Hey pherein, good to see you again! As others said, thanks for knocking off the Steelers; much appreciated on multiple levels.
It's been tough with your injuries at RB, but on the other hand the NFC is up for grabs; a lot of teams that were expected to be very good are not playing well so far. I know Tampa Bay is ahead of the Saints right now but I doubt they make the playoffs. NO and Pittsburgh crushed them and all their wins are against what it looks like are turning out to be below average teams.
Now that I think about it the NFCS could have three teams in the playoffs, thanks in part to having the NFCW on their schedule this year. Add in the AFCN on the NFCS's schedule and there's at least two more wins for each Atl, NO, and TB - and Carolina could go 0-6 in your division. Right now Philadelphia looks like the only other wild card contender in the conference.
So what's the latest with your running backs? Is Ivory hurt or was he benched for ineffectiveness? I would think once Reggie Bush returns that will help the Saints offense simply because opposing teams have to account for him differently than they do for other players; I'm assuming he'll be back soon. Betts and Jones is a whole lot different than Thomas and Bush for the Saints offense and opposing defenses.
Hey, jmt57 good to see you man, glad we could help, we want you guys to go all the way, so if we make it we know the fans we party with are cool,lol. Plus most in N.O. want the Patriots in the SB, after all you had a lot to do with our building.
Yeah we have 19 of 53 on the injury list. But we were hit with this late in the season last year. Were hoping sooner means 3 loses and then we get stable.
I think the Steelers are a really good team, they just misjudged us. They didnt think we were physical, and played Steeler ball vs Paytons ball. Payton switch to a west coast offense in the 3rd quarter and they couldn't counter it. I can see BB ripping apart the Steelers offense the same way GW did. You cant play conventional vs GW or BB, they will eat you.
In NFCS Atl and TB would have a hard time beating the Steelers. That says a lot I think, because you cant run against the steelers, you just cant. Atl and TB dont have the ability to switch to west coast to set up the run, they are very linear offenses. IF they cant run they die. ATL is a dark horse. I say that because they dont have much depth, if they lose there RB,LB, or others it severely effects them. Not so much with us, we have ok players to fill the spot. Case in point greer and porter were out for the steelers game, that would have destroyed ATL.
I agree with you man philly looks really good. Well need to win our next 4 games vs Carolina, Seattle, Dallas, and Cincinnati to be in contention. We should win these game, we are better than these teams, but we lost to the browns, so we have something to prove.
Ivory had a minor ankle problem, should be ok for next week. Bush is practicing so he's fine, but I expect Payton to be more worried about the long run. I dont think Payton will play Bush/thomas for 1-2 weeks more.
after the Carolina game we have bye week.
But neither of these guys are the problem with the Saints offense, and there not covering, what we think, the problem is. The Saints OL has fallen to #22 in the NFL. they have been #1-5 for 4 years. This kills the run and doesnt allow Brees anytime for the long ball. Thats what we think caused this mess.
Lucky, they have fixed this and we have moved to #3 in rush OL and #9 in Pass defense. A huge difference, and one reason we think you saw the long ball vs the Steelers.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2010 OFFENSIVE LINES
If the OL can keep this progress up, then our run game will be even better with thomas/bush and the same pass plays vs the Steelers will become common again. What we are used to seeing over the last 4 years. We're very proud about what you guys have accomplished this year, with the lose of Moss and what not. Very impressive, we're hoping to measure up. Without Bush were not the Saints, hes huge.
7 TO's in 2 games isnt good.
