re: I'm still in shock about yesterday

All this game did was temper my expectations. I thought we had a legit chance at 12-4, fighting for homefield in the playoffs. Now, I am hoping for a 10-6 Division title.

Last year I infamously melted like a motherfricker after 2 games and that got bumped a lot. I'm not going to do that this year.

However, I am just as shellshocked as you. I don't even know how to process what I saw. Even at our worst, I don't remember a D being that completely inept.

I've never seen anything that just completely inept. We didn't do anything right on Defense. ONly hit the QB twice and both were penalties (stupid ones but still). Coverages were all awful.

My only explanation is we just had an awful gameplan and the Bucs just fooled us at every turn.

I can't fathom us being that bad.

I'm going to give them this week to figure it out.

I still think it was an effort & mindset thing. All off season our players were hit with these expectations that they all bought in to. Blew their heads up. Postgame quotes by Cam & Lattimore back this up,

Then they saw a team Coming in with their backup, biggest point spread of the week, & they just took him lightly. They got into a hole & couldn’t get out.

Remember, our DBs looked all world last year in part because we got after the QB. They got carved up yesterday looking around wondering where the disruption was. All in all, they need to get better. The pass rush needs to get better. And the scheming for sure needs improvement.

Our players are still good. At least good enough to field an average NFL defense. I think they will be fine

I'm still of the opinion that Crawley is the weak link in our secondary. He's a PI waiting to happen and just isn't consistent enough to hold his own opposite Latt. I know it isn't a popular opinion here.


16 game season, I'm not giving up by any means. I was just racing down the the interstate going 100 mph on a motorcycle and ran splat first into a glass wall. It's going to take a bit to get rid of that sting.

I liked all of the quotes in the postgame. Jordan, Lattimore, Payton, all said the right things

We’ll see how it translates

The defense couldn’t stop the run, couldn’t get any pressure on the QB, couldn’t cover anybody, and couldn’t tackle for shite. Otherwise they were pretty solid.

Face it, their O line and D line dominated ours. Very simple.

Their DL didn’t dominate lol

This is going to be a conspiracy theorist post. So put on your tin foil hat.

Going in to the season, Brees needed to average 300+ yards per game to guarantee breaking the career yardage record against Manning against the Redskins on MNF.

After yesterday, that number dropped significantly to needing to average over 264 yards per game. Last season, he had 7 games where he failed to throw for at least that number.

After the ratings for Atlanta/Philly came out, the league was getting blasted for a ratings decrease. What better way than to help their ratings than by having Brees become the all time leading passer in front of a nationally televised audience.

Back to the game yesterday. The Saints D was non-existent. But that’s just it. Lattimore looked like Jason David which we all know is not reality. Sophomores don’t slump that hard. Lattimore is faster than Evans, yet Evans outran him numerous times. The Bucs receivers had free releases all day. Cam Jordan played like a rookie meaning he had no impact except for one batted pass.

On offense, when has Michael Thomas ever just dropped a pass and then followed it up with a lazy ball security fumble. I am just focusing on the players that we know are talented. Those guys played like they were trying to lose.