The Saints are back and they are on a mission. This team is ready to suck old school. The 2007 Saints are here to make exactly the wrong call at the wrong time, to turn every opportunity into a comical mishap, to subject their star players to devastating injuries, to consistently lose professional football games by more than ten points; in short, to show the world how we do things in New Orleans. Welcome home, Saints. Your fans have missed you.
Last night's exciting highlights: (Unless otherwise indicated, all game photos, as usual, have been gleefully stolen from the T-P gallery)
- The most disappointing news to come out of last night's game is the season-ending injury to Deuce McAllister. The torn ACL is his second such injury in three years and could be an indication that his best days are now truly behind him. Deuce is one of pro football's good guys and deserves better than this. He's also the best player on the team. Before this injury, Saints fans were missing Deuce simply because he was underutilized. Now they won't even have that to complain about.
This inevitably means that we'll be watching Saints corporate spokesmodel Reggie Bush attempt to carry more of the rushing load. Last night, Bush carried 7 times for 15 yards and dropped a pass in the endzone.
What could make the 2007 season even more sucktastic? Yup, even more of this guy. (NFL.com photo) - For the third week, the Saints were badly outplayed at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. While the Titans did not put up world-beating rushing numbers, they did manage to continuously push the Saints front seven backwards throughout the evening. Even when Saints defenders managed to contact Tennessee ball carriers at or near the line of scrimmage, they more often than not failed to make the tackle without first being carried for an additional three or four yards. And with the exception of one hit in the second quarter, Vince Young's pass attempts were largely undisturbed by Saints pressure. In short, the Saints D got their asses whipped by a more physical team.... again.
Also getting their asses whipped, the Saints offensive line. So far this season, "J-Five" has looked more like the Jackson Five failing to produce running lanes and... more spectacularly... failing to protect Drew Brees. And Brees is proving not to be the sort of quarterback who manages to produce when the protection breaks down. (More on the one-armed man later)Fittingly, for this team, the worst performer on the o-line has been the man with the highest billing. In every game this season, left tackle Jamaal Brown has committed at least one costly penalty and has allowed multiple defenders to consistently harass Brees. In the first quarter, the Saints attempted a gimmick deep pass on fourth down and one from their own 45 yard line. Even if the idiotic pass had been completed, it would have been negated by Brown's holding penalty. Brown left late in the game with some sort of finger injury. The pass protection immediately improved but it was too late.
That's Jamaal Brown on the ground getting his ass whipped again. (nfl.com photo. The T-P images suck this week for some reason) - Sure, Brees's protection has been poor. But that doesn't, by itself, explain his horrendous performance. Brees threw four interceptions Monday night. Only one of these appeared to be the direct result of defensive pressure. Brees has a nasty habit of misreading coverages in the flat and allowing defenders to jump routes for easily returnable picks. He's also developed a tendency to throw high passes which his receivers then have to leap awkwardly after. This was exactly the kind of thing that led to McAllister's injury and could cause similar havoc if Marques Colston is made to continue contorting himself chasing after Brees's passes. Furthermore, Brees seems to have lost that intuitive feel for the flow of a play he so often displayed last season. Instead of avoiding sacks by subtly shifting in the pocket, Brees is bailing out and running for his life before most pass plays can properly develop. And unlike, his opposite number on the field last night, Drew Brees is not at his best while improvising out of the pocket. Any way you slice it, five turnovers by the man expected to lead your offense is unacceptable. Brees's fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter set the Titans up with a short field and proved to be the crucial turning point of the game.
Keith Bulluck returns yet another Brees intercetption. At least he managed to land on Bush's head. - Coach Soupy's decision to go for it on fourth and one from his own 45 yard line on the team's second possession of the game not only set the Titans up for their first touchdown, but also set the tone for the rest of the night by declaring just how desperate and unsure of themselves the Saints were. This was the worst strategic decision of the game and perhaps the very low point of Soupy's career thus far.
- This week's Dome complaint: Getting to the game is usually a simple affair. The Superdome is a light ten minute bike ride away. Tying up the bikes on Girod street directly across from the Superdome access ramp certainly beats languishing in traffic whilst in search of a 25 dollar parking spot. Unfortunately, when the weather behaves the way it did last night, other arrangements have to be made. Such arrangements involve not only cab fare, but also umbrellas and ponchos and other assorted extraneous equipment all of which I packed into my brand-spanking new backpack for carrying convenience.
As we were entering the stadium, we were stopped by the security personnel who informed us we were not allowed to carry the bag into the dome. I opened the bag, removed several suspicious looking items that had been wrapped in little plastic bags, and handed them to Menckles who was allowed to take them right through the door without inspection. I then displayed my now empty backpack to the security asswipe who still refused to let such a nefarious item enter the building on his watch. Meanwhile, dozens of unchecked handbags at least as large as my backpack and containing God-knows-what zoomed right by us on all sides. Disgusted, I abandoned the bag at the door. The very idea of subjecting sports fans to compulsory pat-downs and bag checks is insulting to begin with. The absurdity of disallowing an empty package in the interest of simply being a dick is profound.
Also the temperature inside the Dome was noticeably warmer than usual. Any day now, Stacy Head will be issuing subpoenas for Superdome administrators in order to sort out the problem with the air conditioning. - Bad Jason David: Cornerback Jason David, the Saints marquee free agent acquisition this season, was badly burned by Brandon Jones for a 35 yard touchdown in the second quarter proving the Saints' tendency to give up the big play is more of a feature than it is a bug.
Good Jason David: David, the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this season, intercepted a Vince Young pass deep in Saints territory preventing the game from getting too ugly too early.
Really Bad Jason David: After this interception, and with the score 10-0 in favor of the Titans, David, the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this season, posed with his arms extended toward the heavens as though it were perhaps Jesus instead of the football he had just received. David continued to strut and exalt with pride over his minor accomplishment for an uncomfortably long time after the play. Let's all hope he enjoyed that as much as we did.
Jason David: The Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this season - Yes, that actually was the Kerry Collins who took over for a temporarily shaken Vince Young at the end of the first half. I wonder if he got a chance to try the bloody marys.
- With 7:22 remaining to play Brees threw his second interception of the game. The entire team had played like crap and it was becoming more doubtful that a win could be finagled from this mess. Still, the Saints were only down by ten points with plenty of time left on the clock. It didn't look good, but the outcome was far from certain. Amazingly, Saints fans began to empty the stands certain that there was nothing left to see.
Unless you have some pressing plans after the game, there is just no reason to leave this early. While losing football may not be quite as gratifying as winning football it is certainly no less entertaining. Allowing oneself to be satisfied with only one kind of outcome severely limits one's ability to truly enjoy the experience. Saints fans should have an especially acute understanding of this. And still, over half the crowd was gone while a significant portion of the game remained to be played. I can't say I'll ever quite get that.
The best part of all of this is that, thanks to the open date, the Saints and their fans get two full weeks to bask in the glory of their 0-3 start before returning to action against the Carolina Panthers (a team who swept the Saints last year) in the Superdome. Fans who grew up watching this franchise know how to appreciate bad football and will return to the Dome on Oct 7, to be entertained once more by their beloved losers. Those fans who fail to show up just don't get it and probably never will.
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Update: Some of you may wish to point out that the presumed flag mishap is really just a matter of perspective. To that I say, the folks sitting on the press box side of the stadium were simply out of position to recognize the true nature of the dark portent.
Upperdate: Here are some Saints fans who refuse to leave early under ANY circumstances.
Uppestdate: Jason David, the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition of 2007, will miss 4 to 6 weeks with a fractured forearm. So the value of that transaction has become even clearer.
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