The following is a post by Ben Nettleton, the newest contributor to Saints247.
Unbefreakingleivable. Everything about this game refers back to that one word. And after you finish reading this, just ignore the post below: IT’S TIME TO PANIC! The Saints lost for the third straight week for the first time since 2007 when they started 0-4. This time, the Saints found a way to blow a 24-6 lead against the hapless Chiefs who scored 21 unanswered points to win 27-24 in overtime.
PASS OFFENSE: B
For the first time this year, Drew Brees looked like, well, Drew Brees… that is until the second half. Brees went 20-36 for 240 yards, 3 touchdowns, and that one pesky int.
For the second straight week, the Saints started strong on the opening drive, this one ending on a Drew Brees throw to Lance Moore. After a beautiful throw to Devery Henderson, we started to believe our passing game was back.
But in the words of Lee Corso, “not so fast!” The offensive line, yet again, failed to protect Drew who was under constant pressure. He was sacked 4 times for 35 yards, but that doesn’t even come close to telling the whole story. He reaggravated his hurt ankle after getting hit one play.
But not to pin everything on the O-Line, Drew was not so sharp himself. Wanna guess how many completions Drew had in the 4th quarter and overtime combined? 0. That’s right 0. The times when we needed him the most, the times we’ve come to know and love because we know Drew will save us, he came up empty. Drew held onto the ball way too long in this game. The Chiefs did a pretty nice job covering the recievers, but quarterbacks should have a mental clock in their head that tells them it’s time to get rid of the ball. The interception in the third quarter was inexcusable. It was a bad throw and really just a bad decision. Other bad decisions included the throw to Darren Sprolles on a swing that ended up incomplete but came incredibly close to being intercepted and his decision to hold onto the ball in the endzone instead of getting rid of it or just stepping up and falling down at the 1.
However, there were some “how did he do that” moments in the game. Drew’s desparation toss to Pierre Thomas left us smiling. We’re sure to see Devery Henderson’s one handed reaching back catch on the Sportscenter Top 10. Pierre Thomas’ catch(?) was spectacular but more on that later. Lance Moore had a very near touchdown on a beautiful back shoulder throw that he caught and looked like his second foot hit the pilon first.
We continued to see drops in this game. Colston dropped a ball that was catchable on the first drive. Jimmy Graham (who was virtually nonexistent in this game aside from the TD) had 2 drops: one on a 3rd down seam route over the middle and another in our own redzone where it looked like he batted it down.
RUSH OFFENSE: D+
Darren Sprolles can run? That’s right. After not recieving a single rush attempt in the first two games, he ran 7 times for 62 yards. He looked explosive on the 47 yard pitch on the first drive of the game.
But that’s about all the good you can say about this rushing attack. There was another nice run by Sprolles and Pierre Thomas fought hard for every yard, but overall, they were horrible. Aside from the 47 yarder, Sprolles ran 6 times for 15 yards for a YPC under 3. Thomas and Ingram each had 11 yards on 6 and 5 carries respectively earning them YPCs under 2.5. The offensive line couldn’t make any holes and the backs were constantly met at the line of scrimmage. New Orleans rushed for a mere total of 83 yards.
PASS DEFENSE: A-
If there was one bright spot from this game, it was the pass defense. They held Cassel to 248 yards on 44 attempts for no touchdowns and an interception.
The pass rush was very weak for the most part. They did have 3 sacks for 11 yards, but Cassel had all day to run around and find the open man. The 3rd down play where he ran basically a circle around the D-Line and fired it to the wide open reciever was unacceptable. The third and long screen pass to Jamaal Charles for a first down was also a momentum killer.
But overall, the pass defense was excellent. Cassell was constantly forced to throw the ball high because of the tight coverage. Roman Harper came up big knocking away the touchdown and nailing Steve Breaston on 3rd down. Jabari Greer finally came away with the Saints’ first takeaway of the season with a huge interception and return. Patrick Robinson, who struggled at times during the game, had an okay game with a few nice breakups.
RUN DEFENSE: D-
273. That’s the number of rushing yards the Saints gave up today on the ground. There are only five runningbacks in the NFL who have rushed for 273 yards this season so far including Jamaal Charles. Jamaal Charles became only the second player in NFL history to rush for 225 yards and have 50 yards recieving. Jim Brown was the only other player to do so. Kansas City controlled the clock for 42:32 compared to New Orleans’ 26:01. Kansas City picked up 27 first downs oppossed to The Saints’ 14.
Nearly every time the Chiefs ran the ball, there was a huge hole. After the Saints stopped the Chiefs’ kick returner on the nine yard line, Charles ran for 91 yards the first play. Charles constantly was able to run around the Saints defense. The D did a terrible job shutting the corner. Every time there was a pitch that seemed like it might end up a tackle for a loss, Charles just ran around the Saints for a gain. In case you haven’t picked up yet, it was bad folks.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B
There were a lot of ups and downs for this special teams units. For a unit that was solid the first couple of games, they had some low points.
There were some key mistakes in this game by the special teams unit. First of all, Darren Sprolles just insisted on bringing the ball out of the back of the end zone but was only able to make it out past the twenty once. Hartley missed a very key field goal which ended up being the difference in the game. Whether he should’ve even had to attempt that kick will be discussed later; that was a makeable kick and he missed it. While Thomas Morestead’s kicks were long, many were line drives which didn’t give the Saints enough time to reach Javier Arenas which led to some solid returns.
That said, Darren Sprolles did have one nice return making a few people miss, and pushing his way to the 29. The coverage team on kicks was great with the highlight being the stop at the 9. Thomas Morestead boomed a 70 yard punt. Hartley made a field goal and every extra point.
COACHING: C
The Saints didn’t call a really bad game, but as has happened the first 2 games, they struggled to make adjustments. Jamaal Charles was constantly able to run around the defense and the Saints couldn’t figure out how to get around the Chiefs blocking scheme.
REPLACEMENT REFS: D
While there’s a lot of pressure reffing in the Superdome, the refs did a pretty bad job calling this game. The game took way too long, lasting nearly 4 hours. Also, they pretty much did away with the conclusive evidence rule as was seen in the Pierre Thomas catch. If that was called incomplete, I don’t think they could have overruled it because it was so close. But if you’re telling me that’s conclusive evidence, then there have been a lot of calls in the past that should have been overturned. Lance Moore’s catch was, as it seemed, a touchdown. His 2nd foot pretty clearly hit the pilon before landing which would be a touchdown.
Next up, the Saints face the Packers in Green Bay. The panic button has been pushed. Let’s see how the Saints respond.
