Man that cover 2 defense

[Bobs My Uncle]

is a thing of beauty to watch when its hitting on all cylinders like it is for the Colts tonight.

Tons of speed and pressure with defenders flying to the ball and tackling like crazy.

 

[Crazyeechrispats1]

I prefer a Dominating 3-4 where the Quaterback is eating dirt every play.

 

[Rob0729]

is a thing of beauty to watch when its hitting on all cylinders like it is for the Colts tonight.

Tons of speed and pressure with defenders flying to the ball and tackling like crazy.

Drew Brees is the just the right QB to use the cover 2 against. I think he showed tonight that he is more of a deep threat QB than a surgical strike QB. The Cover 2 plays into stopping the Saints' strengths.

 

[RyanTheColtsFan]

Colts D gave up 3 points to the Saints "dominating" offense.

Three.

 

[stinkypete]

Agreed.

Though I love a 3-4 that is so suffocating against the run that the opposition abandons it altogether.

 

[DisgruntledTunaFan]

Drew Brees is the just the right QB to use the cover 2 against. I think he showed tonight that he is more of a deep threat QB than a surgical strike QB. The Cover 2 plays into stopping the Saints' strengths.

Or they didn't run the ball with Deuce enough. I was shocked how Payton didn't attack b/w the tackles-isn't this the blueprint to beat the Colts?

 

[PatsDeb]

Drew Brees is the just the right QB to use the cover 2 against. I think he showed tonight that he is more of a deep threat QB than a surgical strike QB. The Cover 2 plays into stopping the Saints' strengths.

Agreed. I kept yelling at the TV - go for the short stuff! Why are you going for the longball? You don't have time for that! Sean Payton either didn't hear me or he ignored me, because all they kept doing was looking for the bomb and failing to pick up a first down. How about not going for it on 4th and inches in the 4th quarter down by 17 against Indy? I guess Payton doesn't read Tuesday Morning Quarterback either.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

That "B" conference team sure looked overmatched.

 

[JaredOfNazareth]

The Saints were using short stuff the whole first half. Their drives stalled out and Indy took off in the 3rd quarter.......and then Brees and Payton tried to go deeper. They knew coming in to the game that their oline was crap. Brees can pick apart the cover 2 if he has protection. This game went to the Colts offense and the Saints crap oline. Brees played fine untill there was a big lead to overcome. This was with holding Freeney the whole first half.

Baseball analogy: The Saints tried to Steve Trachsel the Yankees. It was never going to work.

 

[Patriotic Fervor]

That Colts team exposed a number of weaknesses in this New Orleans team.

Jason David's exploits have been well chronicled here on this board, but he wasn't alone.

That O-lineman - #78, Stinchcomb? Gawd, how much are they paying him? When not doing his best rendition as a revolving door, he was awesome as the posing Cigar Store Indian.

Yes, the play-calling left more than a little to be desired. And on the other side of the ball, the Colts O-line was simply having their way with the Saints' front 7 for the better part of the evening.

All of which caused me to wonder, just what were they doing upstairs?

I will grant you, the Colts are the better team, all other things being equal. But after this (even tho it was the first game of the season), I must confess the gap looks huge.

I'm forced to reconsider my projections of this Saints team, and right now see them at 6 - 10, or maybe 7 - 9, if the gods smile upon them.

They've got a lot of work to do before I can upgrade them from that level.

 

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

I prefer a Dominating 3-4 where the Quaterback is eating dirt every play.

a g r e e d . . .

 

[Deus Irae]

The Colts got a big win, and they deserve to enjoy it and bask in the praise. Having said that, however.....


That might well have been a completely different game if Reggie Bush had showed up.

 

[RPCity]

Or they didn't run the ball with Deuce enough. I was shocked how Payton didn't attack b/w the tackles-isn't this the blueprint to beat the Colts?

This is what confused me also. Especially when they came out from halftime tied 10 apiece. Granted it's not the quick strike, Reggie Bush heavy show everyone would have wanted to see, but it would have been more effective than not scoring in the 2nd half.

 

[DisgruntledTunaFan]

That Colts team exposed a number of weaknesses in this New Orleans team.

Jason David's exploits have been well chronicled here on this board, but he wasn't alone.

That O-lineman - #78, Stinchcomb? Gawd, how much are they paying him? When not doing his best rendition as a revolving door, he was awesome as the posing Cigar Store Indian.

Yes, the play-calling left more than a little to be desired. And on the other side of the ball, the Colts O-line was simply having their way with the Saints' front 7 for the better part of the evening.

All of which caused me to wonder, just what were they doing upstairs?

I will grant you, the Colts are the better team, all other things being equal. But after this (even tho it was the first game of the season), I must confess the gap looks huge.

I'm forced to reconsider my projections of this Saints team, and right now see them at 6 - 10, or maybe 7 - 9, if the gods smile upon them.

They've got a lot of work to do before I can upgrade them from that level.

As much as I hate to admit it(also being a Saints fan)-I'm going to have to agree with you.

I dunno what's up with the Saints org, but the only time they do WELL is when they bring in a new coach, then they stink up the joint subsequently until a new one comes in(i.e. We LOVED Jim Haslett in '00). They just never draft well, and rarely do they fill their holes(i.e. Haslett once upon a time ago didn't draft Adalius Thomas b/c he thought he couldn't play worth a ****).

Heck-FA was loaded with LBs(even A. Thomas admitted he wanted to play in Louisiana, and Napoleon Harris was available too)-but we didn't upgrade this position a bit. And then going after a Zone Corner??

On a side note-my gut feeling is that Reggie Bush is going to hand-cuff this team in the long run.

 

[Fixit]

The Saints looked awful. Bad playcalling, terrible execution, horrible blocking, and for some reason Brees just refused to take what the Colts were giving him. All I kept thinking was, "Man, the AFC is still light-years ahead of the NFC."

 

[PatsWSB47]

The Colts got a big win, and they deserve to enjoy it and bask in the praise. Having said that, however.....


That might well have been a completely different game if Reggie Bush had showed up.

And Kelly Clarkson's got a big fat azz. Did anyone see her in the kickoff special?
She's been on the Manginni diet!

 

[363839]

And Kelly Clarkson's got a big fat azz. Did anyone see her in the kickoff special?
She's been on the Manginni diet!

I commented on that myself in the game thread.
Yeah her butt is big but...
She was in great voice.

 

[satz]

I am no coach but

1) Didn`t they watch that playing nickel and dime all day is not going to help from last year playoff games.
2)They never lined a LB next to will smith and go after manning on a consistent basis every down .
3)Trying to run around the smaller faster defence is stupid you run through them with power package.
4)When the box was stacked they never put drew in shotgun all day with 5 WR to open the stacking or 4 WR with duece in the background.
5)the coaching was horrible on the saints side both offence and defence.

Good things
LT on the colts was slowing the single rusher will smith with some TE help all day but needed help - i would like thomas /colvin on his side every down with 1 or 2 rushes with the green in ...... sack fest anyone .I cannot wait to see a good AFC defence on that OL especially as they need TE support on that side.

Bobsanders and bethea where doing the best impression of playing shallow cover 2 .... put brady in shot gun and send stallworth and randy/gaffney on post routes .this is something we were never able to do but stallworth is the fastest guy we have and onces he slips by this is going to get fun.

Whenever wayne and harrison were jammed at the line peyton checked down .... so jam them i would put thomas at the line against harrison to jam and release and coming in to cover the RB- why just because i like to rough him up and thomas at 270 is going to be very effective .

satz

 

[n8wood]

And Kelly Clarkson's got a big fat azz. Did anyone see her in the kickoff special?
She's been on the Manginni diet!

Are you serious? On a football message board?

Head over to pettycelebrityobservations.com where your drivel will actually be appreciated.

 

[Ring 6]

Even if the weak NFC, I think we are going to see the one year wonder phenomena of the Saints. The media has fallen in love with them partly because of the great story due to Katrina, but they were a flawed team last year. Flawed teams that have a good season against a weak schedule often tank the next year, and thats what I see from NO.

That said, the Colts did look very good. I kept wondering what the game would have looked like if there was a football player in Jason Davids spot. I dont think Ive ever seen a single worse game by a corner. He wasnt' even close, and when you look at the TDs, I think those receviers could have run any route and he would have been 8 yards off of them. I have no clue what he was trying to do.

I've long disliked the Colts, primarily because their model, IMO, was preventing them from competing for Championships. Last year in the playoffs, and it continued into last night, they have decided that defense matters, and its not just about trying for one big play to stop a drive, and they seem more concerned with using the run to win football games than to let Manning accumulate stats no matter the situation.
Its a long season, and its still to be seen if that can continue (please spare me the Bob Sanders is the difference between a good D and a bad one all by himself, because that is stupid) but if the Colts can play good defense and understand that the role of the offense isnt to look pretty, but to win games, they will be a tough opponent. Keep in mind though, one game, especially the opener, rarely carries through an entire season. I think the best and most dominant the Patriots ever looked was the opener of the 2002 season when they pulverized and embarassed the Steelers (an elite team) but that was, aside from year 1, the worst year of the BB era.

This is going be a great AFC season. Right now Indy, us and the Chargers all look like SB Caliber teams, with Baltimore and perhaps Denver potentially near that level. This is beginning to look like the NFC used to in the 80s and 90s when the Gaints, Skins, 9ers, Bears, Cowboys all took turns slugging it out, with always at least a few teams that were good enough to be SB teams.

Of course, I like our chances.