day after observations

Yesterday was the first game I've missed watching this year. Went fishing instead and listened on the radio, and watched highlights last night. Great win after last week. It seemed like the Saints played a very complete game. Hopefully we can keep this rolling and SF can get a win against GB next week.

Things I liked:

1. The defense played exceptionally well. I know it's Jameis, but to have the secondary create 4 turnovers without Lattimore was great. PJ seemed to do a fine job covering Mike Evans, and Evans has been really hot as of late. Other than the touchdown, Chris Godwin was kept in check as well. I thought this was one of the keys to winning this game. Eli Apple is a CB1 on 20 teams in this league IMO.

2. The run defense seems to be "back" if it ever left. The Saints held TB running backs to 13 yards rushing and made them completely one-dimensional. This was good to see.

3. Kamara looked healthy and his balance looked similar to his early season form. His body language also looked a lot better and he seemed to be very engaged in the team success. As good as he is and as much as I like him, Kamara definitely seems to be in his own head a good bit, so it's good to see him objectively celebrating and having fun. That generally means he plays like the cheat code he is.

4. Jared Cook is continuing to improve and find his spot in this system. The dude can play and that TD catch was incredible. I get the lack of WR2 woes, but that is somewhat mitigated when you have playmakers like Kamara and Cook alongside Mike Thomas.

5. Drew had a very efficient, accurate game with no turnovers.

6. The Saints dominated time of possession, particularly in the first half. This is a huge deal when it comes to wearing down good defenses like we will face later in the year. I thought Payton called a great game in this regard.

7. Cam was an absolute disruptor this game, and Demario continues his campaign to become the best free agent signing in Saints history not named Drew Brees.

8. Michael Thomas.

Things I didn't like:

1. Regardless of his efficiency, it is clear to me that Drew is either a.) not 100% with the thumb, or b.) declining. Let me be very clear about this because I know it's such a polarizing topic. Drew Brees is absolutely good enough to win a Super Bowl, and probably will be next year should he decide to come back. I think the more likely scenario is that his thumb is inhibiting him a little. It's becoming apparent on the intermediate-long out routes.

I heard Strief and Duece talk about a couple of his misses on the radio, but seeing the highlights definitely put it into perspective. Since he's been back, he's routinely been overthrowing that intermediate out route that he generally makes with such effortless precision. I think this is probably one of the hardest throws a QB can make, but to see him go from nailing that throw 9 times out of 10 to missing it more often than not is a bit concerning. I don't care that Drew doesn't have the deep ball that he used to, because I don't think we need that to win another SB. Drew's strength is in his short-intermediate precision accuracy and the ability to read and confuse defenses. That said, I hope what we're seeing is more injury related instead of actual decline, because it's a bummer.

2. Murray needs the ball earlier and more often. I loved seeing Kamara get back in the groove, but it's become pretty obvious that Murray needs touches to get in rhythm, and when he gets there, he's a beast. I think the Saints could've utilized him more at the end of the game on TB's gassed defense.

3. What happened with Davenport? To be clear, I'm a Davenport fan. I just didn't hear his name much on the radio and he definitely didn't do anything noteworthy in highlights. Did they generally have him playing contain? I heard Hendrickson's name much more often which makes me feel like he got snaps instead of Davenport.

4. Deuce and Strief are definitely not awful, but their deficiencies are much more noticeable when you can't watch the game while also listening to it. I posted this in another thread, but Strief takes way too long to properly convey who did what on which play. I heard him mention a couple of times that he had a hard time reading TB's players' numbers, but this is something I've noticed in the past as well. Strief also needs to get better at keeping the listening fans in the actual flow of the game by being more consistent with down and distance, time on the play clock, time on the actual clock, etc. Those skills made Jim Henderson what he was. All said, I think Deuce and Strief will be a fine duo going forward...these are just some things I noticed via listening without watching.


Not necessarily a like/dislike, but what was up with Drew's 4th down leap? My understanding was that under the newish rules, the leap was only effective at the goal line because the ball just has to break the plane. I thought that leaping elsewhere on the field only mattered if the QB's forward progress was stopped past the line to gain, which didn't seem to happen there. I recall a game earlier this year where someone tried that play against the Saints unsuccessfully because of that reason.

TL;DR, great win. Can't wait to see the Saints beat the brakes off the Panthers next week. Just wanted to post my thoughts for discussion.