dbair1967
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I didnt expect a win yesterday, I said it numerous times during the short week. Almost nobody in this forum did. They all talked about how it was almost as important just to continue moving in the right direction and playing well and how happy they'd be if that happened. Our team got down 17-0 to the Super Bowl champs, who came in on a roll. Everything was going wrong. Three weeks ago, this would have turned into a laughably bad 55-7 loss or something. Instead, it came this <> close to being a huge win. And yet 75% or more of the posts in this forum are negative. To those people, you make me sick.
This was a very entertaining game. It ended up being a GREAT game. Our guys showed fight and resolve that we havent seen around these parts in a long, long time. We are not that talented in several key areas, yet there we were, within a Roy Williams somehow just falling down play of beating them. They didnt look past us. They didnt come in with some holiday hangover. They didnt quit when they got up 17-0.
1) In regards to Garrett, I see post after post complaining about play calling and in game decisions. In regards to the 4th and less than 1 or accepting the holding call and making it 3rd and 10 1/2, thats an easy call where the ball was and considering who the other coach was. We had shown absolutely no ability to stuff any of their run plays for no gain, and even less ability to stop the pass. Anybody who really thinks Sean Payton, one of the most aggressive coaches in the NFL was gonna punt in that situation is out of their freaking head. As for play calling, I guess the 4th and 1 call where they pitched to Barber can be questioned, but Colombo killed that play more than Barber did. What other play calls can really be complained about? Oh thats right, the one's that didnt work. They didnt work because they had to be BAD calls right? The last drive attempted screen was a BAD call right? Did anyone see how well Bryant was set up? If Kitna lobs that ball high enough, Bryant would have ran for a ton. But no, its a bad call. We scored 27 pts and ran up almost 460 yds against a top-5 defense, the most they had yielded this year. Care to guess what those dominating Steelers did against them 3 weeks ago? 10 pts, under 280 yds and Roesthlisberger's QB rating was 66.8. The Steelers didnt score a TD until the 4th qtr of that game. The fact is he called a pretty damn good game, and after those first 3 drives we really had our way with their defense.
2) They showed alot of balance yesterday. We ran 74 total plays and 32 of them were runs. If RW doesnt fumble we probably end up with close to 40 rushes and less than 35 passes (Kitna's last 8 plays were passes). We also controlled the gamee with TOP by having the ball for over 34 minutes, despite getting down 17-0 early and having nothing go right.
3) Defensively, I think we are gonna have to be resolved to seeing pretty much what we saw yesterday for the rest of the year. The fact of the matter is our two starting safeties are awful, and neither starting CB is healthy or playing at the top of their game. In terms of pass rush, its D Ware and nothing else. Spencer is invisible, Ratliff appears for one or two plays a week now because of double teaming. The ILB's will usually make a play or two per game against the pass, but be beaten a ton otherwise (especially Brooking). These are things that can be fixed though. Just need an offseason to draft and sign a few people.
4) For Roy Williams, all the good he did yesterday (and really for most of this season) was wiped in alot of people eyes because of that fumble. It sux, it was a bad way to end the game and he deserves some criticism. But it was more the result of a GREAT play by their DB than a really bad one by RW. He wasnt carrying it loosely, the guy used every ounce of strength he had to rip it away. But he made several other huge plays in this game in the run and pass game. e plays extremely hard. After dropping too many balls last yr, he's had maybe one drop all this yr that I remember. Perhaps two. I know I'm in the minority, but at a reduced salary cap figure I'd love to have this guy back next year.
5) Kinda lost in alot of people's minds was how good Buehler was yesterday. He really kicked great and just barely missed that 59 yarder to tie the game. There's clearly been a couple situations this yr where the coaches lack of confidence in him has changed some strategy, but I think his effort yesterday may have went a long way towards earning more confidence. His fg's were all hit well, and he clobbered the ball on kickoffs. I think he had 4 touchbacks, and easily could have had a couple more but their guys ran the ball out of the endzone.
6) I'm guessing Peete and Garrett will really be grilling Felix Jones over ball security after he almost lost another fumble yesterday, but otherwise he had a really solid game. He is turning into a tremendous weapon as an outlet or screen receiver and now had 37 receptions on the season. Since the bye week (8 total games now) Jones is averaging 15.25 touches per game, and if you discount the GB game (only 5 touches due to blowout) he's averaging almost 17 touches per week.
7) Barber, ugh. Last 2 games, 23 carries for 55 yds, an average of not even 2.4 yds per carry. Now I know alot of those have been short yardage or GL runs, but thats still bad. Whatever it is with Choice, it doesnt appear its going to change. Perhaps the injury Barber suffered late will force him to miss some time. That said, if Garrett is the HC here next yr I think Felix Jones and maybe Gronkowski will be the only backs who return. Barber is done and they just hate Choice for whatever reason. They'll trade him.
8) What a great play by Jesse Holley. That was absolutely a huge play in the game. Its plays like that which may help him earn a spot next yr as a special teams guy. Kudos to Sean Lee too, he didnt get as much PT on defense as the previous couple weeks (even though he should IMO) but he made a couple of outstanding tackles, including one on a kickoff return where it looked like he may have prevented a much longer return.
9) I've seen some mention of Kitna not throwing the ball downfield enough yesterday, and while he probably should have aired some out just to show it, the fact is the Saints played a cover scheme which was aimed to prevent alot of over the top passes. Its why Witten was able to come up with 10 catches for 99 yds, why Jones had 7 catches why Bennett had a couple. The Saints played their safeties almost exclusively in double coverage over the top, especially on Bryant and Austin. There were a few exceptions, but especially on pass downs it seemed their strategy was clearly to prevent big plays over the top. I dont recall many times seeing teams play a rookie WR this way over the years.
10) We only had 4 penalties yesterday. 6 last week, 5 the week before. We can live off having only 5 penalties per week. Also good, they're averaging less than 40 yds per game in penalties during this span. One note on the officials yesterday, they missed an obvious hold on Ware on one fairly long completion by Brees and then missed a VERY obvious block in the back on Scandrick. It happened on that play where it appeared Brees was going to be sacked and he flipped the ball to Jones. The Saints receiver CLEARLY gets both hands into the back of Scandrick, and of coruse they got a 1st down on that play. They ended up kicking a FG on that drive.
11) Talk about bad luck. Saints kicker Garrett Hartley has been pretty medicore this yr. Coming in he was 10/15 for the season and missed a gimmee chip shot that lost the Atlanta game. He hits all 3 yesterday, including a career long 50 yarder. He nails a 45 yarder after the ball was almost snapped over the holders head. He kicks off and has a ball hit on the sideline just inside the 10, we let it go and instead of bouncing out of bounds, it somehow bounces into the endzone for a TB. He was possibly their player of the game that nobody talks about.
12) Seems like a broken record every week, but there are 5 or 6 guys which IMO just cant get it done. Davis, Colombo and Barber on offense. Ball, Sensabaugh and Brooking on defense. It will be interesting to see now that we have 8 losses, which of these guys (if any) are replaced in the coming weeks.
13) Andre Gurode was having a decent yr until yesterday, and he kinda melted down. Not sure what his issue was on some of those bad snap or mis-snap plays. I will say this though, I have no idea what Aikman was running on about saying how this happens every week. I dont think I can recall a single bad snap (shotgun or otherwise) from Gurode since the 2007 season, when it did happen several times that year. I tink he'll have competition for his job next yr, and to me its obvious both the RG and RT spots will be replaced. Kosier is a free agent that might not be back. We could potentially have 4 new starters on the OL. 3 if Gurode stays at C or is perhaps moved to one of the G spots.
I'm convinced Garrett is the guy long term here. With an offseason to assemble his staff, some personnel adjustments in a few obvious areas and another offseason to implement how he wants things done, I'm thinking we can make a big run next year. This team is not that far off. They've clearly made alot of progress is less than 3 weeks and they are doing it with a backup QB and seevral deficeient areas on the OL and defense. I'm stoked. Just hope they get the CBA done (speaking of which, I saw an article that said there has been recent progress. I still think they'll get the deal done well before the draft)
This was a very entertaining game. It ended up being a GREAT game. Our guys showed fight and resolve that we havent seen around these parts in a long, long time. We are not that talented in several key areas, yet there we were, within a Roy Williams somehow just falling down play of beating them. They didnt look past us. They didnt come in with some holiday hangover. They didnt quit when they got up 17-0.
1) In regards to Garrett, I see post after post complaining about play calling and in game decisions. In regards to the 4th and less than 1 or accepting the holding call and making it 3rd and 10 1/2, thats an easy call where the ball was and considering who the other coach was. We had shown absolutely no ability to stuff any of their run plays for no gain, and even less ability to stop the pass. Anybody who really thinks Sean Payton, one of the most aggressive coaches in the NFL was gonna punt in that situation is out of their freaking head. As for play calling, I guess the 4th and 1 call where they pitched to Barber can be questioned, but Colombo killed that play more than Barber did. What other play calls can really be complained about? Oh thats right, the one's that didnt work. They didnt work because they had to be BAD calls right? The last drive attempted screen was a BAD call right? Did anyone see how well Bryant was set up? If Kitna lobs that ball high enough, Bryant would have ran for a ton. But no, its a bad call. We scored 27 pts and ran up almost 460 yds against a top-5 defense, the most they had yielded this year. Care to guess what those dominating Steelers did against them 3 weeks ago? 10 pts, under 280 yds and Roesthlisberger's QB rating was 66.8. The Steelers didnt score a TD until the 4th qtr of that game. The fact is he called a pretty damn good game, and after those first 3 drives we really had our way with their defense.
2) They showed alot of balance yesterday. We ran 74 total plays and 32 of them were runs. If RW doesnt fumble we probably end up with close to 40 rushes and less than 35 passes (Kitna's last 8 plays were passes). We also controlled the gamee with TOP by having the ball for over 34 minutes, despite getting down 17-0 early and having nothing go right.
3) Defensively, I think we are gonna have to be resolved to seeing pretty much what we saw yesterday for the rest of the year. The fact of the matter is our two starting safeties are awful, and neither starting CB is healthy or playing at the top of their game. In terms of pass rush, its D Ware and nothing else. Spencer is invisible, Ratliff appears for one or two plays a week now because of double teaming. The ILB's will usually make a play or two per game against the pass, but be beaten a ton otherwise (especially Brooking). These are things that can be fixed though. Just need an offseason to draft and sign a few people.
4) For Roy Williams, all the good he did yesterday (and really for most of this season) was wiped in alot of people eyes because of that fumble. It sux, it was a bad way to end the game and he deserves some criticism. But it was more the result of a GREAT play by their DB than a really bad one by RW. He wasnt carrying it loosely, the guy used every ounce of strength he had to rip it away. But he made several other huge plays in this game in the run and pass game. e plays extremely hard. After dropping too many balls last yr, he's had maybe one drop all this yr that I remember. Perhaps two. I know I'm in the minority, but at a reduced salary cap figure I'd love to have this guy back next year.
5) Kinda lost in alot of people's minds was how good Buehler was yesterday. He really kicked great and just barely missed that 59 yarder to tie the game. There's clearly been a couple situations this yr where the coaches lack of confidence in him has changed some strategy, but I think his effort yesterday may have went a long way towards earning more confidence. His fg's were all hit well, and he clobbered the ball on kickoffs. I think he had 4 touchbacks, and easily could have had a couple more but their guys ran the ball out of the endzone.
6) I'm guessing Peete and Garrett will really be grilling Felix Jones over ball security after he almost lost another fumble yesterday, but otherwise he had a really solid game. He is turning into a tremendous weapon as an outlet or screen receiver and now had 37 receptions on the season. Since the bye week (8 total games now) Jones is averaging 15.25 touches per game, and if you discount the GB game (only 5 touches due to blowout) he's averaging almost 17 touches per week.
7) Barber, ugh. Last 2 games, 23 carries for 55 yds, an average of not even 2.4 yds per carry. Now I know alot of those have been short yardage or GL runs, but thats still bad. Whatever it is with Choice, it doesnt appear its going to change. Perhaps the injury Barber suffered late will force him to miss some time. That said, if Garrett is the HC here next yr I think Felix Jones and maybe Gronkowski will be the only backs who return. Barber is done and they just hate Choice for whatever reason. They'll trade him.
8) What a great play by Jesse Holley. That was absolutely a huge play in the game. Its plays like that which may help him earn a spot next yr as a special teams guy. Kudos to Sean Lee too, he didnt get as much PT on defense as the previous couple weeks (even though he should IMO) but he made a couple of outstanding tackles, including one on a kickoff return where it looked like he may have prevented a much longer return.
9) I've seen some mention of Kitna not throwing the ball downfield enough yesterday, and while he probably should have aired some out just to show it, the fact is the Saints played a cover scheme which was aimed to prevent alot of over the top passes. Its why Witten was able to come up with 10 catches for 99 yds, why Jones had 7 catches why Bennett had a couple. The Saints played their safeties almost exclusively in double coverage over the top, especially on Bryant and Austin. There were a few exceptions, but especially on pass downs it seemed their strategy was clearly to prevent big plays over the top. I dont recall many times seeing teams play a rookie WR this way over the years.
10) We only had 4 penalties yesterday. 6 last week, 5 the week before. We can live off having only 5 penalties per week. Also good, they're averaging less than 40 yds per game in penalties during this span. One note on the officials yesterday, they missed an obvious hold on Ware on one fairly long completion by Brees and then missed a VERY obvious block in the back on Scandrick. It happened on that play where it appeared Brees was going to be sacked and he flipped the ball to Jones. The Saints receiver CLEARLY gets both hands into the back of Scandrick, and of coruse they got a 1st down on that play. They ended up kicking a FG on that drive.
11) Talk about bad luck. Saints kicker Garrett Hartley has been pretty medicore this yr. Coming in he was 10/15 for the season and missed a gimmee chip shot that lost the Atlanta game. He hits all 3 yesterday, including a career long 50 yarder. He nails a 45 yarder after the ball was almost snapped over the holders head. He kicks off and has a ball hit on the sideline just inside the 10, we let it go and instead of bouncing out of bounds, it somehow bounces into the endzone for a TB. He was possibly their player of the game that nobody talks about.
12) Seems like a broken record every week, but there are 5 or 6 guys which IMO just cant get it done. Davis, Colombo and Barber on offense. Ball, Sensabaugh and Brooking on defense. It will be interesting to see now that we have 8 losses, which of these guys (if any) are replaced in the coming weeks.
13) Andre Gurode was having a decent yr until yesterday, and he kinda melted down. Not sure what his issue was on some of those bad snap or mis-snap plays. I will say this though, I have no idea what Aikman was running on about saying how this happens every week. I dont think I can recall a single bad snap (shotgun or otherwise) from Gurode since the 2007 season, when it did happen several times that year. I tink he'll have competition for his job next yr, and to me its obvious both the RG and RT spots will be replaced. Kosier is a free agent that might not be back. We could potentially have 4 new starters on the OL. 3 if Gurode stays at C or is perhaps moved to one of the G spots.
I'm convinced Garrett is the guy long term here. With an offseason to assemble his staff, some personnel adjustments in a few obvious areas and another offseason to implement how he wants things done, I'm thinking we can make a big run next year. This team is not that far off. They've clearly made alot of progress is less than 3 weeks and they are doing it with a backup QB and seevral deficeient areas on the OL and defense. I'm stoked. Just hope they get the CBA done (speaking of which, I saw an article that said there has been recent progress. I still think they'll get the deal done well before the draft)
