Our First String Offense AND Our First String Defense Looked Awful

Clearly we're not ready for Prime Time.

Brady count a first down in three series. The power run game was less than nonexistent.

Brees had four scoring drives against our first string defense. The result was three TD's and dropped pass that could have been a 4th TD (ended up in a field goal).

I won't say anything about the defense (although even that is still a work in progress), but calling this the "first-string offense" is, ahem, a bit disingenuous.

...And we're also out of coffee.

ctpatsfan77 said:

I won't say anything about the defense (although even that is still a work in progress), but calling this the "first-string offense" is, ahem, a bit disingenuous.

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Yup, and New Orleans compensated. They sat their ENTIRE starting defensive backfield.

mgteich said:

Clearly we're not ready for Prime Time.

Brady count a first down in three series. The power run game was less than nonexistent.

Brees had four scoring drives against our first string defense. The result was three TD's and dropped pass that could have been a 4th TD (ended up in a field goal).

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No Edelmen....No LaFell....no Gronk.... so what first-string offense are you referring to?

Chiuba E. Obele said:

No Edelmen....No LaFell....no Gronk.... so what first-string offense are you referring to?

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So, we played without three of our top players against a team with no defensive backs and couldn't even manage a first down. If that's a great performance to you, OK.

love these ... next we will get "BB should give up his GM duties" ..

I guess we should just cancel our season.

I Don't agree that the D looked bad. First of all, that was a world class Oline and Bree's was clinical. We made everything really tight, we tackled well and we had good coverage on most plays. We also had some good redzone stops and 2 pt attempt stalls.

With vanilla D u aren't going to stop a qb of Brees calibre with all of his weapons present. I actually thought we had good push and played the run ok. Yea we had a few lb issues. I'm not worried about that unit.

We will be fine. The only worry is still cb2

Blow it up

How many flavors of koolaid do you sell? Brees would be much, much better in there regular season. Maybe Mayo and Hightower would have made a huge difference, perhaps not.

Hael said:

I Don't agree that the D looked bad. First of all, that was a world class Oline and Bree's was clinical. We made everything really tight, we tackled well and we had good coverage on most plays. We also had some good redzone stops and 2 pt attempt stalls.

With vanilla D u aren't going to stop a qb of Brees calibre with all of his weapons present. I actually thought we had good push and played the run ok. Yea we had a few lb issues. I'm not worried about that unit.

We will be fine. The only worry is still cb2

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Was this thread necessary? Could have just posted in the game thread.

Seems like a stretch to call the offense first string when Vollmer, Stork, Edelman, LaFell and Gronk are all on the sidelines. It was was a mix of first stringers and backups, not surprised that the chemistry was lacking. Not to take anything away from the Saints' D, which played well despite sitting its starting secondary. But drawing any conclusions off of this seems like a significant overreaction.

D didn't really bother me either. They were trying out some weird **** in the secondary, and playing the most vanilla D I've ever seen against one of the best QBs in league history. Brees exploited the middle of the field, which comes as no shock when Harmon and Chung are the safeties.

Preseason is a glorified practice. Saying they're not ready for prime time based on that is a mistake, IMO. Go back to any year where they turned out fine, and you'll see an inconsistent at best preseason. Belichick uses these games to try stuff out and avoid tipping his hand for when the games matter.

mgteich said:

Clearly we're not ready for Prime Time.

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Hey man its only the preseason, leave me out of this.

SunsOutGunsOut said:

love these ... next we will get "BB should give up his GM duties" ..

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Why you guys post such nonsense? The offense played terribly. Perhaps, every injury player will be back at 100% by Game One, and everything will be fine. Perhaps not. After all, the players don't really need any preseason reps.

Personally, I fight unlikely that the offense will be running very well for Game One. I well understand that we can go 2-2, look terrible early and still win a Super Bowl.

Obviously, I much, much more concerned about the defense who was missing only Mayo and Hightower (of the top players).

JMC00 said:

Was this thread necessary? Could have just posted in the game thread.

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Because it's important we all know that what was, in theory, the 1st string offense and defense, were bad for three series in a preseason game on the road.

Brady's 3-12 for 20 yards so far in the preseason. Maybe we should try to trade him now before he gets any worse.

mgteich said:

So, we played without three of our top players against a team with no defensive backs and couldn't even manage a first down. If that's a great performance to you, OK.

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I haven't watched a min of the game yet but judging by the summary I'm sure nobody's arguing that the early offensive performance was acceptable. But playing against 2nd/3rd string defenders doesn't make our 2nd/3rd stringers our true starters. We won't see our starting offense for a possibly a month or longer (possible suspension and early experimentation). I have no doubt we will be a top 5 offense down the stretch, same as every other year even if it looks bleak early.
Edit: won't be able to speak on the D till I watch the game

Apparently, pre-season performance is irrelevant. Ok go back to discussing Deflategate!!!!!

mgteich said:

Clearly we're not ready for Prime Time.

Brady count a first down in three series. The power run game was less than nonexistent.

Brees had four scoring drives against our first string defense. The result was three TD's and dropped pass that could have been a 4th TD (ended up in a field goal).

Click to expand...

Seasons over!!!!