OT: Are the Fish back?

[domedog316]

Thanks for those of you that were cheering us on to come back and beat the dolphins, we needed all the positive mojo we could get after giftwrapping 17 points in the first half and handing them a 24-3 lead!

Now, one misconception I want to address from this thread, there's alot of folks saying our defense is now soft because we gave up some rushing yards......well we gave up 1 pretty long run and 1 long Pass play then pretty much shut down the wildcat completely. Overall, we held the formation to 31 yards on 14 plays. Now, I concede it was effective around the goalline....but Vilma and company diagnosed that trash and took it out. All this without our best Dtackle Sed Ellis for most of the game. (Sed has a strained MCL, out 3-4 weeks) We also played without Scott Fujita, arguably our fastest linebacker who was out with a strained calf muscle. I was worried about his absence the most because speed is how you shut that gimmick down.

If you look at the halftime score and assume that our D is soft, do it at your own peril. Did anybody realize we outrushed the Dolphins? That we are the first team this year to bet them in T.O.P. despite being down by such a large margin? (33:02 - 26:58)

Fact is, we gave them 3 or 4 veerrrry short fields to get that lead because we came out flat in an obvious trap game and they came in reaaaallly hyped up because frankly all they've heard for two weeks was how we were going to blow them out. The second half is what you want to judge the Saints D on.....and we won it 36-10, and that was with a missed FG and a bad snap on a missed extra point and a failed 2 point conversion! We have only a couple of trap games left this season and our toughest game left by far is with the Pats. Brady has looked better and better in each game and getting back a healthy Welker is key. It's so hard to defend all those weapons...but thankfully our D practices against the best offense in the NFL every week!

But, I digress.....I can understand that a casual fan may look at some things on the surface and say our D is soft, and I'm glad that there are a few here that are looking past the final score....Our d is lightyears ahead of last year!

See ya'll in the dome, good luck and hopefully both teams will be healthy before and after the game! I'm looking forward to it because if the Saints hope to be a contender the game with the Patriots is just the kind of game they have to be able to win. It should be a playoff atmosphere for sure!

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Thanks for those of you that were cheering us on to come back and beat the dolphins, we needed all the positive mojo we could get after giftwrapping 17 points in the first half and handing them a 24-3 lead!

Now, one misconception I want to address from this thread, there's alot of folks saying our defense is now soft because we gave up some rushing yards......well we gave up 1 pretty long run and 1 long Pass play then pretty much shut down the wildcat completely. Overall, we held the formation to 31 yards on 14 plays. Now, I concede it was effective around the goalline....but Vilma and company diagnosed that trash and took it out. All this without our best Dtackle Sed Ellis for most of the game. (Sed has a strained MCL, out 3-4 weeks) We also played without Scott Fujita, arguably our fastest linebacker who was out with a strained calf muscle. I was worried about his absence the most because speed is how you shut that gimmick down.

If you look at the halftime score and assume that our D is soft, do it at your own peril. Did anybody realize we outrushed the Dolphins? That we are the first team this year to bet them in T.O.P. despite being down by such a large margin? (33:02 - 26:58)

Fact is, we gave them 3 or 4 veerrrry short fields to get that lead because we came out flat in an obvious trap game and they came in reaaaallly hyped up because frankly all they've heard for two weeks was how we were going to blow them out. The second half is what you want to judge the Saints D on.....and we won it 36-10, and that was with a missed FG and a bad snap on a missed extra point and a failed 2 point conversion! We have only a couple of trap games left this season and our toughest game left by far is with the Pats. Brady has looked better and better in each game and getting back a healthy Welker is key. It's so hard to defend all those weapons...but thankfully our D practices against the best offense in the NFL every week!

But, I digress.....I can understand that a casual fan may look at some things on the surface and say our D is soft, and I'm glad that there are a few here that are looking past the final score....Our d is lightyears ahead of last year!

See ya'll in the dome, good luck and hopefully both teams will be healthy before and after the game! I'm looking forward to it because if the Saints hope to be a contender the game with the Patriots is just the kind of game they have to be able to win. It should be a playoff atmosphere for sure!

we're the only thing standing in the way of a 16-0 regular seasons for the Saints. That is, if you get by us....

 

[RobertWeathers]

we're the only thing standing in the way of a 16-0 regular seasons for the Saints. That is, if you get by us....

Love the trash-talking!!!!

Saints are an outstanding team. Their D is good- not great.

 

[Kontradiction]

Thanks for those of you that were cheering us on to come back and beat the dolphins, we needed all the positive mojo we could get after giftwrapping 17 points in the first half and handing them a 24-3 lead!

Now, one misconception I want to address from this thread, there's alot of folks saying our defense is now soft because we gave up some rushing yards......well we gave up 1 pretty long run and 1 long Pass play then pretty much shut down the wildcat completely. Overall, we held the formation to 31 yards on 14 plays. Now, I concede it was effective around the goalline....but Vilma and company diagnosed that trash and took it out. All this without our best Dtackle Sed Ellis for most of the game. (Sed has a strained MCL, out 3-4 weeks) We also played without Scott Fujita, arguably our fastest linebacker who was out with a strained calf muscle. I was worried about his absence the most because speed is how you shut that gimmick down.

If you look at the halftime score and assume that our D is soft, do it at your own peril. Did anybody realize we outrushed the Dolphins? That we are the first team this year to bet them in T.O.P. despite being down by such a large margin? (33:02 - 26:58)

Fact is, we gave them 3 or 4 veerrrry short fields to get that lead because we came out flat in an obvious trap game and they came in reaaaallly hyped up because frankly all they've heard for two weeks was how we were going to blow them out. The second half is what you want to judge the Saints D on.....and we won it 36-10, and that was with a missed FG and a bad snap on a missed extra point and a failed 2 point conversion! We have only a couple of trap games left this season and our toughest game left by far is with the Pats. Brady has looked better and better in each game and getting back a healthy Welker is key. It's so hard to defend all those weapons...but thankfully our D practices against the best offense in the NFL every week!

But, I digress.....I can understand that a casual fan may look at some things on the surface and say our D is soft, and I'm glad that there are a few here that are looking past the final score....Our d is lightyears ahead of last year!

See ya'll in the dome, good luck and hopefully both teams will be healthy before and after the game! I'm looking forward to it because if the Saints hope to be a contender the game with the Patriots is just the kind of game they have to be able to win. It should be a playoff atmosphere for sure!

The Pats still have to get through the Fins, Jets, and Colts. Not a paddy cake schedule. Definitely looking forward to the New Orleans game though, but we still have (technically, with the Colts) three division games coming up.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The Pats still have to get through the Fins, Jets, and Colts. Not a paddy cake schedule. Definitely looking forward to the New Orleans game though, but we still have (technically, with the Colts) three division games coming up.

Patswill make the playoffs, but next 5 games will determine 1st round bye or a 4-Games to Glory assault on the title.

 

[domedog316]

Love the trash-talking!!!!

Saints are an outstanding team. Their D is good- not great.

haha....and I agree with you, our D isn't great yet....I think we need one more player, possibly a linebacker who can be our Ray Lewis, a superstar who can change a game simply by being there. Our D is very very good though, we are a ballhawking squad who now makes opposing offenses pay for any mistakes they make. Darren Sharper and Jabari Greer were really really good pickups for us in the offseason.

Last year, we couldn't get a three and out or an interception to save our lives and it cost us 4-5 games. We won 8 last year with a defense only a homer could love so do the math!

The Patriots game was the game that most excited me when the schedule came out because you guys are a yardstick franchise. Teams are judged worthy by whether they can beat teams like the Pats. It's a short list of "yardstick" franchises.....Colts, Pats, Steelers.....not many more this generation.

As far as unbeaten.....I have a feeling we'll split with the Falcons. They are our most hated rival and those games always go down to the wire regardless of records or talent. I have no illusions of going undefeated yet.....although if we can have an off game like we did this past Sunday and still win by 12 points....there aren't many teams that are going to beat us!

We'll see!

 

[RobertWeathers]

haha....and I agree with you, our D isn't great yet....I think we need one more player, possibly a linebacker who can be our Ray Lewis, a superstar who can change a game simply by being there. Our D is very very good though, we are a ballhawking squad who now makes opposing offenses pay for any mistakes they make. Darren Sharper and Jabari Greer were really really good pickups for us in the offseason.

Last year, we couldn't get a three and out or an interception to save our lives and it cost us 4-5 games. We won 8 last year with a defense only a homer could love so do the math!

The Patriots game was the game that most excited me when the schedule came out because you guys are a yardstick franchise. Teams are judged worthy by whether they can beat teams like the Pats. It's a short list of "yardstick" franchises.....Colts, Pats, Steelers.....not many more this generation.

As far as unbeaten.....I have a feeling we'll split with the Falcons. They are our most hated rival and those games always go down to the wire regardless of records or talent. I have no illusions of going undefeated yet.....although if we can have an off game like we did this past Sunday and still win by 12 points....there aren't many teams that are going to beat us!

We'll see!

I don't think anyone has a truly dominant D this year. Saints, Pats, Pitt, Minn, Den - even AZ are all right there as teams with a D that is seemingly good enough to stop people or come up with a big play when needed...

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

As I said before yesterdays game, the Saints will go 14-2 or 15-1 - I think some players will sit once the Saints inevitably wrap up the NFC HFA which could be as early as week 14 since Minny now seems more beatable.

Payton will not risk injury and lose the momentum the team is riding on at an all time high right now.

 

[PatsSox363804]

Thanks for those of you that were cheering us on to come back and beat the dolphins, we needed all the positive mojo we could get after giftwrapping 17 points in the first half and handing them a 24-3 lead!

Now, one misconception I want to address from this thread, there's alot of folks saying our defense is now soft because we gave up some rushing yards......well we gave up 1 pretty long run and 1 long Pass play then pretty much shut down the wildcat completely. Overall, we held the formation to 31 yards on 14 plays. Now, I concede it was effective around the goalline....but Vilma and company diagnosed that trash and took it out. All this without our best Dtackle Sed Ellis for most of the game. (Sed has a strained MCL, out 3-4 weeks) We also played without Scott Fujita, arguably our fastest linebacker who was out with a strained calf muscle. I was worried about his absence the most because speed is how you shut that gimmick down.

If you look at the halftime score and assume that our D is soft, do it at your own peril. Did anybody realize we outrushed the Dolphins? That we are the first team this year to bet them in T.O.P. despite being down by such a large margin? (33:02 - 26:58)

Fact is, we gave them 3 or 4 veerrrry short fields to get that lead because we came out flat in an obvious trap game and they came in reaaaallly hyped up because frankly all they've heard for two weeks was how we were going to blow them out. The second half is what you want to judge the Saints D on.....and we won it 36-10, and that was with a missed FG and a bad snap on a missed extra point and a failed 2 point conversion! We have only a couple of trap games left this season and our toughest game left by far is with the Pats. Brady has looked better and better in each game and getting back a healthy Welker is key. It's so hard to defend all those weapons...but thankfully our D practices against the best offense in the NFL every week!

But, I digress.....I can understand that a casual fan may look at some things on the surface and say our D is soft, and I'm glad that there are a few here that are looking past the final score....Our d is lightyears ahead of last year!

See ya'll in the dome, good luck and hopefully both teams will be healthy before and after the game! I'm looking forward to it because if the Saints hope to be a contender the game with the Patriots is just the kind of game they have to be able to win. It should be a playoff atmosphere for sure!

Do me a favor and tell Saints report that games like yours yesterday are why complaints about "running up the score" are nonsesne. You just never know what will happen.

 

[Patspsycho]

You said that NO simply woke up and that people assumed that the Fins could play on the Saints' level, then went on to state that it was a faulty assumption. I simply took that line of thinking and applied it to our Super Bowl game. The lesson? No one team in the NFL is that superior over the other as evidenced when an 18-0 "unstoppable" Patriots team went down to a 10-6 wildcard contender.

The only way to put this game is to say that Miami choked.

That's the way most people would look at the game, but it is the truth that Miami doesn't have the personnel or talent to handle NO's potent offense, period. They could probably beat NO if NO had a terrible game (that is to say, if NO beat itself), per the "beat any team on any given day" theory.

Additionally, you are insinuating that the Giants D didn't have an elite status on the day they beat us. The fact is they've had this elite potential for quite a while up to that point, with Strahan, Tuck, Umenyiora, etc. One of the best DL, a solid LB and secondary corp. That SB was their breakout game.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Yesterday's game was Brees way of saying F-You Dolphins for passing over me and going with Culpepper.

 

[Kontradiction]

That's the way most people would look at the game, but it is the truth that Miami doesn't have the personnel or talent to handle NO's potent offense, period. They could probably beat NO if NO had a terrible game (that is to say, if NO beat itself), per the "beat any team on any given day" theory.

Additionally, you are insinuating that the Giants D didn't have an elite status on the day they beat us. The fact is they've had this elite potential for quite a while up to that point, with Strahan, Tuck, Umenyiora, etc. One of the best DL, a solid LB and secondary corp. That SB was their breakout game.

I'm not insinuating anything. I knew the Giants could compete with us and was very nervous for that game. However, the majority of Pats and football fans did not. They had the exact same attitude that you just did in regard to the Fins and Saints, that the Fins did not belong on the same field as the Saints. That's simply not the case. Good to see you were as nervous about that Super Bowl as I was though...

 

[Patspsycho]

I'm not insinuating anything. I knew the Giants could compete with us and was very nervous for that game. However, the majority of Pats and football fans did not. They had the exact same attitude that you just did in regard to the Fins and Saints, that the Fins did not belong on the same field as the Saints. That's simply not the case. Good to see you were as nervous about that Super Bowl as I was though...

It was clear to me that Miami cannot compete on the same level as NO can. I don't know how else to explain this.

 

[Kontradiction]

It was clear to me that Miami cannot compete on the same level as NO can. I don't know how else to explain this.

I'm not quite sure how you figure this. That's why I'm trying to say. Miami was up 24-10 at halftime (was almost 24-3) and the mistakes that Brees was making in the first half were forced by their coverage. I hate the Dolphins as much as the next guy, but they were clearly playing on the same level as New Orleans was yesterday and are clearly capable of playing on the same level as New Orleans.

 

[Synovia]

I'm not insinuating anything. I knew the Giants could compete with us and was very nervous for that game. However, the majority of Pats and football fans did not. They had the exact same attitude that you just did in regard to the Fins and Saints, that the Fins did not belong on the same field as the Saints. That's simply not the case. Good to see you were as nervous about that Super Bowl as I was though...

Well, after Indy and NO, I think its clear that the case is that the Fins pass defense isn't good enough to put teams away. They've jumped out to huge leads and then given them up.

 

[Kontradiction]

Well, after Indy and NO, I think its clear that the case is that the Fins pass defense isn't good enough to put teams away. They've jumped out to huge leads and then given them up.

Which is why I can't wait until we play them.

 

[Patspsycho]

they were clearly playing on the same level as New Orleans was yesterday and are clearly capable of playing on the same level as New Orleans.

NO was not playing well in the first half, that was clear to anyone who knows football.

As I pointed out and as domedog confirmed, it was clearly a trap game for NO coming off that big game against the Giants, and Miami was coming off a bye. However NO recovered late in the first half, and went into halftime 24-10, not 24-3 as you wrote earlier. They came back in the 2nd half playing at their level, and that is when Miami couldn't keep up.

 

[Kontradiction]

NO was not playing well in the first half, that was clear to anyone who knows football.

As I pointed out and as domedog confirmed, it was clearly a trap game for NO coming off that big game against the Giants, and Miami was coming off a bye. However NO recovered late in the first half, and went into halftime 24-10, not 24-3 as you wrote earlier. They came back in the 2nd half playing at their level, and that is when Miami couldn't keep up.

I guess you're right. I guess you saw Miami's corners drop off coverage, let their receivers run by them in the first half, and still have Brees throw them the ball for the INT. I guess they werent playing. Yes, NO wasn't playing well. But the fact that they weren't playing well can be attributed to Miami's play on defense and offense in the first half. On defense, the played tighter coverage on NO's receivers and came up with the picks. On offense, they ran over the Saints with their running game. In the second half, Miami played conservatively and back on their heels, almost expecting as if the game was over and the NO offense took advantage of that.

If Miami couldn't play up to NO's level, the score would have been 46-10 yesterday. They had a big time lead (by playing well on both sides of the ball in the first half) and blew it. They choked. There's no other way to put it.

 

[PatsSox363804]

The Sharper pick 6 to open the third quarter really got them going because at that point they had all of the momentum and could run a balanced attack. I still think it was a touchback, but it's the Dolphins so scew em.

Funny though how in back to back weeks the Saints have had two plays eerily similar to the two plays that have pissed me off the most as a Pats fan in recent years only they got the call both times. This week they played the part of the Broncos and didn't have their play called a touchback and last week when Eli threw up a ridiculous prayer they actually called the blatant holding that the Giants line was doing.

 

[Patspsycho]

If Miami couldn't play up to NO's level, the score would have been 46-10 yesterday. They had a big time lead (by playing well on both sides of the ball in the first half) and blew it. They choked. There's no other way to put it.

If they choked, the score would have been 46-10 or 46-13 or something in that area; that being said, the final score was 46-34 which does not suggest choking; more a matter of being outplayed.

I think it would be a stretch to say a team choked by scoring 34 points.