Saints Sideline Blog

EM"BEAR"ASSING

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011      Email Print

DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS,LA (No way Jay!)

The NFL cliche meter often screams to the masses that its teams can show lots of improvement from week one to week two of the season---the Saints are living proof. Sometimes you just gotta regroup.Ten days of preparation following its close call in Green Bay allowed this team to fine tune its engine for Chicago where both sides of the ball were revved up in more ways than one.

The opener against the Packers exploited the Saints on both sides of the football. On defense they had to tackle better and force more turnovers. On offense, the Saints needed to finish drives (still a work in progress ) and capitalize better in short yardage situations. Well overall this team improved on all counts versus a Bears team which is hardly a patsy. Sean Payton liked the energy and the hustle of his football team which seemed back in business despite a few distractions.

As much as I hate to say it, the biggest obstacle for the Saints early were the refs. So much for home cookin among the zebras who threw the laundry at Roman Harper resulting from his "supposed" late hit on Jay Cutler  (bad call) but then preceded to keep the flags in their collective pockets when the Bears' delivered a group hug on Robert Meachem out of bounds on the next series (even worse call). Think about this----they don't throw the flag against Roman and the Saints Defense holds the Bears out of the endzone on the afternoon---quite an accomplishment for a Bears squad which easily took care a Falcons team in week one---a team many are predicting to win the Super Bowl.

Say what you want about Jay Cutler but he can take a Who Dat lickin. Gregg Williams blitzed him from every direction and even without the services of Will Smith and Tracy Porter----the Saints totaled six sacks from a wide variety of defenders. From Harper to the likes of Turk McBride and Jo Lonn Dunbar, the New Orleans D put the kind of pressure on Cutler that they wanted to put on Aaron Rodgers in week one. The Bears QB passed on the praise.  "It was a long day out there, Cutler said. "I had to throw a lot of balls away before I wanted to. The Saints were the better team today.

The defense squashed Da Bears through the air and on the ground. Former Tulane star Matt Forte had a nice homecoming but if you take away his 1st quarter 42 yard run---the Bears only had 18 yards rushing the rest of the afternoon. The balance for the Saints defense mirrored the play of the black and gold offense which also took a step forward especially in its running game.

Three is hardly a crowd for the Saints running game where Pierre Thomas, Mark Ingram and last but certainly not least--Darren Sproles are all settling into their roles. In only his second career game, Ingram led the team in rushing but most importantly converted a few key third and shorts which kept drives alive. For the second straight week, Darren Sproles led the Saints in catches and Pierre Thomas just continues to do some of the dirty work where its hard to remember the last time he didn't get the football and do something positive.

So the Saints are 1-1 but are oh so close to being 2-0 with two victories over the two teams that met in last year's NFC Championship game. They keep up this balancing act on both sides of the ball and its clear they could be in this year's championship and maybe beyond.

WHO DAT HITS

DE-VERY GOOD AGAIN---Drew Brees never likes to single out any of his receivers but its clear after two games that Devery Henderson has been the go to guy. With Colston out, Henderson has stepped up where there was no bigger play in the game than when on 3rd & 14 when Brees found Devery for the 79 yard TD score to give the Saints the 10-7 lead. It was the longest Saints' gain from scrimmage since Brees hit Lance Moore from 80 yards out last September versus the Falcons.

OLIN'S REUNION- The Saints first home game had a different feel for longtime Bear Olin Kreutz. "Was it a normal game? No. It was like going against your family. It's not easy. There wasn't any more satisfaction other than the fact that we need the win." Brees told me after the game that having Olin's input the past 10 days hardly hurt preparation for Chicago...

JIMMY DANDY--Tight End Jimmy Graham stepped up for the Saints against the Bears, another example of how scary his potential is.Sunday he averaged just over 13 yards a catch and is impressing Sean Payton with his attitude. "He is very driven and coachable. He wants to be special."

THE MIGHTY KASAY--After a rough preseason finale, veteran John Kasay has his kicking mojo back where he hasn't missed the first two weeks of this season and is climbing the all-time charts in the process. With his 53 yarder in the 2nd half--the 41 year old vet moved past Jason Elam into sixth on the NFL's all-time field goal list with 438.

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT----The NFL is providing us a lot of parity once again---just ask the folks in Detroit, Washington and yes Buffalo. Sure its early but already the NFC South is showing the potential of being one of the best divisions in football. A week after every team lost---a week later the South was a Carolina win away from going undefeated. I'm still not sure how good the Falcons are but they beat the Eagles whom many considered the team to beat in the NFC. The fact that Chicago beat Atlanta last week and the Panthers nearly beat the Packers just proves once again that the Any Given Sunday fodder is very much alive and well in 2011.

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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