Official Game Day Thread - Page 18

Flyboy · 11-04-2009, 01:34 PM

Sounds like Goodwin should be just fine.

Flyboy · 11-06-2009, 12:06 PM

Another big NFC South matchup for our squad and this one worries me. The Carolina Panthers has given us fits lately and with the way Michael Turner ran on Monday our defensive is going to have its hands full with DeAngelo Williams & Jonathan Stewart. The Panthers started off slow, but it looks like they are primed to make their push -- their LBs (Beason & David) matchup very well with our speed as well.

I hope we can pull out the win and Gregg Williams dials up some calls to make Delhomme looked like he did in the playoffs.

wicket · 11-06-2009, 03:01 PM

Im very nervous about this one. Im usually a big optimist but im very nervous

Auron · 11-06-2009, 07:25 PM

A lot of people are favoring the Saints greatly in this one but I'm not so sure. I believe it will be another grueling, tough Divisional match-up. The Panthers under Fox are a team that are built to beat us... if the Saints show up and beat Carolina on a short weeks rest after a physical Monday Night win, I will truly not even doubt this team the rest of the way.

The Panthers are also catching us at a bad time, as lately we've been struggling against the run.. we're missing 2 of our best run Defenders in Ellis, and Fujita. While their running game looks like it's starting to get rolling again Williams/Stewart combined for 245 rushing yards, and 2 rushing TDs against Arizona.

I think what this game really comes down to is if we can limit the DeAngelo Williams/ Jon Stewart running combo, and make the Panthers have to try and pass to beat us... as our Defense has been at it's best when they are able to anticipate the pass, and get after the QB and that's how we generate Turnovers.... it will help drastically if we can somehow establish an early lead over this team. Another key point in this game will be the play of Julius Peppers. The Saints have to have a plan for him, when he's on he can completely disrupt your passing game as Arizona learned last week.

Saints-Tigers · 11-07-2009, 03:34 AM

Saints are favored by like 17, but this is the one I feel we have the best chance to lose so far.

Auron · 11-07-2009, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saints-Tigers

Saints are favored by like 17, but this is the one I feel we have the best chance to lose so far.

Saints are seriously 17 point favorites? Even with both our starting Defensive Tackles out? (Clancy to IR today) and our starting SLB out (Fujita) against Carolina's running game? Wow.

CJSchneider · 11-07-2009, 04:14 PM

You guys are making me feel real uneasy. Get quiet or get positive. I understand your position, but I have a feeling Drew and co. will be carving up the Carolina D.

Auron · 11-07-2009, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

You guys are making me feel real uneasy. Get quiet or get positive. I understand your position, but I have a feeling Drew and co. will be carving up the Carolina D.

Well looking at the big picture overall the Saints have quite a lot of advantages on paper..

I'm just concerned about our situation at Defensive Tackle, especially with two very talented backs coming to NO in D.Williams & J.Stewart. Also add the problems at SLB because of Fujita being out, I just don't trust T.Evans/J.Dunbar/M.Mitchell their play the past weeks has been very shaky.. I just have worries we're going to struggle stopping their running game.

Also John Fox always seems to come up with some good Defensive game plans for us... I think we get the Panthers best shot tomorrow, the biggest need for the Saints in this game is to establish an early lead somehow... we can really put Carolina in a hole if we force them to up the tempo.

NOLAFan · 11-07-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Auron

Saints are seriously 17 point favorites? Even with both our starting Defensive Tackles out? (Clancy to IR today) and our starting SLB out (Fujita) against Carolina's running game? Wow.

What happened to Clancy?

I have a feeling this game stays close the first half then we burst out in the second half

Auron · 11-07-2009, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOLAFan

What happened to Clancy?

On going knee issue, just couldn't get over it so he was placed on IR. and DeMario Pressley signed to the active roster. http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=090...s&confirm=true

Auron · 11-08-2009, 06:47 PM

I don't know how many more of these games my heart can take. Another brutally tough Divisional battle as I expected, just about everything went wrong in that 1st quarter. (giving up the big play runs, the turnovers) I'm glad that this team has the resiliency, and calm demeanor to come back from those kind of deficits but we have to find a way to play better at the start of games, because of we keep having these poor starts we're eventually going to dig ourselves into a hole too steep to come back from.

Hopefully Payton will be able to give these guys a little break this week, as they've endured some brutally physical games this past 2 weeks. Congrats to them on 8-0 the best start in Saints history, but have to keep in mind the theme of this year is not how you start it's how you finish.

CJSchneider · 11-08-2009, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Auron

... but have to keep in mind the theme of this year is not how you start it's how you finish.

I agree, I'll trade a perfect regular season for a Super Bowl win any day. What I do like is how this team can come back from the deficits they face early on. That has surely been missing in years past. They have the ability to stop the proverbial "bleeding", dig in, and turn the game around.

Auron · 11-08-2009, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

I agree, I'll trade a perfect regular season for a Super Bowl win any day. What I do like is how this team can come back from the deficits they face early on. That has surely been missing in years past. They have the ability to stop the proverbial "bleeding", dig in, and turn the game around.

Definitely this team has that extra gear, and the belief in each other to not let themselves fall apart when things don't go their way. Although I think we can both agree that we will rest a lot easier if the Saints can get off on the right foot at the beginning of games better.

Some quick observations.

- Will Smith has really stepped it up lately and is playing like a true beast. In the past 2 crucial Divisional games he has 4 sacks, and a forced fumble. He has just become a force and is collapsing the pocket from the outside, and disrupting opposing QBs.

- Robert Meachem had his best game of the season, and looked like a legitimate top receiver. He has shown excellent body position, hands, ability after the catch, and probably earned some more playing time. He outplayed Colston today.

- Speaking of which Marques Colston had a brutally poor game today. I hope and believe he will put this one quickly behind him, but he had some very surprising mental lapses with drops in this game. The most disappointing was the back of the end-zone play on 2nd down, it was the perfect pass from Brees and what I thought was going to be a sure TD to put us up 27-20 but Colston just can't possess it all the way to the ground which was shocking. Drew will continue to have trust in him, and hopefully he'll fix the issues but just unusual to see our most reliable receiver struggle like that.

- Drew Brees' also had a pretty poor start to the game. Last week vs. Atlanta he made some brilliant Audibles which turned into big plays for us... however this week he checked into some pretty non-favorable plays. I believe on the forced fumble he audibled out of a run play into a play action pass when we were in our own territory when Carolina was playing conservative coverage.. which led to him holding the ball a bit too long, and turned into a sack-fumble which gave the Panthers a short field. On the Interception he forced one in to Colston when the play wasn't there. He sure made up for it later, and led us back to a win.. but I think Drew needs to be a little more patient, especially early in games before we really establish a tempo. He took the blame for the Turnovers so I think he will work to fix them.

- Malcolm Jenkins came up huge on special teams again.. covering a punt and downing it down at the 1 yard line. Pinning the Panthers back, which eventually led to a Defensive TD was instrumental in the win.

- The Panthers coaching staff really does not trust the ball in Jake Delhomme's hands. It seemed like they did everything they could to minimize the amount of passing Jake had to do, they ran the ball quite often even on 3rd & long, even on the pass attempts he did have most of them were very quick, short throws to the outside.

- Hopefully Jabari Greer will be ok, it seemed like he suffered a Groin pull during the game. If we need to hold him out of the St.Louis game or possibly longer to let him fully heal up that injury then do it Payton. We need him down the line.

- The turnover issue needs to be resolved. If we're facing a better QB then this game could have turned out to be much different, we really stacked the box and almost dared Carolina to throw it, and there could have been some opportunities down the field with one on one coverage... The coaching staff of Carolina just did not trust Jake enough to attempt those kind of throws. I think we desperately need Ellis, and Fujita back... we're having to over compensate by bringing down extra guys to play the run.

Saints-Tigers · 11-08-2009, 10:43 PM

I knew we had this game when Carolina was afraid to throw. They really could have put us away early.

Flyboy · 11-09-2009, 01:35 AM

This team is going to give me a heart attack at the age of 21. Seriously.

wicket · 11-09-2009, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy

This team is going to give me a heart attack at the age of 21. Seriously.

have you seen ND lately. This team is smooth as silk relatively

CJSchneider · 11-09-2009, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Auron

The most disappointing was the back of the end-zone play on 2nd down, it was the perfect pass from Brees and what I thought was going to be a sure TD to put us up 27-20 but Colston just can't possess it all the way to the ground which was shocking.

I yelled so loud the neighbors heard me on that one.

NOLAFan · 11-09-2009, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy

This team is going to give me a heart attack at the age of 21. Seriously.

Atleast you can drink to calm yourself...or to bring on the heart attack quicker depending on how you look at it

Flyboy · 11-09-2009, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wicket

have you seen ND lately. This team is smooth as silk relatively

I can't stand ND so I lawlz every time they lose.

Saints-Tigers · 11-09-2009, 01:57 PM

On a side note, Will Smith is a monstrosity, and Charles Grant is playing well despite his numbers.

A few people owe them an apology!

wicket · 11-15-2009, 10:45 AM

Sharper not playing will hurt but the team should still be able to play a good game.

I just hope that the saints will not turn the ball over this game and work on those things going wrong the last three weeks

Flyboy · 11-15-2009, 10:49 AM

Sorry I didn't a chance to start the thread earlier. I've just been busy with other things. However, if we lose to the RAMS I will be making the rest of the threads until the end of the season. :-p

Classic trap game... and Steven Jackson is a pure BEAST and we've been having a lot of trouble with stopping the run lately. But, if our offense doesn't turn the ball overs I like our chances. Should be interesting to see how Usama Young and Malcolm Jenkins play due to injuries.

Auron · 11-15-2009, 11:53 AM

I was about to say this is the first time this year Flyboy didn't start the Gameday thread... this worries me O_o

Auron · 11-15-2009, 03:17 PM

Well we came away with the victory, but that was a bit of a disappointing performance. We were without Sharper, Greer, Ellis and it showed... again we had some struggles against the run, and Bulger had his best performance of the season.

Had some poor game management decisions late in the game, passing on the 3rd down, and going for it on 4th down. Offensively we still are having some turnover issues... Brees, and Shockey don't look to be on the same page. Both of the interceptions were on passes intended for Shockey. Marques Colston continues to struggle, although he did have a key onside kick recovery late in the game.. but he really has to get it together for the stretch.

Looks like Tracy Porter suffered a serious knee injury, I'm not going to speculate but it did not look good... and with Randall ***'s performance today and Greer's status I'm worried about our Secondary...

Saints-Tigers · 11-15-2009, 04:36 PM

At least we got to rest some guys like Sharper, but I hope Porter is ok.

Brees needs to get his **** together, it's funny that he's probably going to get MVP this year, and this looks like his 3rd best season as a Saint....