Saints edge Niners 25-22

Everybody was waiting to see if the Saints would drop 35 or 40 on the San Francisco 49ers a week after they lost by 25 points to a new coach.
People were waiting for Drew Brees to throw for 400 yards, and for Reggie Bush to run a punt back for a touchdown.
They'll have to wait a little longer.
The Saints used the sturdy leg of kicker Garrett Hartley to escape Candlestick Park with a 25-22 victory on Monday night.
The Saints defense caused three turnovers, none bigger than when Courtney Roby recovered a muffed punt in the 4th quarter deep in 49er territory.
Bush left the game with a knee injury after getting piled on after briefly fumbling a fair catch. Brees was as cool as ice, but still a little off as several of his throws were high.
San Fran's Frank Gore gored the Saints defense for 100 yards rushing and quarterback Alex Smith looked like Fran Tarkenton, running around Saints defensive linemen for first downs.
Still, in the end, the Saints were able to move the ball methodically down the field after the 49ers tied it with a Vernon Davis two-point conversion.
Who Dat talking about beating dem Saints? Is it Atlanta?

Saints beat Vikes in opener, 14 -9

The New Orleans Saints shook the rust off last Thursday in the 2010 season opener for the NFL. The Vikings had revenge on their minds after a horrendous NFC championship game that lifted the Saints to the Super Bowl and then on to victory.
As Week 1 came to a close around the NFL, the New Orleans victory was big because the Falcons and Carolina lost, giving the Saints an early 1-game lead. The Bucs also won their opener.
While the score was only 14-9, the Saints were pleased to get the win, as the city basically shut down and kids got out of school early for a Saints parade and banner unfolding.
Ah, the big easy.

Why the Saints Season Sucked

They had good reasons you know.
And I won't call say "injuries" because, hey, every team suffers the hurts. It's the nature of the beast.
But the Saints had some devastating ones that absolutely killed their chances.
All-world receiver Marques Colston was left coughing up blood after some nasty hits against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15.
To whom much is given, much is expected. And Reggie Bush had raised expectations tremendously after a hot finish in his inaugural season. He got roughed up pretty good too as the season wore down, ending in a mysterious knee injury
that may have been damaged weeks earlier.
Not to mention the injuries of all injuries this season, the end of Deuce McAllister's season.
Along the way, rookie and fan favorite Pierre Thomas got so savagely beaten that he had blood in his stool and a damaged kidney pierre_thomas_misses_practice.html toward the end of the season. He still put together the third-best yards from scrimmage by a Saint in team history in the season finale at Chicago.
Perhaps indemic of the season was the loss (torn ACL) of the best-playing defender, cornerback Mike McKenzie, the week before Christmas. And it's saying alot when Mckenzie is your best-playing defender, but without him the Saints secondary was little more defenseless than a baby in the jungle.
Saints coach Sean Payton never did like Pierre Thomas for some reason, and played him only out of desparation despite what he says. Thomas' start in the last game was actually cemented the week before against Philadelphia Reserve tailback Jamaal Branch suffered a broken leg on the opening kickoff against the Eagles and that crippled an already depleted running corps. That left the Saints with only Aaron Stecker and Pierre Thomas in the backfield. And shortly after, Stecker went down with a foot injury in the second quarter. At that point it was either Thomas or the trooper on the sidelines.
In any event this season was a referendum on Payton's true coaching abilities: He failed. Period. He failed to see early enough what he should have known. That the Saints have to have a plan D, plan Bs aren't good enough anymore (ask Arthur Blank, and dem Falcons). So, I leave you with that familiar refrain, and sigh: Maybe next year.

Why Bush's Season Sucked

Reggie Bush and galpal Kim Kardashian party on New Year's Eve in Miami.

Saints End Season 7-9, Who Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Thunk It?

The season was just so ... pregnant with possibilities: Brees, Payton, Colston, Bush, Duece, playoffs, Super Bowl.
Dud.
That's what the season was, a dud.
The execution and playcalling that was so excellent and easy-looking in 2006 was mucky, sloppy for the 2007 campaign. Nothing summed up the season more than the botched Reggie Bush-to-Devery Henderson reverse on a crucial need-to-run-the-clock-out third down that cost the Saints a game against Tampa Bay. Or maybe it was the relentless inability of free agent bust cornerback Jason David to play even decent defense on man to man coverage. Who shoulda, woulda, coulda thought that David's best play would be the fumble return for TD in the first quarter of the first game of the season?
Surely the loss of running back Duece McAllister hurt them more than they thought.
"You understand when you lose a player like him you are going to change," Payton said. "Now you're asking the quarterback to drop back in no huddle and empty, playing from behind on the road. Last year we were able to get Deuce going in the second half, which kept the defense off the field. When you don't have that, it's harder to play good defense."
Still, looking at the numbers, Drew Brees set a team record for TDs in a season, and a league record for completions and will likely go to Hawaii as a reserve in the Pro Bowl. Not bad for a qb that at one point in the year had 1 TD to 11 interceptions.


"Seven-and-9 is a losing season," said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who set one NFL record for completions in a season, set two team records (touchdown passes and yards in a season) and tied another club mark with 60 pass attempts in the game. "No one wants a losing season. This is very, very disappointing."
"There were ups and there were downs, there were good times and there were bad times," said defensive tackle Hollis Thomas. "You never want your season to end like this."

Said Brees: "We really felt one of the other teams would slip up and we'd be in (the playoffs). It didn't work out."
It worked out for Colston, who was snubbed by the Pro Bowl voters even though he numbers were better than most receivers.


"It's different," Payton said. "Different teams, different circumstances. An NFC championship game and 7-9. It's an irony that the season ended here, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us.
"The things that keep you from winning games came up, and it's a thing that hurt us in our losses this season," Coach Sean Payton said. "We had lots of big plays over our head, big plays in the kicking game. We lost that battle."
"It's been a rocky roller coaster," center Jeff Faine said. "I just didn't feel like we ever maintained our momentum for the year."
Momentum is something Reggie Bush didn't even smell this year: No flips into the end zone this year, not even any solid blocks. His numbers testify to his ineffectiveness this year. Of course, most of it can be blamed on the coaches' inability to utilize him effectively, but maybe Kim Kardashian has had a Jessica Simpson-like effect on him, who knows.


"We start this offseason with free agency and the draft and that's where our focus is going to be: on improving this team and getting ourselves back into the postseason next year where we belong."

Victory at Bears Is Last Hope For Saints

Okay, Saints, you MUST beat the Bears.
You must.
It wasn't that long ago, in a driving snow, that New Orleans struck fear in the most sturdy of Chicago fans: Reggie Bush took a swing pass, swerved past one defender and sped into the end zone and pulling the Saints to within two points in last year's playoffs.
Speaking of the P-word, the Saints (7-8) can still get back to the playoffs as a wild card if they win and both the Redskins and Vikings lose later in the day, but the Bears (6-9) were eliminated from playoff contention two games ago.
It’s a rematch of last year’s NFC title game, but neither the Saints nor the Bears are headed back to the game. The Bears come off an upset win, while the Saints come off an upset home loss to the Eagles as a disappointing season closes out.
As New Orleans heads to the Windy City, they have gameplanned to watch Bears kick returner Devin Hester.

“You have to pay attention to what he can do — he can single-handedly change a game,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “There’s no question that he’s one of the best return guys that this game has seen. From a return standpoint, it’s been a while since this league has had someone of his magnitude.”
Hester has 11 returns for touchdowns in 34 NFL games. As a rookie last season he set an NFL record with six returns for touchdowns — three punts, two kickoffs, and a field goal. He became the first player in NFL history to return the opening kickoff of a Super Bowl for a TD.
The guys responsible for covering the Saints’ kickoffs and punts know they have to get to Hester as fast as they can, surround him, and be disciplined in their tackling.
“You can either not kick it to him, or if you kick it to him, you just have to be sound in your coverage,” safety Kevin Kaesviharn said. “You try and play the way you’ve been taught to play, the techniques you’ve been taught to play, and that should take care of it.
“I think in that situation, if you do kick it to him, you need to have everyone running to the ball because he’s a guy that can make you miss and obviously he’s got 11 touchdowns already, and it’s his second season. He’s pretty darn good.”

How Could Pro Bowl Voters Sleep On Colston?

Saints wide receiver Marques Colston is not going to the Pro Bowl.
How that could happen is like trying to figure out that reverse two weeks ago against Tampa Bay with less than 4 minutes remaining in the game.
Colston didn't just have a good season, he's had, like,a MONSTER season. He leads the NFC in catches; even though the other teams have big-time quarterbacks like Brett Favre, and Tony Romo.
Colston was bypassed by Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Dallas' Terrell Owens, St. Louis' Tory Holt and Green Bay's Donald Driver.
Donald Driver? He's got only 2 touchdowns.
Tory Holt?
But I digress, Chad JOhnson and Brandon Marshall didn't make it either, despit being No. 4 and No. 7 in the league in receiving yards. How can Chad Johnson NOT make it?
Sounds like the fix to me.

Horn comin back to the N.O.

I'm going to say it: Joe Horn was New Orleans' favorite son.
We miss him. The receiving corps is not the same without him.
He feels the same way.
"I miss New Orleans. I miss the fans. I miss the people that were real there with Joe Horn," said the outspoken receiver with the predilection for referring to himself in the third person. "I love New Orleans. I get chills when I think about coming to New Orleans."
Horn was one of the best receivers ever to play in a black-and-gold uniform, and the most popular. He was a part of the Saints' last two playoff teams in 2000 and 2006, had his own radio show, and was among the first to show up at shelters to cheer up evacuees after Hurricane Katrina.
In the offseason, the Saints went out and picked up a couple of receivers to join the audition for Horn's vacant spot -- one of which was three-time Super Bowl champion David Patten. The other was Tennessee standout Robert Meachem, whom the Saints selected with their first pick in April's NFL draft.
"They made it pretty clear that they were bringing me in to replace Joe Horn," Patten said. "They wanted a veteran, someone who had been around a while and could kind of help the younger guys out.
"I understood my role and I accepted the challenge. It doesn't matter where I go, my goal is the same. I want to help the team win."
But something happened on the way to replacing Horn.
Meachem and Patten both missed parts of training camp for various reasons. To make matters worse, Henderson opened the 2007 season with a case of the drops.
He said bitterly that New Orleans apparently wasn't big enough for him and new Saints coach Sean Payton.
The Saints and Falcons have one win apiece.
This week, Payton downplayed any animosity, speaking only of his admiration for the receiver who had 679 yards receiving and four touchdowns in 10 games for the Saints last season. Because of a nagging groin injury, Horn missed six regular-season games and both Saints playoff games, although Horn contended he was healthy enough to play in the NFC championship game against Chicago.
"He's someone that's been a great competitor, has had a great career and has worked his tail off," Payton said. "Through determination and hard work, he's someone that persevered and made himself a special player in our league. I was fortunate ... to have been able to coach him for a year and have the success we had with him. Now it becomes about two teams playing in a game that is important for both teams because both teams are sitting here at this time of the year with just one win. Both teams are trying to get something going and not dig themselves into too deep a hole."
Horn also resisted any temptation to take a shot at the Saints. He said he went to Atlanta because his wife's family lives in the Southeast, not because the Falcons are historically the Saints' oldest and biggest divisional rivals.
"I know you guys think I'm probably trying to play it down," Horn said. "I'm going to try to do my best and do my job as far as playing for the Atlanta Falcons because that's my new team now, but I'm not coming back for hurrah or trying to embarrass somebody or make somebody feel bad. That's not where I'm at right now. We're 1-5 right now."
Horn, 35, has struggled a bit himself. Lining up as the Falcons' third wide receiver, he has 11 catches for 117 yards and no touchdowns. Atlanta has yet to profit from the type of game-breaking performance Horn provided New Orleans on numerous occasions.

Saints win one, beat Seattle, end of world near

The Saints finally tasted victory Monday night, beating the Seattle Seahawks 28-19 after jumping out to a 21-0 lead in the first half. They sacked Matt Hasselbeck five times for losses totaling 29 yards.
"We wanted to come in and try to put some pressure on the quarterback, fly around, get more different looks," said safety Roman Harper, who had two sacks on blitzes.
New Orleans came into the game with one sack this season. To start the game, they sacked Hasselbeck on the Seahawks' first possession. Hollis Thomas dropped him for a 6-yard loss, setting up a punting situation on which the Saints scored on a fumble recovery by Pierre Thomas.
Early in the second half, the Saints sacked Hasselbeck on consecutive plays. Defensive tackle Brian Young sacked him on second down, and Harper sacked him on a third-down blitz. Later, Charles Grant got his first sack this season. Harper got another sack late in the fourth quarter.
"We just rushed," Grant said. "We did a little more blitzing to free up the rush."
As good as the game was, I still maintain that Reggie Bush is not an every-down back. Sure, he needs to be on the field every play, but 3rd and inches, 4th and 1, dude is not gonna be moving many piles forward and it showed. Late in the fourth quarter, Bush eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark, but was stuff for losses on two consecutive run plays, taking his total to about 94 yards. In the fourth quarter, with the Saints driving for another scored he was stood up and fumbled near the goal line. On the next possession he ran the ball on consecutive plays and got about 3 yards total, to finish with 97 yards. They need a big back, someone to do what Deuce McAllister did. I like the move away from Devery Henderson also. Taking advantage of his first start for the Saints, Lance Moore scored his first career touchdown.
Moore, who started at wide receiver in place of Henderson, scored on a 7-yard end-around in the second quarter to give New Orleans a 21-0 lead.
"I had great blocking out there," Moore said, mentioning blocks by Marques Colston and Mike Karney. "There was nobody in my face."
Moore also caught three passes for 35 yards. His 20-yard reception on the Saints' second scoring drive gave New Orleans a first down at the Seattle 35.

The metamorphosis of Drew Brees .. into Aaron Brooks

You saw the familiar lame duck throw late last year, against Washington. Saints QB Drew Brees gently lofted the ball over the line of scrimmage - and it was picked off. It was a play Saints fans had got accustomed to over the past 5 years. After all, he was New Orleans Saints' all time leader in touchdown passes with 120. He also played for the Green Bay Packers behind Brett Favre for a time.

In 2001 he emerged as NFL's top quarterbacks with 98 touchdown tosses over that span and over 3,500 yards each season. Has 16 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, including five in 2004. His name was Aaron Brooks.
Brees is slowly, but surely, turning into him. The bad decisions, the completely lame interceptions. Brooks is the only Saints quarterback to rush for over 100 yards in a contest (108 vs. San Francisco, 2000-12-10). In 2004, Brooks set club marks for attempts (60) and completions (34) in a contest. The good days, not unlike last year for Brees and the Saints, came very early. After that it was a slow and agonized descent.
The transformation has been painful. To be sure, this 0-3 after the Titans forced 5 turnovers isn't completely Bree's fault. The offensive line's protection struggles have derailed the deep passing game. The running game was on empty, even before Deuce McAllister's knee injury. Brooks' decision making, exhibit A being the infamous backwards pass thrown to an offensive lineman in a 2004 loss in San Diego, was the last straw according to New Orleans fans. To exacerbate the problem, Brooks wore a cavalier attitude, a broad smile shone across his face after each of his mistakes. Drew Brees, considering the juxtaposition of his play against that which had been witnessed during the six years Aaron Brooks wore the black and gold, was heaven sent - for a while.
And head coach Sean Peyton — who could seemingly do no wrong with his play-calling in 2006 — can't call a first down much less a touchdown.
Brees connected with favorite target Marques Colston a few times but nobody else stood out. After finishing 10-6 in 2000 (including their first playoff win, against nemesis St. Louis Rams)in 2001, the Saints only went 7-9. It's a familiar refrain for the Saints. Was last year's 10-6 season a fluke? Is Brees a fluke? Should he be benched? The backup quarterback Jamie Martin has been known to throw the deep ball, and that's all the Saints need to get defenders to play them honest. Brees has been afraid to throw deep this year for some reason. Is his shoulder alright? Questions abound.
Last year, Brees had a productive year. He threw a league-leading 4,418 passing yards, finished third in the league with 26 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions and a 96.2 passer rating. This year he'll be lucky to get 20 TDs to go with his 13 projected INTS. Brooks played in only eight games during the Oakland Raiders' dismal 2-14 season last year. Oakland ended the season with nine straight losses, and Brooks was often seen running for his life. On February 22nd, 2007, the Oakland Raiders declined to reinstate Brooks for a second season. He is now out of football entirely. What's wrong with Drew Brees? He now leads the league with seven interceptions (SEVEN) to only one touchdown. Two of his errant passes have been TDs for the other team. What's wrong with Drew Brees, and is the metamorphosis complete? Because if he changes into Bobby Hebert I'm leaping off the bandwagon.

NFL stats for Week 3: Saints vs. Titans

THOUGHTS FROM WEEK 2 IN THE NFL

Saints got serious problems
Tampa Bay made New Orleans look like etoufee Sunday, shredding the defense in beating them 31-14. Drew Brees and coach Sean Payton no longer look like they're on the same page, and the Cover 2 continues to befuddle Brees. "There are a lot of issues," said the Pro Bowl quarterback. "Mentally, it's how you approach the game when you step on the field. That's huge."Expectation levels are high — that could be part of the problem. We know how good this offense can be. We thought we had it figured out. We didn't." The defense is nothing special, giving up over 30 points for the second week in a row. Help!

Chad Johnson is a beast. And it's only been two games played, but he'll obliterate any and all receiving yardage records if he keeps up this pass. He was a gangsta out there again Sunday, hauling in 209 yards on a Cleveland team that gave just as it got, and then some.

Brian Bilichick may not have gotten a pass from the media, or Roger Goodell for his spying fiasco last week, but that's okay. Tom Brady's got a helluva pass. And Randy Moss has a pretty good catch, too. New England kicked San Diego, 38-14.


Steve "The Magician" Smith is back to his old ways. He's been a Fantasy Footballer's dream since he entered the starting lineup, and Sunday was no different: 3 TDs as his Panthers fell to Matt Schuab and the HOuston Texans 34-21.

THOUGHTS FROM WEEK 1 IN THE NFL

SAINTS TRY TO FORGET

The Saints face the Tampa Bay Bucs this weekend. They can't fact them soon enough for Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Brees called last week's whipping by the Colts the “longest weekend of my life.”
The 41-10 loss to Indianapolis was in front of a national audience and the season opener for the league.
“Usually the good thing about losing on Sunday is that you get to regroup (on Monday) and you’re back to practice and a few days later, you’re already playing again,” Brees said.
Saints safety Roman Harper said the memory of the Colts’ loss was further from his mind.
“You have to put it behind you,” Harper said. “It’s gone, it’s forgotten. What game are you talking about again?”

PATRIOTS WAS STRAIGHT CHEATIN'

In New England, coach Brian Bilichick can blame himself for allowing his staff to cheat. A team video assistant illegally videotaped the New York Jets' defensive signals during New England's 38-14 victory in the season opener last Sunday -- League Commissioner Roger Goodell slapped 'em a good one though: He handed out one of the stiffest punishments in league history.

He fined Belichick the NFL maximum of $500,000 and ordered the Patriots to pay an additional fine of $250,000. In addition, the team will have to forfeit a first-round pick in the 2008 draft if it makes the playoffs this season, or a second- and a third-round pick if it fails to make the postseason. Currently, the Patriots have five first-day picks in the '08 draft.

RAVENS ARE HURTIN' AND BANGED UP, ALREADY

Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, quarterback Steve McNair and offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden all did not participate in team practice for the Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday.
Ogden aggravated a hyperextended toe that has been bothering him since last year during Monday's loss to Cincinnati, and is being evaluated on a week-to-week basis. McNair pulled a groin muscle in the first quarter of Monday's game and was removed from action during the Ravens' final drive. McNair stated that he could be a game-time decision for Sunday's contest against the New York Jets. Lewis strained his triceps last week and has vowed to play through the pain.

The curious tie between Jimmy Walker and the Saints

In the 1960s, there was this smooth-as-leather lanky kid in New England that could do with a basketball what Merlin could do with a wand. A curious link between this kid, who was a legend in Boston circles, and the upstart New Orleans Saints franchise is little known. See, New Orleans drafted this kid. His name was Jimmy Walker, a Boston high school basketball phenom, Providence College All-American and the father of Phoenix Suns NBA player Jalen Rose. Walker died Monday in Kansas City due to lung cancer. He was 63.
Mr. Walker played nine years in the NBA for three teams: the Detroit Pistons, the Houston Rockets, and the Kansas City Kings. But Saints saw the 6-3 lanky kid and thought about a wide reciever catching deep routes along the sidelines. It was a dream before Lynn Swan's acrobatics, before Drew Pearson's long touchdown catches in the back of the endzone, before Jerry Rice's short catches went for 80-yard scores, before T.O. Yeah, see the only problem with that dream, is that ole Jimmy had never played a down of football at Providence. Maybe his heavily Catholic roots in Boston made him diserable to the Saints management. Maybe his athletic prowess was just too good to pass up.

Walker was the No. 1 pick overall in 1967 by the Detroit Pistons, making two All-Star Games, 1970 and 1972, while with Detroit. But his best playing days may have been on the collegiate level. At Providence College from 1964-67 he was viewed as one of the greatest players in New England collegiate history. He scored 50 points against Boston College at Madison Square Garden, and averaged 30 points per game as a senior.
His career scoring record stood for nearly 40 years at Providence until current Celtics forward Ryan Gomes broke it last year.
In the 1990s, it was revealed that Walker was the father of Jalen Rose, a former star guard at the University of Michigan and a member of the Fab Five.