Saints Sideline Blog

THE TAMPA “TWO”

Monday, October 17th, 2011      Email Print

DATELINE: Tampa, FL (Saints lose twice---the game and its head coach)

Sean Payton is used to providing injury reports, but never being on them. He also knows the deal in the NFL--on any given Sunday, anything can happen. He was living proof in Tampa where in an unprecedented "happening", the Saints Head Coach left the game with a broken knee and leg courtesy a crazy case of timing. On the third play during the second series of the game, Payton was in no man's land when his 6'6 260 pound Tight End unintentionally came knocking full speed in his sights. Graham is used to taking out opposing defenses but on this rare day he took out his head coach who was relegated to the bench and subsequently the locker room the rest of the day. After the game Graham told me he told Payton "my bad" where he clearly felt terrible about an incident that was surely out of his control.

The Saints Head Coach despises injuries as much as defeats so its ironic he found himself the leading man on this week's report.
He told me afterwards its the first football injury of any kind as the ex-quarterback was fortunate enough to stay healthy during his collegiate and pro career. Initially,Payton also told me he didn't think it was serious but once reality set in, do did the pain and any hopes of coaching in the press box during the second half were out the window as well. The Head Saint had surgery in New Orleans on Monday and will have to undergo extensive rehab at the team complex in the coming weeks where he will be off his feet for the foreseeable future.

In Payton's stead was offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael who took over play calling duties----the team agreed he along with interim head coach Joe Vitt did a great job taking over such a chaotic circumstance.. Brees told me that it was strange not having Payton's voice in his ear, but his comfort level with Carmichael has always been good and made things somewhat seamless.

Losing your coach was one thing, losing the game was yet another. On a Sunday full of irregularities how about these for the Saints. We begin with your team's leading rusher entering the fourth quarter being none other than Drew Brees with 18 yards. If that wasn't surprising enough how about Marques Colston being the ONLY Saints WR with a catch entering the final quarter of play.

Brees and company have made a living on 3rd down this season but in Tampa the pirates pushed them off the plank. The Saints converted only 5 of 12 third downs and it was their lone fourth down attempt that was the dagger. After all the obstacles in this game --from losing Payton to losing its offensive mojo---these Saints still had a chance to win it just like last week against Carolina.

Trailing 26-20 with 7:19 left (almost the same identical amount of time left as they had against the Panthers the prior week) the Saints
collected a pair of first downs and a benefited from a costly Bucs interference penalty, the Saints drove all the way down to Tampa Bay's four yard line only to have Brees throw his third pick of the game to Tampa Bay's Quincy Black---game over.

Its amazing how life in the crazy NFC South works. Traditionally the cellar dweller from the year before comes back a much better team a year later. Ask the Saints back in 2006 and the Bucs last season? This year's Bucs did the trick in one week----a week after getting humbled by the Niners 48-3, they bounce back to provide its home fans with quite an effort.

Conversely, the Saints schedule makers didn't do them any favors with a third straight road game---two straight within the division. No excuses from this locker room even after losing its head coach and its first game since the opener in Lambeau. Life in the "Bays" haven't been fun for the Saints this season but they remain in a tie for the lead in its division with still plenty of football in front of them. This game though is something they hope they don't see again ---a surreal Sunday---- this franchise and for that matter this league has never seen.

In the land of the Bucs, the defense runs the Tampa Two, but on this day the Saints gave it a new meaning.

WHO DAT HITS

GRAHAM'S BROKEN RECORD: An eventful and in his words a "bittersweet" Sunday for Jimmy Graham. He collects his fourth straight 100 yard receiving effort---that ties an NFL record for Tight Ends set by future Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez back in 2000. On the afternoon, Graham had 7 catches for 124 yards where he averaged 17.7 per grab.

BREES KEEPS STREAKING: Another game saw yet more impressive numbers for the Saints QB. His TD pass to Marques Colston extends his games with a TD to 33 straight games, still third best in NFL history behind Favre (36) and Unitas (47). Brees also throws for over 350 yards for the fourth striaght game---that is an NFL record.

NINE LIVES: Hard to believe that was Colston's 1st TD catch of the season---he becomes the ninth different Saint to score this season. The others -Sproles,Graham,Ingram,Meachem,Henderson,Moore,Thomas and Jed Collins.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? The Saints have averaged 29,5 points a game this season, a number which took a beating thanks to the Bucs loss which  gave the team its lowest output of the season with 20 pts, 3 points shy of the previous low against Jacksonville.

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT: No doubt Tampa has one of the best venues in the NFL. One of the best looking stadiums, best parking setups and the top halftime press box treat in its offering of Bananas Foster (I missed it this year??!!) Too bad many Bucs fans can't take advantage as despite having one of the most exciting young teams in the league---attendance continues to suffer and this game was blacked out locally. The only game the past two years seen on local TV was the Monday night game against the Colts earlier this season---sad state of affairs.

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.

Post Comment | Read Comments (0)