Saints 47, Panthers 10 Everything must be taken with a big chunk of salt because its obvious Carolina really stinks. I'll go with "encouraging" for my adjective. Carr was competent, the o-line protected him better than I thought they would (Kubiak moved him around a lot and that helped). Kamara looked like his old self, and I loved the one-two tailback combo of Kamara and Taysom Hill. I wish we could have gotten to Bryce Young with less than a corner blitz, but the defense got 3 turnovers and held them to 10 points. Two biggest issues to me were penalties that repeatedly killed drives (tip of the hat to Blake Grupe for going 5 of 5 but we shouldn't have had to attempt 5 FGs) and - naturally - injuries. Lucas Patrick got hurt so we're already challenging the depth of the line, Lattimore has a hammy and there was an unconfirmed report on the postgame radio show that Olave may have hurt his wrist. We'll get a much better read (maybe a reality check) at Dallas next week. And I love how huge a train wreck Bryce Young is turning out to be.
Saints 44, Cowboys 19 Hooolll...................llleeeeeeeeee......cow! Never would have predicted this. Offense is truly clicking under Kubiak. Carr looks very confident, AK looks 5 years younger, and props have to be given to Trevor Penning. I'm sure the blocking scheme is helping, but he finally looks like a legit NFL lineman with the move to RT. It was taking candy from a baby yesterday (until Carr's int early in the 4th quarter, the first team offense had a streak of 15 consecutive scoring drives to start the year, think the NFL record is 18 by Manning's Colts); Steven A. this morning said let's call them Allas (Alice) because the Cowboys have no D . Saints D was bend but don't break, really only two mistakes that I saw; giving up the long TD to Lamb and Chase Young not falling on the fumble that allowed the Cowboys to recover and salvage a FG to start the 3Q. The secondary sure didn't miss Lattimore, Harris and Mattieu are laying people out from the safety positions, and Demario Davis was freaking everywhere. Really only negative of the day was the injury to Taysom Hill. He was hospitalized but DA said it was just a precaution and hopefully he's back this week. It's only going to get tougher with Philly coming in Sunday and we need his versatility. 2-0, would not have thunk it!
I told my brothers we should start a class action lawsuit against Pete Carmichael. What a colossal flop he was. My favorite play from the other day got waived off by penalty, the TD pass to Moreau. Carr rolled right to set up a throwback screen pass to the left. Not well disguised, Dallas reacted well, but Moreau as the last man in line to block in the screen suddenly broke out and went deep - wide open. Super creative play https://twitter.com/revdeucewindham/status/1835764030927237453?s=46&t=vV8aLqqoGhca27DIcNMNrg
Eagles 15, Saints 12 I have a very busy morning so I will keep this short. I think people read too much into the Cowboys win and I don't want to read too much into this loss. Simply put, 1. the absence of Hill took away our offensive versatility, 2. the loss of McCoy on the third play of the game wrecked the o-line's continuity, and 3. the defense was on the field way too much for the first 3 quarters. The giving up of 15 points in the 4th quarter was almost inevitable. If we don't get McCoy and Hill back soon, I will become concerned. I felt from the beginning that at least a 3-3 start to the season is needed for a chance at success, and that's certainly still in the mix.
McCoy out 6-8 weeks, Caesar Ruiz likely out this week, Alvin Kamara possibly out this week. Every year, the same story.
Falcons 26, Saints 24 OK, this one pisses me off. Besides, the obvious (its ATL), we just gave this one away with stupidity. Shaheed's muff on the 1Q punt was inexcusable, had no business trying to fair catch a ball on the 2-yard line and then used very poor technique to try for the catch. 7-point gift. Should have taken the FG instead of trying to go for a TD on 4th and goal from the 7 with nearly 5 minutes left in the game. Then Adebo lets the WR run by him and gives ATL the yardage they needed to kick the winning FG. Beyond those point-swinging events, its disturbing that we don't seem to have an offensive game plan without Taysom Hill, that even with a week's practice together, the offensive line is as useless as a screen door on a submarine up the middle, and that even with that problem, we don't call nearly enough plays to get Carr out of the pocket and away from the pressure right in his face, that we couldn't get pressure on one of the oldest and most stationary QBs in the league with 4 rushers, and that we couldn't protect another lead at the end (Saints under Dennis Allen are 0-4 when leading by 6 points or less with under 2:00 to play). We should be 4-0 right now.
We signed a veteran center off the Jets practice roster yesterday. Amazing that we had 15 guys on the injury report the other day, including 4 guys capable of playing center (that includes McCoy). Saints Strength & Conditioning staff is a joke.
Chiefs 26, Saints 13 Patience gone. What was supposed to be the strength of the team got toyed with last night. The weaknesses were fully on display and I'm no longer willing to make or accept excuses for injuries. The guys who are being called on to play are supposed to be pros and they don't perform like it. Carr can't handle adversity, and now he's hurt as well. No doubt in my mind he'll miss the next one, and the Bucs will be on Haener like 11 hungry wolves on a baby lamb. Was hoping for at least a 3-3 start, don't see that happening.
