but after the Cardinals game it seemed the concern was certainly amplified and for good reason.
 
Turnovers are one thing but the Red Zone has become the Dead Zone for this Saints offense. The 20 yards of real estate used to be a money maker where New Orleans cashed in versus opposing defenses but these days the Saints find themselves coming up broke. In an amazing stat--of the 13 plays the Saints ran in the red zone versus the Cardinals,they totaled a mere 22 yards! 22 yards! Yes, I said Its a far cry from last year's Super numbers but last year seems to sometimes be a bone of contention with the black and gold. Jeremy Shockey took exception when comparing this team to last year's group but Lance Moore embraced it saying they need to go back to being a red zone machine of a year ago and stop settling for field goals and score more touchdowns.
 
Last year, the Champs were good and lucky, this year they are not playing as good and are not nearly as lucky. Two times the Cards fumbled the ball in open field only to recover---the first time resulted in a score, the second resulted in a 1st down and another field goal.The Saints defense deserved a much better fate as well . Gregg WIlliams' guys were only responsible for 9 of the 30 points. They put a lot of pressure on rookie QB Max Hall at one point knocking him out of the game in the 1st half. The black and gold put some licks on the Cards holding them to 194 net yards but the effort was wasted. So many times in past Payton years you could say the same thing about the offense, where their output would go in vain thanks to a poor day at the office from the Saints D. We are quickly finding out, this is an all together different team so far. The offense is searching for its breakout game where if they don't find one soon, thoughts of a repeat will be lost as well.
 
WHO DAT HITS
 
KICKING CAROUSEL: Kicking continues to be inconsistent on the gimmie putts. First Garrett Hartley is benched for his third miss of the year, a 29 yarder which would have been a  game winner and then its John Carney missing a 29 yard FG of his own. Carney says he rushed the kick and pulled it. Payton defended him afterwards but in a season where it seems the Saints are gonna make them all close, you can't afford chip shot misses. To give the old man a break, it was his first miss of the year.
 
MIGHTY MARQUES: Marques Colston looked like his old self at times on Sunday, leading the Saints with 7 catches for 97 yards. He came up with a few big 3rd down grabs and averaged nearly 14 yards a catch.
 
IN SEARCH OF: The Saints have finished its first 5 games and still can't boast a 100 yard rusher. Ladell Betts and Chris Ivory had their moments but both backs couldn't even combine for 100 settling for 83 together on the ground.
 
FIRST THINGS 1ST: The offense has outscored opponents 40-7 in the 1st quarter this season, the same can't be said for the final 3 periods?!
 
"THIRTY" SOMETHING: The Cardinals scored 30 points without a passing or a rushing TD. That's only the second time that's happened in NFL history. The first time had the Bears doing it against the Packers back in 1993.
 
NOBODY ASKED ME BUT: Isn't Pierre Thomas looking more and more valuable these days? He's looking for a new deal and the play of the running back's in his absence the past few week's certainly makes a case for a raise. Sure Chris Ivory looks impressive at times and yes even Ladell Betts has had his moments but Thomas's void has been a factor and by the looks of the last few games he is anything but a Saints system back, he's the real deal. Pierre's a back who can do so many things, one of his biggest assets he rarely---turns it over!
 
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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