VOR HERRE BEVARES
Som trofast Saints fan bør jeg naturligvis prøve at være positiv
Dommerne var som altid kropumulige
Bucs var piv ringe
– men vi tabte altså trods dette og det var retfærdigt resultat
Jameis Winston var atter Jameis Winston
I nærbilleder så han næsten skræmt ud og tre interception !!!
(Jeg vil være parat til at lade ham sidde over mod Panthers, han er ikke 100%)
Michael Thomas forsøgte at gøre noget ved de alt for få bolde der kom hans vej
Jarvis Landry blev næste holdt helt fra fadet
Chris Olave viste glimt, men også store rookie-fejl
Taysom Hill og Juwan Johnson deltog delvist i spillet
Mark Ingram havde en god start, mens efter en fumble blev han holdt på sidelinjen
Vores O-line virker fortsat som om de ikke har spillet sammen siden sidste år
Vores 4 på D-line lagde pres på Brady, men uden at få det afgørende stød sat ind
(Hvordan blev Cameron Jordan dømt for fejl ? – og dommerne så ikke da han blev holdt)
DeMario Davis og hans LB-gruppe fik fornuftigt fat, men blev aldrig dominerende
CB & Safety havde lukket ned det meste af tiden, men så åbnede de pludselig for nogle dybe løb ?
(at Lattimore smides ud var kun for at få Bucs til at accepterer Evans naturligvis blev smidt ud)
Wil Lutz var stabil, hvorimod Gillikin synes at mangle lidt dynamit i sine punt
MVP forslag:
Michael Thomas
Juwan Johnson
DeMario Davis
[poll id=”222″]
by John Sigler, US Today:
Where do you begin to recap the New Orleans Saints’ loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? So much happened in so many different phases that it’s hard to keep track of it all, so we’ll focus on three questions to answer after the 20-10 home loss: What went right? What went wrong? And what’s the bottom line? Let’s explore:
What went right?
The Saints defense played well enough to win this game. They forced six punts in this game, including three in consecutive possessions, and again played well enough to get Tom Brady screaming and trashing equipment on the sideline. They did their part in limiting Tampa Bay to the third-fewest total yards (260) they’ve managed since Brady arrived. The Bucs only converted 5 of their 17 third downs, and were unsuccessful on their lone fourth down. They continued to play hard even when Marshon Lattimore was ejected late in the game and rookie corner Alontae Taylor (the fourth player on the depth chart, behind Paulson Adebo and Bradley Roby) stepped into his place.
It wasn’t all bad on offense. Michael Thomas made several outstanding receptions with Carlton Davis covering him, showing up the tall-talking Bucs corner on a toe-tapper down the sideline and with a touchdown grab in the game’s closing minutes. He finished the day with 6 receptions for 65 yards and a score. Every pass he caught on Sunday converted a first down. Yeah, he’s back. Steadier quarterback play will highlight that even more.
So back to the defense. Pete Werner continues to be a bright spot by routinely putting himself in the right place at the right time. Some of the collisions he shared with Leonard Fournette at the line of scrimmage were incredible. That he’s made such an important impact on the Saints defense after missing most of training camp with an injury is remarkable. He’s been a big reason for their success on that side of the ball.
What went wrong?
It was another really rough game for the Saints offense, which is starting to look like a worrying trend. After initially throwing with decisive confidence, Winston had issues hitting his receivers underneath for the short, easy gains that help establish rhythm within the Saints offense — a system that’s worked for years.
Instead, Winston spent more time looking for the home-run ball, and stubbornly stuck with deep shots to Chris Olave. To his credit, Olave was too fast for the Buccaneers secondary to handle, and he routinely beat them over the top. But Winston’s passes were off-target. He overthrew Olave early on, then underthrew him later for an interception. When they finally linked up on one of the game’s final drives, the pass fell just short of Olave’s stride, and he had to chop his feet to hit his mark. He tripped because of it and fell to the ground, fumbling the ball along the way.
These issues can be worked on. With more reps, Winston can continue to develop that chemistry with Olave, and they shouldn’t need much more time to get on the same page. They may have already gotten there if Winston hadn’t missed time over the summer with various injuries (last year’s season-ending knee issue and the foot problem that flared up in camp). Unfortunately, Winston has been limited again with a different injury, having fractured four vertebrae in his back. It’s a real question as to how many practice reps he and Olave can work in together.
And what’s the bottom line?
The Saints won’t win many football games when they’re committing five turnovers and getting fouled nine times. They’ve got to protect the ball, and protect their quarterback (sometimes from himself), and clean up some really awful penalties. So many of their problems are self-inflicted issues that can be cleaned up.
A really great illustration of that can be found early in the fourth quarter, when the New Orleans defense stopped Tampa Bay on 3rd and 1 inside the Buccaneers’ own red zone, setting up a punt that should have resulted in terrific field position for the Saints offense. Instead, a penalty for having too many men on the field in the special teams phase gave Tampa Bay a fresh set of downs.
The Saints defense deserves credit for how they responded to it — Brady was sacked two plays later, setting the stage for another punt. But this lack of attention to detail has been a problem through two weeks. Lapses in judgment and poor coaching decisions have plagued the Saints for seven of their eight quarters of football. New Orleans’ special teams unit is usually a strength of the team, but in one of the game’s highest-leverage moments they fell on their face.
Maybe that’s the story of the Saints this year. Things that are usually a strength — like their run defense last week, their vertical passing game this week, and the kicking units — turn into weaknesses when they matter most. If that’s the case, it’s going to make for a long, frustrating first year for Allen and his coaching staff. They’ve got a lot to work on. Let’s see how they respond.
We shouldn’t put too much stock in simplified player grades from Pro Football Focus, but the analytics service does create an opportunity for recapping some of the most impactful performances from Week 2’s New Orleans Saints game – both the good and the bad.
To thin out some noise from too-small sample sizes, I’m only listing players who were on the field for at least 33% of snaps with the Saints offense or defense. This better reflects who was on the field most frequently. Let’s get to it.
Top 5 offense (minimum 22 snaps)
C Erik McCoy: 79.8 WR Michael Thomas: 75.8 RG Cesar Ruiz: 75.4 LT James Hurst: 68.6 TE Juwan Johnson: 66.0
McCoy and Ruiz were really impressive on Sunday, paving the way for some big gains on the ground and winning his matchups with Vita Vea and Akiem Hicks (until Hicks exited the game with an injury). It’s just one game, but this really feels like something Ruiz can begin to build off of.
Thomas won his battles with Carlton Davis, converting a first down on all three of the receptions he made when covered by Tampa Bay’s top cornerback, also scoring a late touchdown. The lone incomplete pass sent his way when matched up with Davis was broken up by the defender.
Johnson again saw more snaps on offense (53) than Adam Trautman (33), matching Trautman’s reps as a run blocker (15 each) while remaining the team’s go-to option on passing downs at tight end. I’ll wait a little longer to let the sample size continue to grow, but Trautman appears to have been displaced as TE1.
Bottom 5 offense (minimum 22 snaps)
QB Jameis Winston: 46.9 SR Jarvis Landry: 53.5 RB Mark Ingram II: 53.7 RB Tony Jones Jr.: 54.2 TE Adam Trautman: 55.8
Three interceptions from Winston are going to result in a bad grade, no matter how much the pain in his back is impacting his functionality. He was missing routine throws and struggling with accurate ball placement on multiple open looks to wide receiver Chris Olave, who was torching the Tampa Bay secondary to little avail. Back injury or not, he’s got to perform better. He can’t be the reason they’re losing games.
Landry had a really tough matchup with Antoine Winfield Jr. in the slot, and the youngster largely got the better of him. Winston targeted Landry 5 times, and he did catch 4 of those passes, but none of them converted a first down and he didn’t log a catch when lined up against Winfield specifically.
As for the running backs: Ingram ran hard, gaining 60 yards on 10 carries and forcing 4 missed tackles, but his fumble came in such a high-leverage moment that it can’t be undersold enough. It is a little odd to see Ingram hit so hard, though, given his success as a runner outside of that negative play (critical as it was). He stepped up often as a blocker in picking up Tampa Bay blitzes, even if the pressure overmatched him once or twice.
Top 5 defense (minimum 22 snaps)
LB Pete Werner: 88.4 LB Demario Davis: 79.9 DE Cameron Jordan: 78.2 LB Kaden Elliss: 77.1 DE Carl Granderson: 72.6
Werner was phenomenal again on Sunday, with all 6 of his tackles constituting defensive stopcs (meaning the offense typically gained half or fewer of the yards needed to convert a first down). He was tested 4 times in coverage and only yielded 6 receiving yards. He’s quickly climbing the ranks among pro linebackers.
Jordan lost this round to Buccaneers right tackle Tristan Wirfs on passing downs, which isn’t too surprising given Wirfs is one of the best players at that position of his generation. But Jordan did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage and winning on running downs. He isn’t the pass rusher he once was, sure – but he’s still a critically important all-around defender for this team.
Elliss came up big in pass coverage, with both of the targets sent after him falling incomplete (he got a mitt on one of them for a pass deflection). Granderson also produced a couple of stops in high-leverage situations. The Saints defense played their hearts out for much of the game and deserve credit for keeping it close even as the offense collapsed.
Bottom 5 defense (minimum 22 snaps)
FS P.J. Williams: 32.9 NB Justin Evans: 41.4 DT Kentavius Street: 47.5 CB Bradley Roby: 51.0 DE Marcus Davenport: 59.4
Williams was limited to exposure against Tampa Bay (he only had 16 snaps in pass coverage, and barely qualified for this list with 23 defensive snaps in total) but Tom Brady still went after him three times, and had some success with gains of 23 and 28 yards, converting a first down and scoring the Bucs’ only passing touchdown. He is a fine role player but Williams struggles with speed, and seemed to panic when matched up one-on-one with Breshad Perriman in scoring position.
As well as he performed a week ago, Evans struggled when matched up with his old teammate Mike Evans. That was a mismatch Tampa Bay exploited twice – both of Evans’ pass targets were completed for gains of 41 and 13 yards, each converting a first down. The other five passes sent his way were all completed, sure, but only one of them converted a first down. You’d like to see him compete more effectively in those situations, but at least he’s limiting how much damage is being done after the catch.
Davenport was hit with a very low run defense grade (42.3), suggesting he was losing a lot of ground in that phase, but he was disruptive and would have put up solid numbers on passing downs against a lesser quarterback than, you know, one of the greatest to ever sling it. He created a couple of pressures and forced Brady to pull the trigger quickly. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t have graded him this poorly based on what I’ve seen.
Special teams and notes
Tight end Juwan Johnson continued to earn reps on kick returns and coverage, as well as the field goal kicking squad … defensive backs J.T. Gray and Alontae Taylor made some players covering punts, stymying Tampa Bay returns and forcing fair catches where they would have liked to try a return instead … linebackers Zack Baun and Andrew Dowell, along with Gray, were tied for the most special teams snaps played (23) … returns specialist Deonte Harty got some good looks on kick returns, picking up gains of 32 and 33 yards on his two tries … Wil Lutz made both of his kicks this week, including an extra point attempt and a 31-yard field goal … Blake Gillikin averaged 4.41 seconds of hang time on his 5 punts, dropping them at the opposing 23, 33, 34, 14, and 38 yard lines, but only 3 were fairly caught, and a penalty on Gray for going out of bounds didn’t help.
Right tackle Ryan Ramczyk had an uncharacteristically poor day in pass protection, yielding two sacks – the first time he’s allowed multiple sacks in a single game since his 2017 rookie season. He was also charged with allowing 5 pressures on the day, which would be only the third time he’s done that since 2019, but as NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill observed two of those pressures weren’t very impactful: the plays resulted in gains of 22 yards to Juwan Johnson and 51 yards to Chris Olave. Ramczyk has talked before about struggling with the greater depth Winston drops to than Drew Brees once did, but he’s a pro and will continue to adjust to it.
He only played 19 defensive snaps and so didn’t qualify for this exercise, but rookie cornerback Alontae Taylor made a fast impression upon entering the game once Marshon Lattimore was disqualified. He was only targeted once, batting the pass away, and earned a 91.1 overall grade for his efforts on defense. It would be nice to get a longer look at him if Bradley Roby and Paulson Adebo weren’t slotted in ahead on the depth chart, but for now we’ll just express gratitude for strong depth at a premium position.