Jump to content

Raves takeaways from Week 1


Raves

Recommended Posts

Good things from tonight:

Anzalone, Lattimore, Rankins, and Jordan on defense.  All looked pretty good.

Ingram and Kamara as receivers, Fleener stepping up in the passing game as well.

Ramzy did well against one of teh better DEs in the NFL.  He's not Armstead, but considering he came out as a high potential guy that was raw, he did well.

 

Bad things:

Any DB not named Lattimore

Klein taking numerous bad angles or getting lost in coverage for big plays.

Our OL is missing 3 starts and it shows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Raves said:

Anzalone, Lattimore, Rankins, and Jordan on defense.  All looked pretty good.

I'd say pretty good is an understatement, definitely in Jordans case. Though I only saw the 2nd half. Will rewatch Wednesday.

19 minutes ago, Raves said:

Ingram and Kamara as receivers, Fleener stepping up in the passing game as well.

Fleener just needs to remember he's 250+ lbs. quit trying to juke DBs. Put your shoulder down and run NORTH.

21 minutes ago, Raves said:

Ramzy did well against one of teh better DEs in the NFL.  He's not Armstead, but considering he came out as a high potential guy that was raw, he did well.

I've never not loved the pick, from the beginning. Yes, I'm bragging a little.

He's gonna be just as good as Armstead on the right, IMO.

22 minutes ago, Raves said:

Any DB not named Lattimore

Vaccaro was especially disappointing.

23 minutes ago, Raves said:

Klein taking numerous bad angles or getting lost in coverage for big plays.

All preseason he showed he can impact the line of scrimmage and QB. Week 1 let's totally neuter him and stop doing what worked. That's the Saints I know and love.

25 minutes ago, Raves said:

Our OL is missing 3 starts and it shows.

Not only 3 starters, 3 Pro Bowl caliber players.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@domepatrol91 I went with just pretty good because we did lose and they did make some mistakes, outside of Jordan.  I agree on Ramzy, once we get our Armstead and Unger back putting Ramzy to the right side our OL with be ridiculously good and that will improve our running game as well.

 

I feel like with how the Vikings were struggling running inside that it would've been better for the Saints to got into a nickel package with Anzalone and Robertson at LBer.  Robertson is better in pass coverage than Klein and probably would've taken some better angles on the wide plays.

 

I think our defense played better than people are giving them credit for.  They aren't the Broncos and no one thought they could be, especially considering where they are looking to improve from, but there was enough flashed that I think they could still end the season in the 18-25 range, which is a vast improvement from where we have been in the past.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Raves said:

I think our defense played better than people are giving them credit for.  They aren't the Broncos and no one thought they could be, especially considering where they are looking to improve from, but there was enough flashed that I think they could still end the season in the 18-25 range, which is a vast improvement from where we have been in the past.

Agree. Especially on the line. Everyone looked improved but the line and front 7 as a whole showed it more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So very this. Everyone but Lattimore looked like they were the day 1 rookies in the NFL.  They looked lost out there. Front 7 looked slightly impressive all things considered, but they need help on the back end. If this is the end result of a Dennis Allen coached secondary, I'm ready to clean house. As I have been for years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You ever had a restruant that you went to that you knew was pretty much hit and miss? Some days the food was terrffic but some days it was just down right terrible.

 

Well, if you went into that restruant knowing thats how it was, and it happened to be a bad day do you really have the right to complain about the food?

 

When you draft players with injury history the way the Saints have, using the excuse that your not healthy makes you that guy in that restruant complaining about the food. 

 

Brees isnt what he used to be but hes still pretty darn good. The preasure really effected him monday night but even the healthy interior of the line couldnt get any push in the running game and it consisted of a 1st round pick and 2 high priced veterans.

 

The situation at runningback is an embarrassment, PERIOD!!! we have zero identity as Payton has 2 volume backs but gives the bulk of thr work to his scat back. Its almost like Payton is so stubborn to a point where he has to prove that hes smarter than everybody else and ignores whats reality.

 

The WR miss Sneads toughness inside!

 

Dennis Allen was exposed game 1 and thats BAD NEWS SAINTS FANS!!! Jordan was a bull as usual but Rankins needs to be more consistant. Davison is a good NT on early downs but Onyamata needs to be getting more snaps.

 

Allen got caught with Teo in coverage a few times and appeared to punish Anzalone for it. Klien is getting murdered on here but a lot pf times he was cleaning up others mistakes. The Jordan deflection was bad tho.

 

The DBs... Harris was taken to the wood shed by a very talented underated WR in Diggs but at least Harris was in position at times fighting. I can deal with that but what is inexcusable is WRs running wide open down the field in a NFL game. Vaccaro, Williams, Harris, PJ and yes even Lattimore made far to many mental errors for this defense to ever have a chance monday night. The fact is that they are young but thats not a luxury excuse a coaching staff with 3 straight losing seasons can afford to have.

 

Thomas Moorestead was the best player on the field for the Saints monday night... What does that tell you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone tells me why we constantly went for those ****ty 1yd run. We've been doing that sh*t for 2 years in a row now. 1st and 10, run for -1,0 or 1yd. What a nice way to kill the drive.

 We're a passing offense first and foremost. Why the hell do we want to change something that DOES work. Ever since we acquired Spiller we've heard that bull**** about changing the "face" of our offense, going for something more balanced and all the crap. For real ? What happened last night, how many drives did we kill with our 1yd runs ?

And our secondary... our secondary... xDxDxDxDxDxDxDxDxDxDxD Nice improvements during the offseason, I'm sure everyone is gonna be terrified to throw the ball downfield. What a ******* disgrace.

We're in for another ****ty year. Salary cap hell, lack of talent, lack of depth and another wasted year for Drew. Great Front Office, 10/10.

I'm afraid our 2 missing tackles are gonna be too much to overcome. We need Brees to throw 4 TDs/game; not sure he can do it if the pocket collapses in 0.0001sec.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Aout said:

We need Brees to throw 4 TDs/game; not sure he can do it if the pocket collapses in 0.0001sec.

He actually had a lot of time, most of the time. Nobody was getting open.

What actually bothers me the most is Brees was not, NOT throwing guys open. You know, back shoulder, air fight etc... If they were even slightly covered, he went away from them.

Bradford, on the other hand, was happy to throw guys open, and it worked. But no, not Brees. Why not??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, Mid Iowa said:

He actually had a lot of time, most of the time. Nobody was getting open.

What actually bothers me the most is Brees was not, NOT throwing guys open. You know, back shoulder, air fight etc... If they were even slightly covered, he went away from them.

Bradford, on the other hand, was happy to throw guys open, and it worked. But no, not Brees. Why not??

I think Brees was playing ultra conservative because this is a really great defense, let's not kid ourselves.  It didn't work, but I think they went in with a conservative game plan that blew up in their face once they realized they couldn't run, couldn't block, and couldn't get open.

Brees had a couple missed throws, but nothing I'm worried about yet.  With better better red zone playcalling he could have easily finished the night with 300 yards and 3 tds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, whodatworm23 said:

The DBs... Harris was taken to the wood shed by a very talented underated WR in Diggs but at least Harris was in position at times fighting. I can deal with that but what is inexcusable is WRs running wide open down the field in a NFL game. Vaccaro, Williams, Harris, PJ and yes even Lattimore made far to many mental errors for this defense to ever have a chance monday night. The fact is that they are young but thats not a luxury excuse a coaching staff with 3 straight losing seasons can afford to have.

Not really sure the mental errors by Lattimore, I don't remember him making a a bad play that night.  He seemed to be our best DB.  The rest did look lost a bit which was definitely a concern.

 

3 hours ago, Mid Iowa said:

Everybody is talking about the front 7 looking pretty good? Insert The Price is Right trombone sound here. They couldn't close a gap, they couldn't pressure Bradford, they couldn't keep an eye on Cook, and they were absolutely winded when it mattered. Jordan played like the all pro we expect, and Anzalone is a mean mother! I like what he's doing, and that's about it.

The defense actually did a good job of stopping the running game up the middle, either by getting a good push and forcing the play outside or with Klein/Anzalone hitting getting in there.  It was the outside runs, typically to Klein's side, where he would take bad angles that caused us problems.  The few "inside" runs were actually outside runs where Anzalone started setting the edge only for Cook to cut it back inside with no one to stop him afterwards.  Really out of our front 7, I was only really happy with Jordan/Rankins/Anzalone.  Klein was ok, but too many bad angles.

 

1 hour ago, whodatworm23 said:

Brees isnt what he used to be but hes still pretty darn good. The preasure really effected him monday night but even the healthy interior of the line couldnt get any push in the running game and it consisted of a 1st round pick and 2 high priced veterans.

I thought we were missing Unger, did I miss him coming back?  How much time back does he actually have?  I think the OL will be fine if/when Armstead and Strief get back.

 

3 hours ago, Mid Iowa said:

To only lose by 10 with the way they played last night is either a miracle, or a poor performance by the Vikings. It felt much worse than 19-29. I still don't know if the Vikings offense is that good, or if our defense is just that bad, but I'm thinking the latter of the two. What really worries me is the opposite. Is their D that good, or are we that bad. Guys, we couldn't do anything right last night.

I think only losing by 10 was due to the fact that our team was very hot and cold all night.  There were series where our defense looked like years past and then there were flashes were our defense looked like it was turning the corner from years past.  If this was really the Saints defense from years past we would've lost by 35, especially with how our offense played.

 

This team is obviously not there yet, but there is definitely signs of improvement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jlowe22 said:

Also, and I'm not taking away from Bradford and think he's a great QB, but it's a lot easier to throw guys open when they're bein covered by devonte Harris

Yeah, this is one play where the coverage was actually really good, and Bradford threw back shoulder and made it so Diggs had to make the play, and he did. That's on QB placement, and trusting the receiver to do his job. That said, Harris was still not looking, which was very typical last night.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs, left, catches a 2-yard touchdown pass over New Orleans Saints cornerback De'Vante Harris during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Now, Diggs is a heluva receiver, so that's kind of expected. Brees needs to have that same trust, and for whatever reason, does not. Does he not believe in his receivers, or not believe in himself?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember the play, and it was a good throw.  In fact, I knew we were done at that point.  I think Brees can still make the throws, his arm looked fine last night.  He wasn't elite, but he was getting even less help than he usually does.  Maybe he doesn't trust his receivers yet, I don't know.  He has to know Ted Ginn is known for dropping passes, and cooks and snead are missing.  TLL is probably a hard body for a short QB to find, and Thomas looked like he got worked pretty good.  Of all things to be concerned about, at this point I am concerned about Brees the least.  Before the season, his age was my biggest concern, but he still looked like he had some arm. 

EDIT:  I just rewatched the game, and I really don't see a problem with Brees.  He made several Brees throws.  He tossed a couple checkdowns and intentional grounds, but I can't really see what was going on downfield.  He missed TLL in the end zone once, but TLL should have scored once and didn't.  He had a weird incomplete to Ginn, who stumbled or something, I don't know what was going on there.  He grounded the ball on pass play to Peterson that was covered, but I think he should have thrown the ball.  He had several good throws to Fleener, including the last TD, which even though it was garbage time, was still a great throw.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Jlowe22 I agree.  Brees will be fine.  A combination of poor protection and a very good defense took our WRs out of the game and made it difficult on Brees, though he showed he can still make the throws needed to be an elite QB.  I think we'll look much better vs New England who has possibly a worse defense than us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Raves said:

@Jlowe22 I agree.  Brees will be fine.  A combination of poor protection and a very good defense took our WRs out of the game and made it difficult on Brees, though he showed he can still make the throws needed to be an elite QB.  I think we'll look much better vs New England who has possibly a worse defense than us.

I hope you're right, but Belichick is scary as hell after a loss.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...