Special teams has cost us 5 wins

Agree on most of those except falcons, that was a loss no matter what

I really wish a reporter would straight up ask SP in his press conferencehow McMahon still has a job

I hate McMahon, but

1. Don't let Richard run 70 yards untouched and the game isn't even close.
2. Offense gets a truckload of turnovers and manages 3 scores all day.
3. Freeman and Coleman ran on us for days.
4. Best case scenario: game is still tied if they properly call him out of bounds and they're getting the ball back.
5. The Panthers offense literally quit about halfway through the 3rd quarter and Sean Payton dicked around and it cost them the game.

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I hate McMahon, but

1. Don't let Richard run 70 yards untouched and the game isn't even close.
2. Offense gets a truckload of turnovers and manages 3 scores all day.
3. Freeman and Coleman ran on us for days.
4. Best case scenario: game is still tied if they properly call him out of bounds and they're getting the ball back.
5. The Panthers offense literally quit about halfway through the 3rd quarter and Sean Payton dicked around and it cost them the game.

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Fine. Word it another way:

Blocked FGs/XPs are the difference in MOV for three games.

Also, the Panthers only had one drive that resulted in points without help from a turnover or a ST blunder (I'm including Murphy starting a drive at the 1).

That muffed kick return at the 1 was absolutely Godawful.

You don't even see high school teams fricking that up.

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Special teams has cost us 5 wins

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Falcons

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You can't blame the Raiders and the Falcons on special teams. No way, no how.

You can't blame the Giants on the blocked FG. That game should have never been that close. Blame a "high powered" offense that scored 13 points and had great field position all day and a shitty PI call on Ken Crawley.

The Denver game is up for grabs. They could still have lost it with a Denver FG in regulation.

That first half abomination against the Panthers was a team effort. You could just as likely say that the difference was a STUPID forced ball to Fleener who shouldn't have been getting that many targets in the first place.

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You absolutely CAN blame 10 point swings in 2 games decided by 3 points for losses.

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But yeah, SPECIAL TEAMS HAS TO BE PERFECT OR THEY SINGLE-HANDELY COST US THE BALL GAME. Got it.

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Nobody is saying that they single handedly cost us any game. And asking Lutz to make some fairly easy kicks isn't asking for the special teams to be perfect. Quit playing dumb


ETA: McMahon can DIAF

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Nobody is saying that they single handedly cost us any game. And asking Lutz to make some fairly easy kicks isn't asking for the special teams to be perfect. Quit playing dumb

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I think some people are. To say that special teams cost the Saints their season are the ones playing dumb.

There are lots of reasons the Saints are 4-6 and on life support. It's only one of the top ten, IMO.

1. Wil Lutz and his line-drive FGs and XPs
2. Ken Crawley being forced into full-time duty weeks 1-2 after Breaux was hurt when he CLEARLY wasn't ready
3. Injuries to Kikaha, Rankins and Breaux on defense
4. Lack of offensive urgency at the end of the Chiefs/Panthers games
5. Forced (and lack of) chemistry between Brees and Fleener
6. Bad coaching decisions and bad coaches
7. No Spiller/Sproles/Bush coming out of the backfield
8. Mark Ingram's fumbles
9. Michael Thomas' fumbles
10. Bad officiating and horeshit PI calls

But the original thesis in this thread is we'd apparently be 9-1 because he said every game bit the Chiefs game.

You are being more reasonable but you assume the Broncos don't kick a game winning FG at the buzzer. And I argue Michael Thomas cost us that game long before McMahon did. Hell, Brees'' 2 INTs resulted in probably a 3-7 point swing.