I’ve been hearing a lot of excuses lately, from all sides, for why the Saints defense was torn to shreds in the Packers game. The media, the players and the coaches are all buying into the slippery field conditions as an excuse for why they had so much trouble stopping an already highly potent offense. That’s all true. The Saints slipped all over the place, we all saw it. How are you going to cover some of the best receivers and stop arguably the best quarterback in the league when you don’t have your footing? It wasn’t just the defense, either, because the offense was struggling with it big time as well. I believe and agree, to an extent, that the field conditions played a part in the poor defensive performance. I really do buy into that.
That being given, here’s my question: why weren’t the Saints prepared for it? I’ll take that a step further… if it was impossible to be prepared for it, why didn’t they make adjustments?
I feel like that’s the tragic flaw in the excuse department. Look, that’s fine, the field conditions inhibited the Saints’ ability to perform at their peak… yeah, how long have they known they’d play in week 1 at Green Bay? They have a player on their active roster in Korey Hall would was a member of the Packers last season. He could have filled them in with how the grass plays. There’s really no excuse for them being blindsided by the footing conditions at Lambeau field. Even if the footing was a function of something that happened that week (a storm or whatever) that was impossible to predict, they still should have been prepared for that by keeping tabs on the weather.
Even if there was no physical way for the Saints to be prepared for the footing, why were no adjustments made? I’m sorry, but this falls on the coaching staff. How many times in your football watching career have you seen players getting their cleats changed to adjust to the field? You’re telling me the Saints weren’t capable of doing that? The amount of slipping that occurred was unacceptable. The Saints were sliding all over the place from opening kickoff down to the final drive and there is just no excuse for that. It may be the reason for poor performance, but it’s also glaring evidence of poor preparation. Either way, I leave this game as a fan disappointed in something. As far as I’m concerned, the coaching staff dropped the ball on this one, plain and simple.
Does this mean I’m down on the Saints’ staff or that I’ve lost faith in them? Of course not. We’re all human, including the best and worst of us. This staff have proven they can win and I have no doubts they can do it again, maybe as soon as this season. That said, when you’re looking for places to get better, in this case, I think the staff need look no further than in the mirror. The fact that the conditions are being blamed, again, is unacceptable. In the end, you’re either ready for those conditions or you’re not. Given the time the Saints had to plan for this game, I’d say they weren’t AND that they SHOULD HAVE been.
The good news is I expect the defense to play better this weekend against the Bears. I also expect this to be a wake up call for the staff and I hope they’ll also be sharper. No place like home when you’re struggling with the unexpected. But the coaching staff should take note of this error, accept blame, and move to improve.
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