Better skill position players. Maybe signing LT would have been a good move. I know the season isn't over, but does Payton look at skill position players in the draft or in free agency? I think they should start losing every game on purpose so they can draft Peterson in the first round, then go receiver in the 2nd.
Don't know about that, the same skill guys were good enough for us to win a Super Bowl last year. But, our runnning backs last year were Thomas, Bell, Bush and Hamilton. Bell is gone, Thomas, Bush and Hamilton are hurt. And our receivers have not been nearly as sure-handed as they were last year. Brees has not been as accurate, possibly because teams have blitz frequently and up-the-middle, taking advantage of his lack of height by interfering with his sight lines. For the record, here are the skill position players we relied on last year, and how we acquired them: QB - Drew Brees - vet free agent RB - Pierre Thomas - undrafted free agent RB - Reggie Bush - 1st round draft choice RB - Lynell Hamilton - undrafted free agent FB - Heath Evans - vet free agent WR - Marques Colston - 7th round draft pick WR - Devery Henderson - 2nd round draft pick WR - Robert Meachem - 1st round draft pick WR - Lance Moore - waivers TE - Jeremy Shockey - trade TE - David Thomas - trade
So do you think the receivers are just going through some issues? I love Devry, don't get me wrong, but he has been terrible this season. Meacham has been terrible this season. Colston was solid yesterday, but he drops alot of balls. The running back situation has been the straw though. So what do you think is missing from this team?
I think its a little of everything we talked about, plus the defense has not turned the ball over the way we did last year. After 7 games last year, we had 7 defensive touchdowns, and turnovers set the offense up on short fields on several other occasions. Long story short; we were getting every bounce and every break last year. That's not happening this year. Add that to the obvious mistakes we've made on offense and special teams, which we weren't doing last year, and it all adds up to an unimpressive 4-3. The personnel is good enough, but they have to get the job done.
The number 1 issue if the O-line. Brees is on pace for 25 sacks this season, and the countless pressures are certainly up as well. We don't run block consistently. The O-line seems to mail it in when playing inferior competition (Carolina, Arizona, Cleveland). They played one great game vs Tampa and you saw the results. If they came to play like that every time, we would get a sizeable lead on our opponent and then our D would be in the position Williams wants them in, forcing mistakes from the offense who become one dimensional.
Injuries and O-Line play. These two problems seem to be major factors causing these Saints' losses so far. I agree with those who pointed this out first.
i think it is safe to say that i have absolutely no clue what the Saints need. It seems like this team plays alot better with their backs against the wall.
It's called motivation, desire and passion. That was missing in the Arizona and Cleveland games. The team that played last night wins both those games by 21 plus. We're not even talking about anything else than why Garrett Hartley had to miss that kick vs Atlanta and prevent us from a possible 10-0 start heading into Dallas.
