Flame away but Brees was not worth that big fucking contract, Ingram should've never been drafted and at minimum should've been traded by now, we'll lose Graham after this season, and our FG kicker can't hit the ground.
Sean Payton is a fuckin idiot... wasting time outs like they're free cuz they can't get the ball snapped in time, his clock management is worse than Miles'. His game plan to basically sit Graham and throw 2 yard screens all day was brilliant as well... way to shit the bed now 3 straight games against ol'Petey.
The saints would seem to have been at least a year ahead of schedule. What Ryan did with the defense is remarkable. I still believe in Payton. The fact is...he lost a year.
This one was definitely on Drew Brees and Sean Payton. The same problem we have had on the road all year long, scoring when inside the opponent's 40 yard line and clock management. 2 of 7 touchdown conversions today, but 5 possessions coming away with 0 points when inside the Seattle 40 Throw in a fumble inside our 25, a shanked punt giving them field position at our 40 and that's 10 points you have just given away. Not winning on the road giving away points and pissing away scoring opportunities. Not Seattle, that's for sure. I thought we pretty much controlled both lines of scrimmage today. We can be proud of that.
If that's the case, its certainly on more than Payton and Brees, don't you think? Neither one of them fumbled or shanked a punt. This loss was carefully constructed throughout the season. A ref screw job in New England, uninspired performances as a team in New York and St. Louis, conspired to put us in the NFL's toughest venue not named the Superdome yesterday, against the best team in the league this season. The Saints have to get better - and younger - in several position, especially on offense. In the team's favor, the additions of Victor Butler and Kenyon Coleman, along with the presumed continued development of Kenny Vaccaro, ensure that the defense will improve next year without any investment this off season. Payton/Loomis should be able to concentrate on upgrading the line and wide receivers in the draft, and also begin putting more effort into developing DB's eventual successor.
The weather affected both passing offenses, thus play calling. The wind was nasty. It's not an excuse, it affected both teams. The key from the Saints perspective was getting behind again due to field position/poor punt early, and the fumble. As stated above, the Saints put themselves in the position to be on the road in Seattle, so it cost them. I thought they played tough, esp. the defense. The offense couldn't really get going early enough. Is that on CSP, the weather, Seattle's D? I'd say all of it, but I wasn't that unhappy w/CSP as others are saying.
Seahawks D was on top of and in Brees' grill every time he dropped back with the ball. I wouldn't blame this entirely on Payton and Brees... Something can be said about the Seahawks D; but even more should be said about the Saints D, wow they did GREAT. The Saints offense didn't stand a chance last night against that D line. They were fast, and broke down the QB protection continuously. We had the one good drive in the second half and I thought we might do this... if the defense continued to hold them to field goals, and our O continued on with drives like that one, we win the game. Then the Ingram fumble changes everything.
Did you think we had to throw 20 screen passes? one of which went to the backup TE? How about a draw to Ingram (thanks for the fumble) or Robinson? It would have worked better than 20 screens.
I hear you, and that is frustrating. But the wind was brisk the first 3/4 of the game, and anytime they threw downfield it was wobbly and way off. A shorter pass, i.e. screen, makes sense in those conditions. We could have ran more on those screens, but that would mean we were basically running every play. We ran the ball 23 times, w/22 of those occurring in the first 3 qtr's. We ended up passing 42 times, but over half of that was in the 4th qtr, when we were behind w/no points on the board at all. Several of the early screens would have picked up much more yards had the RBs actually caught the ball. When I went thru the play by play, I noticed we passed in spurts in the first half, esp. late in the 2nd qtr, or when we had long yardage for 1st downs. So, basically we ran the ball most of the first half, and were shutout w/DB having 31 yards at the half. We can't win if DB has 31 yards, bottom-line. The reason we lost that game is b/c of the weather, our FG kicker missing (although I would have personally gone for the 1st down on both of the misses), the early turnover, and Seattle's D. Playcalling can always be second guessed in losses, and certainly throwing to the TE instead of screens was viable, but I really think Seattles excellent coverage, and the conditions on the field dictated that - something we can't appreciate 3000 miles away while watching it on TV.
