I thoroughly enjoyed that game. It was a perfect way to start my Sunday morning. Yes, the Saints got their first win of the season, but mainly it’s because I hate Jay Cutler. I have no reason at all to hate him. He could be the nicest guy in the world, save baby seals, give Baby Trend Expedition-Jogger-Stroller out to children and cure diseases, and my opinion would stay the same.
It’s not just me though: all my coworkers and friends from college hate him too, and I’d be willing to bet that he is one of the fans’ most hated players. On the sideline, he always looks like he needs to cry or just finished complaining to his coach. Personally, I hope he’s just regretting that trade from Denver. The way he talked his way out of there probably bothers me more than anything—even though it wasn’t entirely his fault.
This sums the game up perfectly
So seeing Cutler on the turf of the Superdome for most of the game was pretty sweet. The Saints tallied 6 sacks, hit him 10 times and knocked him down constantly. That’s a rough day for a quarterback. The Bears have a swiss cheese-like offensive line, but the Saints sent 36 blitzes by my unofficial count. When you blitz that often you’re going to get pressure on the opposing QB.
The sweetest sack from both my Cutler-hating and awesome-celebratory perspective was the one late in the 4th quarter by Malcom Jenkins and Roman Harper. After taking Cutler down, both pop up and do the Bernie dance from “Weekend at Bernie’s 2.” It was hilarious. Check out the video of it here.
Side Note: A player like Cutler really makes you genuinely appreciate nice guys like Drew Brees. Brees fully embraced New Orleans when he signed down here. It also helps that he is really good. Brees is a guy it’s impossible not to like.
Overall, this was a much better game for the Saints. The offense continues to look good and there is no reason to think it won’t continue to put up 25+ points a game; it was so good that made all you Saints fans forget about the terrible referring early on in the game (it was that bad). And for all my criticism of the play calling last week, I was all in favor of the trick field goal. Many of the issues from the opening game were corrected. The offensive line held their own and paved the way for 118 rushing yards and allowed just one, inconsequential, sack in the 1st quarter. The defense showed that Gregg Williams-aggressiveness which was absent against the Packers.
The one lingering issues was the tackling. The ‘olay tackles’ weren’t as prevalent this week but tackling wasn’t as solid as it should be. The talking heads on TV blame the lockout and the lack of offseason conditioning and potential fines. Regardless, this could develop as a bigger problem. It’s early but players will start to wear down due to fatigue as the season progresses. This only leads to worse tackling. But at least the team didn’t give up any big plays.
