Sunday Showdown:
Saints Look to Close Season On a Positive Note, Beat Streaking Panthers
Saints Look to Close Season On a Positive Note, Beat Streaking Panthers
Here's my weekly take on the Keys to the Game for the Saints Sunday showdown!
First & foremost, I would like to thank each & every one of you for supporting & reading this blog. It has over 2500 hits, which I hope only continues to grow. I would like to say that I will still keep up with many other things as the NFL Season is not over (i.e. Pick’em, End of the Year Winners, Recap of Season, etc), and eventually explore making these podcasts. However, as we know at the final game of the season, we will not have any postseason action after Sunday.
Enter the Panthers (6-9), a team who has been on a bit of a roll as of late, who hope to salvage Ron Rivera’s job as they close out the season. They’ve won their last 3, which have included victories over the Falcons, Chargers, & Raiders. One might conclude that Newton has been on a bit of a hot streak in past several games, having 7 touchdowns (5 passing, 2 rushing), only throwing 1 interception, completing over 50% of his passes, and rushing for nearly 200 yards. We are aware of what happened last time we met this team, losing to them 35-27 on September 16th, when we were on our tailspin at the beginning of the year. The Saints look to get some revenge, and end 2012 on a positive note.
Offense
Over the last 2 games, this has looked like a completely different offense, one that we were accustomed to seeing when the Saints caught fire after dropping their first 4 games. Drew Brees has played nearly flawless, Mark Ingram is showing us all that we don’t need to move him from this team, and things seemingly are going right. Drew Brees has 39 TD passes, and while he won’t break his record from a year ago (46), he still has a chance to go over 40 for the 2nd time in his career. He’s also flirting with 5,000 yards, which would mark the 3rd time in his career he would go over that mark. He needs 219 to get there. There’s also a chance for Lance Moore to have over 1,000 yards for this season, as he needs 80. Jimmy Graham, who has had a down year (which we all know why now), would need 133 to get to the 1,000 yard mark. As far as game plan, Chris Ivory has been a full participant in practice this week, so I would expect that he ends up being inserted into the lineup, and we may see him more in the mix this Sunday. The running back play has only gotten better, as we were able to see just how important & how scary they are as weapons to the offense. I look for us to keep on this trend, and Brees to have a strong day through the air. I would love to see Joe Morgan get that deep ball one last time. We have one Pro Bowler this season, Jahri Evans, and it is well deserved.
Over the last 2 games, this has looked like a completely different offense, one that we were accustomed to seeing when the Saints caught fire after dropping their first 4 games. Drew Brees has played nearly flawless, Mark Ingram is showing us all that we don’t need to move him from this team, and things seemingly are going right. Drew Brees has 39 TD passes, and while he won’t break his record from a year ago (46), he still has a chance to go over 40 for the 2nd time in his career. He’s also flirting with 5,000 yards, which would mark the 3rd time in his career he would go over that mark. He needs 219 to get there. There’s also a chance for Lance Moore to have over 1,000 yards for this season, as he needs 80. Jimmy Graham, who has had a down year (which we all know why now), would need 133 to get to the 1,000 yard mark. As far as game plan, Chris Ivory has been a full participant in practice this week, so I would expect that he ends up being inserted into the lineup, and we may see him more in the mix this Sunday. The running back play has only gotten better, as we were able to see just how important & how scary they are as weapons to the offense. I look for us to keep on this trend, and Brees to have a strong day through the air. I would love to see Joe Morgan get that deep ball one last time. We have one Pro Bowler this season, Jahri Evans, and it is well deserved.
Defense
Last week was the first time in a while that the Saints haven’t been completely dominant on Defense. Patrick Robinson fell victim to DezBryant on the day. However, you know that this squad showed up when it was needed most, forcing a key fumble deep inside Cowboys territory, and then stopping the Cowboys on their opening OT drive. The key here is to contain Cam Newton. He’s arguably their best weapon, and the last time these teams faced each other, Newton had a huge 40 yard run, and found much success against the young squad of Spagnoulo. Much has changed since then, and as QBs like Newton come into the mix in an ever evolving breed of Quarterbacks, solving for him shuts an entire offense down. He must be wrapped up the first time, and not be allowed to extend the play. The other part of it is who matches up against that hated Steve Smith fellow. Arguably, Spagnoulo adjusted for the early blunders against Dez Bryant, and in all fairness, it was when we dialed up the blitz, and left Robinson to fend for himself with no safety help. This is our last chance to show everyone what this squad will be like next season, and I fully expect us to show up, with emphasis on building upon the players that we have.
Last week was the first time in a while that the Saints haven’t been completely dominant on Defense. Patrick Robinson fell victim to DezBryant on the day. However, you know that this squad showed up when it was needed most, forcing a key fumble deep inside Cowboys territory, and then stopping the Cowboys on their opening OT drive. The key here is to contain Cam Newton. He’s arguably their best weapon, and the last time these teams faced each other, Newton had a huge 40 yard run, and found much success against the young squad of Spagnoulo. Much has changed since then, and as QBs like Newton come into the mix in an ever evolving breed of Quarterbacks, solving for him shuts an entire offense down. He must be wrapped up the first time, and not be allowed to extend the play. The other part of it is who matches up against that hated Steve Smith fellow. Arguably, Spagnoulo adjusted for the early blunders against Dez Bryant, and in all fairness, it was when we dialed up the blitz, and left Robinson to fend for himself with no safety help. This is our last chance to show everyone what this squad will be like next season, and I fully expect us to show up, with emphasis on building upon the players that we have.
Special Teams
Congratulations are in order to Thomas Morstead, as he finally gets his due to punch his ticket to Hawaii. Morstead has been a force, and finally everyone else is noticing it. Congrats ‘Leg’. I don’t look for anything to change out of him, ever. As far as the other side, Hartley is going to have to play a perfect game to keep his job. We’ll always remember him for ‘The Kick’ in 2009, but he’s just way too inconsistent to keep him on our team going into next season, especially if he misses one on Sunday. I’m still waiting, one last chance to get that Kick or Punt Return TD from Sproles.
Congratulations are in order to Thomas Morstead, as he finally gets his due to punch his ticket to Hawaii. Morstead has been a force, and finally everyone else is noticing it. Congrats ‘Leg’. I don’t look for anything to change out of him, ever. As far as the other side, Hartley is going to have to play a perfect game to keep his job. We’ll always remember him for ‘The Kick’ in 2009, but he’s just way too inconsistent to keep him on our team going into next season, especially if he misses one on Sunday. I’m still waiting, one last chance to get that Kick or Punt Return TD from Sproles.
X-Factor
I’m changing this from weeks past, in which I’ve constantly been on Brees. Not to say he’s not the difference maker, but I’m more so looking at Jimmy Graham or Darren Sproles to take over this game. I won’t stick to one guy, but in the last matchup against the Panthers….Sproles lead everyone with 13 catches for 128 yards, and Graham finished with 7 catches, 71 yards, and a score. With the recent play, I’d side more to Sproles here. However, I believe it can be either this week in the finale.
I’m changing this from weeks past, in which I’ve constantly been on Brees. Not to say he’s not the difference maker, but I’m more so looking at Jimmy Graham or Darren Sproles to take over this game. I won’t stick to one guy, but in the last matchup against the Panthers….Sproles lead everyone with 13 catches for 128 yards, and Graham finished with 7 catches, 71 yards, and a score. With the recent play, I’d side more to Sproles here. However, I believe it can be either this week in the finale.
One might say this game has little meaning, but in actuality, it has some type of implications. Did you know that the Panthers lead the matchup dating back to 2001 12-11? Should the Saints lose, it would make them tied at 7-9, the Panthers would actually jump us in the NFC South, finishing out 2nd in the Division. This also may be the last time you see some Saints players suit up as a Saint. The offseason looks to be a mess, and automatically, Will Smith ($14.5M) heads the list, and is someone who might see his last game as a Saint, or have a massive restructure coming. There are plenty of others (Daniel, Ivory – RFA, Devery, Roby, Bushrod, Casillas, Mack, Ellis, & Shanle), but we’ll look at that in another blog.
Who Dat Nation, come ready one last time on Sunday to root on Our Boys. It’ll be a very long offseason, and we’ll all likely remain bitter as we watch things unfold in the playoffs, saying ‘We Should Be There’, ‘We Would Destroy This Team’, ‘If We Just Won Against <Team>’, but we can’t go back and change the past, we just have to build upon what we have, and hope things go our way during the offseason.
Final Prediction: Saints 30, Panthers 20
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