Alright, I admit it, and this is awfully weak of me. I'm getting worried about the Cowboys. There has been absolutely way, way, way too much talk about how bad the 'Boys are in December. The karma is starting to feel wrong about the game; everyone expects us to clobber them, and history says that's when things go dreadfully wrong for the Black and Gold. I know, this is a holdover from the "old" Saints, and this year's krewe is different. But 44 years of expecting the worst is a hard habit to break. Someone tell me I'm wrong, please!!
You're so far off, it's not even funny. Cowboys are god awful in the redzone. They can't run the ball anymore. The Saints D will give up more yards in the passing game but will force field goals vs touchdowns. And Folk is bad enough to miss 1 or 2 of them. Demarcus Ware won't play which is the only player who could have made life a little difficult for Drew Brees. Brees will have it just as easy as he did vs the Pats. Saints 45, Cowboys 13
Exactly the game I was afraid it would be. Dallas came in with a chip the size of Cowboy Stadium on their shoulders, placed their by the idiots at ESPN who went 24/7 all week with "the Cowboys suck in December." Huge credit to their secondary; they never let Brees get into a rhythm. Ware and Spencer put a major whipping on Stinchcomb/Bushrod as well. Injuries on defense are catching up with us; we looked very confused for much of the first half, and our tackling was atrocious. If we don't get healthy on defense soon, this season is going to end on a big down note.
The defense needs to get healthy because even at full strength, they're not one of the better units in the league. The offense laying eggs on the first two drives really set the tone. Settling for a FG instead of scoring a TD also hurt. The drop by Henderson ultimately cost us a chance at winning. If we don't score at least 35 against Tampa and hold them to 17 or less, then we have some serious problems with this team. Even with injuries, we should be playing better than what we've seen the past month. Hopefully we'll get it all together just at the right time. We could be home for vacation after three more games or WORLD CHAMPIONS after five more games.
I know injuries have played a part, but I also see SP slipping back into last year's pass,pass,pass mentality. We don't have nearly the balance in the play calling that we were showing earlier in the season. 45 passes, 13 runs last night. There's no logic to the running back rotation either. Bush went 30 yards in his first carry in the first quarter....and it turned out to be his only carry of the night. Bell didn't even see the field until the fourth quarter.
MC you were dead on man. The Cows played with the us against the world mentality, and the Saints have reverted back to their old selves at least for this game. I have blasted Reggie Bush in the past, and i am going to do it again. He needs to go, and the Saints should have traded him. He could have been the difference maker in last nights game, and him coming up lame again without being touched should be the end of Reggie in New Orleans. The Defense cannot stop anything in the passing game and the front 4 got no pressure on Romo. And like you said, Payton gave up on the run. Good thing is, Saints still control thier own destiny, and can still maintain home field throughout. Bad news is, there is a glaring weakness on defense, and the offense is sputtering. Bush could have really earned his paycheck because on offense to me, a guy like him with his skill set is what is missing from the offense.
I think the problem is solely the lack of defense. We were successful earlier in the year because the defense was fairly solid and getting take aways giving the ball right back to Breese. I think it was successful due to some off season free agent acquisitions so it was a thin veneer seperating this year's defense from last years. When these guys started getting hurt the defense can't get a stop anymore. This allows the other team to not only score but also keep Breese sitting the pine. I think that what is starting to happen is when Breese finally gets on the field he & SP feel he has to be perfect to try to catch up. I think SP abandons the running game for this same reason. I think he uses the running game to establish balance and make the offense even more potent but when he feels "catch up desperate" he goes almost exclusively to his top weapon which is Breese. Hopefully when we get these guys back on defense everything will get in sync again. I know we better not lose either of the last 2 games because I have a feeling the Vikings won't so if we lose just one they get home field due to tiebreak.
Clearly we don't have nearly the depth on defense that we thought we had earlier in the year. It's a big dropoff from Porter and Greer. Randall Gay is not an NFL starter, and Jenkins is....well, he's a rookie. Austin abused him last night. Run defense...if Sedrick Ellis plays, we stop the run. If not, we get torched. On offense, I can't believe I saw this intelligent observation on the nola.com board: Shockey's absence was devastating, not necessarily because we lost him as a receiving target, but because it took David Thomas out of the fullback role. We really missed him giving Brees added protection. I will be cheering for the Panthers to knock off the Vikes like crazy tonight. Then we can clinch #1 against TB next week, a game I think we win even without Ellis, Bush, Shockey, or Fujita and Porter at less than 100%. I DO NOT want to see us have to go into Carolina in a must-win situation in the finale.
