Week 3 thoughts

[JMG5]

@Mid Iowa usually makes the thread, but I just wanted to get this thing started early.

 

1. OLine is putrid. Something had to change. Coaching, starters... something. Green Bay had two backups in and still kept Love clean.

2. Playcalling is still bad. Not as bad as last year, but it feels predictable still. Should've made a change last year or even when Sean stepped down, but we didn't and we've had the same frustration since.

3. DLine looked bad. Even in the first half they looked bad. No pressure against two backups. They've been playing great, but it was very disappointing watching Love stand back there with all day to throw.

4. DA didn't make any adjustments once Green Bay started targeting Yiadom every play on the last 3 drives. Vilma called it on commentary, but we should've tried literally anything else other than leaving him in man to man on an island.

5. Even with the criticisms I made above, the defense played well. They were the only reason we were in the game. They spent the entire 2nd half on the field it seems like.

6. Grupe missed his first real pressure kick on the road. Disappointing, but I'm not entirely confident Lutz hits it anyways.

TLDR; Everything about the offense still sucks. Defense is still our only hope for victories.

[SWATcha]

Yup.  Not sure what to say about that nonsense. 17 - 0 collapse. 10 total points for the offense. 0 in the second half. Brutal. O-line and Carmichael's offensive scheme are just, bad. 

[Jlowe22]

We expected to be a defensive team, and that's what we're gonna get.

I just hope Carr is alright, I really don't want to endure a whole season of Jameis.

[Mid Iowa]

16 hours ago, JMG5 said:

@Mid Iowa usually makes the thread, but I just wanted to get this thing started early.

I'm glad you started this!

Our QB's were harassed from the minute they got off the bus. It actually has me a bit worried for Kamara. I can see him having 40 or 50 yard games with most of his yards being from dump offs.

I was baffled at the lack of any adjustment, as you alluded to. When my wife is calling for changes, and what kind of changes... you know it's a problem.

Speaking of my wife, she was watching with me and commended that Dennis Allen has big b00bs 🤣

I also noticed that Carr gravitates toward Olave, and Winston gravitates toward M. Thomas.

And finally, JIMMY GRAHAM!!!!!!

[jcvoodoo]

what happened? I can't watch games because of time difference and the fact I get up at 4:15 am for work.

 

I heard the Saints were up 17-0 then lost by 1 point.

[Mid Iowa]

7 minutes ago, jcvoodoo said:

what happened? I can't watch games because of time difference and the fact I get up at 4:15 am for work.

 

I heard the Saints were up 17-0 then lost by 1 point.

Carr hurt his shoulder when sacked (he was harassed on every play). Offense never looked great. Defense folded like a lawn chair in the 4th quarter.

Winston played okay (similar stats as Carr). 

Green Bay found a hole in our D, and exploited it. We did nothing at all to adjust. Just kept doing what we were doing...

[Kingram]

Blows my mind Pete wasn't fired this off-season. He's an atrocious OC. We'll be fine and it sounds like Carr might only miss 2-3 games. If we can go 2-1 over the next 3 we'll be perfectly fine.

I can't believe Demario Davis whiffed on Love on that 4th down play. So uncharacteristic of him.

[JMG5]

5 hours ago, Kingram said:

Blows my mind Pete wasn't fired this off-season. He's an atrocious OC. We'll be fine and it sounds like Carr might only miss 2-3 games. If we can go 2-1 over the next 3 we'll be perfectly fine.

I can't believe Demario Davis whiffed on Love on that 4th down play. So uncharacteristic of him.

I feel like we're stuck with this system. Realistically who is going to want to take this job outside of someone already on the staff. If Dennis Allen fails this year then he is on a very short leash going forward, so it's unlikely you can get someone to come in during the off-season to revamp the offense when it'll likely be a one year stop if you don't have immediate success. That being said, we may be stuck with the system, but we do not have to be stuck with Pete's playcalling. Hand over the playcalling duty to Ronald Curry or even bring Jon Gruden on full-time to share the duties with Pete. Something needs to change. You can't just keep the status quo and hope something magically fixes itself. 

[JMG5]

I think DA needs to shake something up. SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Bring in someone to boost the creativity on offense or change who's calling the plays, and bring in someone else to help coach the offensive line. What we've been doing is not working. You don't have to fire your whole staff mid season, but a fresh perspective on things is needed.

[SWATcha]

2 hours ago, JMG5 said:

I think DA needs to shake something up. SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Bring in someone to boost the creativity on offense or change who's calling the plays, and bring in someone else to help coach the offensive line. What we've been doing is not working. You don't have to fire your whole staff mid season, but a fresh perspective on things is needed.

I'm just having difficulty understanding the lack of adjustments. Neither side of the ball made any adjustments. Zero. Like you said, ANYTHING, would of been better than nothing. 

[jcvoodoo]

I realize that game 3 (1st loss) is premature to throw in the towel and I'm not... I do think the Saints will be ok this season. I, for one, always and still do think that DA's ceiling is/was/ and will be DC... he is no head coach if he can't see the fog and smell the stench of stagnation... period! Change is needed, that's for sure!

[tyler735]

As disappointing as it was to blow that lead and lose, I'm not really ready to sound the alarms quite yet. We were literally a missed FG away from being 3-0 even with "blowing the lead" and losing our starting QB for half the game. We have a defense that looks like they can be a top 5 unit in the league. Our trio of Olave, Thomas, and Shaheed also is probably one of the top 5 most talented WR trio's in the NFL. Carr has been up and down so far, but did help us finish off our first 2 games with crucial game sealing drives for us. Had he not gotten hurt, we very likely could have been 3-0 right now with how that Packers game was going.

Our OL definitely needs to play better going forward. It's not like we lack talented players on the OL, so hopefully they get on the same page more as the season progresses. This week will be an interesting test to see if Carmichael has evolved at all from last season as a playcaller with Kamara coming back. We have a talented rookie RB in Miller that can handle some of the in between the tackles work that should allow us to utilize Kamara in more advantageous ways that suit his skillset in space more with Miller on the roster. If Carmichael fails to make these adjustments to utilize Kamara as he should, then it may be time to move on from Carmichael, but if utilized properly that could help solve a lot of issues on offense right now having that safety net out of the backfield when teams are putting so much pressure on our OL currently. 

[SWATcha]

20 hours ago, tyler735 said:

As disappointing as it was to blow that lead and lose, I'm not really ready to sound the alarms quite yet. We were literally a missed FG away from being 3-0 even with "blowing the lead" and losing our starting QB for half the game. We have a defense that looks like they can be a top 5 unit in the league. Our trio of Olave, Thomas, and Shaheed also is probably one of the top 5 most talented WR trio's in the NFL. Carr has been up and down so far, but did help us finish off our first 2 games with crucial game sealing drives for us. Had he not gotten hurt, we very likely could have been 3-0 right now with how that Packers game was going.

Our OL definitely needs to play better going forward. It's not like we lack talented players on the OL, so hopefully they get on the same page more as the season progresses. This week will be an interesting test to see if Carmichael has evolved at all from last season as a playcaller with Kamara coming back. We have a talented rookie RB in Miller that can handle some of the in between the tackles work that should allow us to utilize Kamara in more advantageous ways that suit his skillset in space more with Miller on the roster. If Carmichael fails to make these adjustments to utilize Kamara as he should, then it may be time to move on from Carmichael, but if utilized properly that could help solve a lot of issues on offense right now having that safety net out of the backfield when teams are putting so much pressure on our OL currently. 

Miller has a pretty similar skill set to Kamara (Obviously not as polished as a route runner, but the skill is there). I thought for sure we were going to see some creative ways of getting Miller the ball in space against the Packers. Nope. It seems Pete's definition of RB use is run up the middle 95% of the time. I'm hoping Kamara's return changes that, but I'm not going to hold my breath....

What happened to Ramczyk?? Dude has been an absolute monster for years now. These first 3 games, he's getting beat like a drum.

[tyler735]

11 minutes ago, SWATcha said:

Miller has a pretty similar skill set to Kamara (Obviously not as polished as a route runner, but the skill is there). I thought for sure we were going to see some creative ways of getting Miller the ball in space against the Packers. Nope. It seems Pete's definition of RB use is run up the middle 95% of the time. I'm hoping Kamara's return changes that, but I'm not going to hold my breath....

Miller has a ton of potential, but given that it was his first game and he's been hindered by multiple injuries over the past several months, I figured they wouldn't put too much on his plate. I do think down the road he can be a threat catching the ball (not at Kamara's level, but very few are). It seemed Tony Jones played more of the pass catching role this past week, which is understandable given his history with the team and likely having a better understanding of his assignments than Miller at this point. Going forward this season, I'd be surprised if Miller wasn't our in between the tackles runner with Kamara being utilized more as a weapon in space as a receiving threat where he's been at his best throughout his career prior to the past couple seasons. If not, and we go back to Kamara running up the middle with no creativity, Carmichael needs to go. 

11 minutes ago, SWATcha said:

What happened to Ramczyk?? Dude has been an absolute monster for years now. These first 3 games, he's getting beat like a drum.

Yeah that's been concerning. He's still only 29 years old and hasn't had to much of an injury history, you would think he'd still have a few more great seasons in him. 

[Mid Iowa]

On 9/25/2023 at 5:36 PM, JMG5 said:

I feel like we're stuck with this system. Realistically who is going to want to take this job outside of someone already on the staff. 

Frankly, we say this every year, yet there are teams out there that make the same decision every single year. The relationship trees are vast, and there's always a new, up & coming mind that has a way of doing things differently that end up being great.

Football has changed dramatically over the past few years. The trenches have become the most pivotal piece. You can have the best QB ever to step on the planet, but if your O-line is garbage, he's toast. The D-line has become a game changer. Watch every game, it's all about disrupting the timing of the QB.

That said, we've also see pedestrian RBs and no-name WRs do well with a great QB and O-line.

Right now, our trenches are suspect, and Carmichael has no clue how to work around that. ...but there's certainly someone out there that does...