Still smarting from the loss... but still proud to be a WhoDat...
It came to an end abruptly; rudely. With injuries mounting, the prospects of a TwoDat were wearing thin, but our New Orleans Saints - the only NFC playoff team from last season to return to the playoffs - continued to defy the odds. The trip to Atlanta seemed to reinvigorate the franchise. We'd seemed to have been just playing well enough. Don't mistake me for one of those folks who now expect a Super Bowl every year. I'm a lifelong Saints fan, through to worst of times too. I expect good football - nothing more, nothing less. I expect that we can compete for a playoff spot annually, win some division titles. I don't want a backslide, but I don't expect championships every year. That being said, I liked where we were after Atlanta. We'd put some doubt in their heads. We played like we belonged again. The Tampa debacle was poor, but we lost 3 games to close out last season. The fact that we got a bit more banged up in that Tampa game was what was more important.
Seattle had nothing to lose. They earned their spot in the playoffs by winning their division - the worst in football. You can make the chicken/egg argument about the NFC West; they played the NFC South division this year, the best in football. Were they bad because they played the best, or do they just suck? Was the NFC South the best division because they played the NFC West or were they just good this year? The answer likely lies somewhere in between, but if you look at the West, there's not a team there outside of St. Louis with a bright immediate future. Meanwhile, the South is stacked and ready for several years to come.
Seattle came in ready for Saturday - the Saints seemed to be looking to stay as healthy as possible and hope to get ready for next weekend. They jumped out to a quick lead then lost the edge. Seattle decided that they weren't going to be punked and absolutely demoralized us in every facet of the game. Offensively, Matt Hasselbeck looked like Tom Brady, slicing and dicing the Saints defense. In fact, in the two games against the Saints this season, Hasselbeck was only sacked once in nearly 80 pass attempts. Once. He threw for 5 TD's against us too. Seattle is not completely devoid of offensive talent, and they spanked us with Obamanu and Williams, and then later with Marshawn Lynch and the run that will add to lengthy list of Saints "low"lights. Defensively, the Seahawks just seemed to make one more play than the Saints. We scored 36 points - it's not that they stopped us. Julius Jones had a vendetta against the team that let him go (even though he tried to help them by putting the ball on the ground...). Drew Brees was typical Drew Brees, dissecting the defense fairly well, and finally breaking his string of consecutive games with an interception. But the Seahawk defensive line took notes from the Baltimore and Cleveland games and stunted our offensive line a lot, getting ample pressure with no more than a 4 man rush often.
If a finger could truly be pointed at where people were most missed, look at special teams. We lost Courtney Roby earlier, then lost Pierre Thomas, who'd been doing well returning kicks last week. That may have been the biggest injury loss in terms of the game on Saturday. We had horrible starting position on every drive - Robert Meachem seemed to just be looking for the softest piece of turf to fall on. Also we lost the scare factor of having Reggie Bush return punts - with only 2 healthy running backs that knew the system, they couldn't afford to use Reggie on punt return. On the contrary, Seattle got great field position all day, thanks to Leon Washington. The only bright spot on our special teams was the punting of Thomas Morestead.
Yes the Saints put up nice offensive numbers, but when you have to play from behind, you often do. Late injures to J. Jones and Reggie killed any thought of a running game and at that point the Seahawks could just tee off on the pass. I don't care how good Drew is - with no real play action game, there was no chance of being completely efficient.
Defensively....... well we gave up 41 points; that says it all. It was by a long shot the worst defensive performance of the year. We obviously missed Malcolm Jenkins in the free safety spot. Darren Sharper has lost a step. When Sharper is in, we gain a wiley veteran who knows how to key on certain things and is opportunistic. Jenkins isn't experienced enough to take those chances yet. However, we lose that speed when Sharper is in - Jenkins is a reformed cornerback and Sharper is, well, old. And we know he missed the first 6 games of the year with the knee, then they were slow to activate him. Obviously that knee still isn't 100%. Plus with Jenkins you gain discipline - he's going to play his assignments.
Roman Harper picked the worst day to have the worst game of his career. He was burned repeatedly, and he and Jabari Greer were guilty of too much looking in the backfield and biting on play fakes. Scott Shanle was much maligned last year, but really was a stalwart on defense last season. This season, not so much, and he was beaten up yesterday too. It was a putrid effort by a team that is SO much better than they played and multiple times better than the opponent they lost to.
So, where do we go from here? Let's look defense first. We should part ways with Sharper and Shanle. As usual, you can never have enough great defensive tackles and pass rushers. Our sack numbers weren't great this year and we need to be able to pressure passers with only a 4 man rush as others do us. Will Smith's not getting any younger either. I don't know if we just need health at the LB spot or if we need better parts, but obviously Shanle was a weak link this year, and the revolving door on the other side needs to find a permanent solution. When healthy, our DB's are as good as they come. Harper's backup needs to be identified - obviously they aren't high on Usama Young.
Offensively, some may cry travesty, but lets get rid of Reggie Bush while he still has value. He's what we expected him to be - a change of pace back with good hands (OK, decent hands - too many drops) and the ability to play the slot receiver position. But he hasn't played a full healthy season since his rookie year. He's not built to push a pile or the resposibility of a full load of carries for a season, or even a game. We need to understand the business of football - trading him may give us more flexibility and more importantly more health. Let's face it - part of our success last year was because we stayed relatively healthy all year and part of our shortcoming this year was because we didn't, especially at the RB spot. We will be stacked at RB anyway, and Lance Moore can make all the plays Reggie does in the passing game, so lets move him for either a) Steve Smith from Carolina, b) a big time LB or DE, or c) several offensive lineman. Shockey has played his last game as a Saint also - with Thomas solid and Graham emerging, one more TE, maybe a good blocker, puts us OK. Shockey's another injury prone person - we just can't afford to lose roster spots annually on the same people.
Saints fans have nothing to be ashamed of. We won it all last year. We made a return trip to the playoffs. We were one game away from repeating as South division winners (until the Tampa game...). We have established ourselves as real contenders annually - we will not be disrespected anytime in the near future. Our team is part of the fabric of our community, moreso than any other NFL franchise. We are set for a bright future, and I, for one, can't wait until camp opens in July. This is my way of letting go of my angst for today, so I can gear up for the promise of a better tomorrow.
