Saints 27, Giants 52
Saints Turn It Over 4 Times, Special Teams Problems Headline Trouble In Big Apple
Let’s face it. We’re all disgusted at this point. Seeing those few seconds of Goodell in attendance yesterday to witness our final downfall was extremely sickening. We thought we could at least contend with the Giants, but no one expected things to go south so quickly.
Special Teams Breakdown
The Saints have never, up until this point, had an issue with our kickoff coverage, until yesterday. 287 Yards surrendered, just on kick returns yesterday. David Wilson had 227 of those yards, and Jerel Jernigan had one 60 return yard. Partly because of this breakdown, the Giants had 7 of 11 drives inside Saints territory. Sure, I saw blocks in the back on those returns, but the Giants made the lanes open, and they were able to take it and run, all puns aside.
The Saints have never, up until this point, had an issue with our kickoff coverage, until yesterday. 287 Yards surrendered, just on kick returns yesterday. David Wilson had 227 of those yards, and Jerel Jernigan had one 60 return yard. Partly because of this breakdown, the Giants had 7 of 11 drives inside Saints territory. Sure, I saw blocks in the back on those returns, but the Giants made the lanes open, and they were able to take it and run, all puns aside.
Not much you can do 'Leg', when we have to rely on you, there's a problem
Fumblitis – Turnovers Again Killers
Opening drive, momentum on the big gain by Marques Colston, and then he braces for a hit….fumble. No points off of that mistake, but then on a following drive, Jed Collins fumbles, the Giants score, and were never down again. Drew Brees threw 2 INTs on the day, and suddenly the Saints are continuing the theme of giving the ball away way too much. Going into the opening drive of the 2nd half, we thought we could get some of that momentum back, but a costly interception gave the Giants the ball right back. I’m hardly a math major at this point, and I’m too disgusted at this point to research, but over 10 turnovers in 3 games, you have a problem, and you WILL HARDLY EVER win games when you give it away more than you are taking it away. Football 101.
Opening drive, momentum on the big gain by Marques Colston, and then he braces for a hit….fumble. No points off of that mistake, but then on a following drive, Jed Collins fumbles, the Giants score, and were never down again. Drew Brees threw 2 INTs on the day, and suddenly the Saints are continuing the theme of giving the ball away way too much. Going into the opening drive of the 2nd half, we thought we could get some of that momentum back, but a costly interception gave the Giants the ball right back. I’m hardly a math major at this point, and I’m too disgusted at this point to research, but over 10 turnovers in 3 games, you have a problem, and you WILL HARDLY EVER win games when you give it away more than you are taking it away. Football 101.
Jed Collins fumble was the most costly of the season
Offense Has a Real Problem
Rewind or Fast Forward – however you see it, to the 3rd quarter. It had been a long time since the Saints had seen the end zone. Let me just recap these drives: FUMBLE, FUMBLE, PUNT, FIELD GOAL, FIELD GOAL, KNEEL, INTERCEPTION, PUNT. Seems pretty hideous right? Then we have two straight drives of Touchdowns, then INTERCEPTION, PUNT, PUNT, DOWNS. See a common them here? Our offense has major problems. Whether we are getting the right story or not, there has to be something wrong with Drew Brees and/or Jimmy Graham. Graham has had such a down year, as he has dropped sure handed catches on so many occasions as we have seen, and on the day he was targeted 10 times with just 5 receptions. As much as I love Graham, you can’t ignore this. The LONE bright spot for us on the day was the run game, in which we had 142 yards on the ground, with Mark Ingram (13-68), Sproles (5-56), & PT (5-19). You can’t really even fault the O-Line on the day, as they only allowed 1 sack for the entire game. So for the naysayers or skeptics, who’s honestly to blame?
Rewind or Fast Forward – however you see it, to the 3rd quarter. It had been a long time since the Saints had seen the end zone. Let me just recap these drives: FUMBLE, FUMBLE, PUNT, FIELD GOAL, FIELD GOAL, KNEEL, INTERCEPTION, PUNT. Seems pretty hideous right? Then we have two straight drives of Touchdowns, then INTERCEPTION, PUNT, PUNT, DOWNS. See a common them here? Our offense has major problems. Whether we are getting the right story or not, there has to be something wrong with Drew Brees and/or Jimmy Graham. Graham has had such a down year, as he has dropped sure handed catches on so many occasions as we have seen, and on the day he was targeted 10 times with just 5 receptions. As much as I love Graham, you can’t ignore this. The LONE bright spot for us on the day was the run game, in which we had 142 yards on the ground, with Mark Ingram (13-68), Sproles (5-56), & PT (5-19). You can’t really even fault the O-Line on the day, as they only allowed 1 sack for the entire game. So for the naysayers or skeptics, who’s honestly to blame?
Imagine if Sproles hadn't scored twice.
So what’s left for a 5-8 team? Well, the Saints have 3 games left in their season, 2 of which are in the Dome. However, there is no hope for a playoff run at this point. The best we can hope for is a .500 finish, and even at that, you can expect that players are playing right now to see if they’ll keep their jobs for next season. It’s a rough time right now, but we all have to move past it. It’s extremely tough to deny how much the deck was stacked against us going into this season, and we REALLY needed Coach Payton. If you want any type of encouragement at this point, at least we’re not the Cardinals?
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