I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi where I learned the three rules of life: Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it.
The media was making a big deal about this game being Greg Williams first time back in the Super Dome since “Bountygate” and how the Saints wanted to send a message. We got to hear all the juicy tidbits about how Sean Payton and Williams haven’t talked to each other since Williams was fired and we were treated to Ronde Barber’s take on every aspect of the whole scandal. The camera on Williams’ face after every Saints’ score was as boring as it sounds.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
The offense. Not just Drew Brees, but the whole offense. 7 TDs and over 550 yards of total offense. Brees threw for 310 yards, 4 TDs and completed 77.8% of his passes to increase his already league leading completion percentage. Willie Snead even got in on the passing action throwing a 50 yard TD to Tim Hightower on a trick play. The running game put up 209 yards on 32 carries and 2 TDs, led by Mark Ingram’s 14 carries for 146 yards and 1 TD. The offensive line kept Brees upright for most of the game and fullback John Kuhn was picking up every Rams’ LB or S who tried to plug a running lane.
The defense. After some early missteps that allowed Jared Goff to throw for the first 3 TDs of his short career, the defense settled down and shut-out the Rams in the second half. The Rams were held to just 247 yards for the game, the best the Saints’ defense has done all year.
WHAT WENT WRONG
First half defense. Maybe they were a bit excited with Williams on the other side of the field and were trying too hard, but they were making this L.A. Rams team look like the St. Louis Rams under Kurt Warner. In the four games prior to this, the Rams had not scored more than 10 points, but were able to drop 21 points on the Saints in the first half.
Ronde Barber. I really, really don’t like him as an announcer.
GOING FORWARD
Next week the Detroit Lions come to the Super Dome. The Lions are hot right now and atop the NFCN while the Saints are barely clinging on to their very slim playoff chances. Defensively, these teams are quite similar on paper but it does seem that the Saints defense is improving, surrendering 25 points or less in each of their last 5 games. I know that sounds like a lot, but when they were giving up, on average, 32 points per game not so long ago, this is a big improvement. We’ll take a more, indepth look at this game later in the week.
SIDE NOTE
Willie Snead is the greatest QB of all time, completing 100% of his passes, all for TDs and has a 50ypa average. The Saints will sign him to a $40 million per year contract to replace Brees.