Saints Sideline Blog

MANY “MISSES”

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010      Email Print

DATELINE: New Orleans, LA/September 27, 2010 (Don't just blame the kicker)
 
Sure Garrett Hartley should have made it. Vegas didn't have a line on it, but the odds that he misses a chip shot game winner in overtime would have been a lot longer than his field goal attempt from 29 yards out. It was a gimme putt for a kicker who couldn't miss the fairway last postseason. Hartley sliced this one in the woods but let's make one thing clear---he wasn't the only reason the Saints perfect season ended months earlier than a year ago. The fingers can be pointed all around the locker room even at its best player.
 
Drew Brees would be the first one to tell you that the offense hasn't played its best football in the team's first three games of the season. The two constants of this unit in the first two games were its powerful opening scoring drives and its will power not to turn the ball over. This time the opening scoring drive was there but the will power was gone.Against the Falcons, Brees threw two picks, the first on a pass where he underthrew Devery Henderson. The second was very un-Brees like. In an effort to make a play, Drew admits he had a mental lapse pitching the ball to rookie tight end Jimmy Graham which ended up in the arms of Falcon cornerback Thomas DeCoud. Instead of building on a 14 to 7 lead, the Saints Super Bowl MVP sets the tone for a Falcon offense which made sure Brees would spend nearly the rest of the half on the sidelines.
 
Yes Brees shoulders some of the blame but so does Matt Ryan who knows the best way to beat the Saints is to keep Sean Payton's weapons on the bench. After the second pick those dirty birds would precede to give Gregg Williams a migrane by holding on to the ball for over 10 minutes! It was a drive where they converted four 3rd downs and two 4th downs. A drive which used 19 plays and ended with a game tying touchdown via Michael Turner. If you're keeping track of the ole game clock Brees threw an interception with 11:50 left in the half, and then got it back with a mere 1:03 remaining. The defense went on to lose the time of possession battle by almost 19 minutes.
 
The D not only was gassed, it was run over and picked apart by Matt Ryan. A week after Frank Gore ran wild, the Falcons compiled 202 rushing yards giving the Saints one of the most vulnerable defenses against the run in the league. The Falcons ran at will averaging 4.0 yards a carry . The Saints defense also wasn't impressive versus the pass where interesting enough, it lost a game for the first time with Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter "together" in the starting lineup. Greer, Porter and the rest of the secondary provided double teams to the likes of Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White but to no avail.
 
Garrett Hartley didn't throw an interception, didn't have a mistackle and didn't give up a Matt Ryan score, his teammates did. No Hartley missed a 29 yard field goal which gives him three misses this year, one more than he had his previous two seasons with the Saints. Its a miss which may cost him his job, a miss which will test his coach's faith and the fans confidence.In the end though,a multitude of misses helped the Saints miss out on improving to 3-0. The Saints did that with some help from Hartley but a few more assists from many others.
 
WHO DAT HITS
 
SEEING LANCE "A LOT" : Lance Moore should have been the headline in this game. His two touchdowns equaled his totals of all of last season and his 149 yards receiving were a career high breaking the mark set versus the Packers two seasons ago when he led the Saints in receiving. Oh and Moore also was big in special teams with a career high 72 yard punt return which set up the first score and was also a career high.
 
SHOCK VALUE: No Reggie Bush seemed to mean more of the Tight Ends. Jeremy Shockey turns in his best performance of the season as he led the Saints with 8 catches for 78 yards and a score. Shockey averaged nearly 10 yards a grab and saw backup TE Dave Thomas also haul in three catches of his own.
 
WORKING OVERTIME: This was a long game, how long? How about the longest game in team history . It took just over 73 minutes.
 
JAHARI GETS THE CALL: Drew Brees set the tone in the team's first game by instituting and then leading the pregame Who Dat chant throughout the Superdome. Getting the nod in the second home game of the season was All-Pro offensive guard Jahari Evans. Brees told me after the game, the team votes on who gets the honor for each home game.
 
NOBODY ASKED ME BUT: Sure the Saints lost a heartbreaker on Sunday but one thing you didn't hear afterwards were: excuses. Garrett Hartley was a standup guy answering every question and simply shouldered the blame. The rest of the team followed suit.I think Jeremy Shockey was the most candid after the Atlanta loss in the locker room saying the defeat "might be good for the Saints down the road"---we shall see.
 
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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