Panthers blow out Saints 41-10 in Superdome

For the first time since the Mike Ditka era the Saints have lost four straight games at home. I’d say that’s unbelievable but this 2014 Saints team continues to defy logic of any kind. In a game with the biggest stakes of the year the team largely quit, especially on defense. You have to question the character of the players, the coaching, and where we go from here. It says something when the shining light on your team’s performance was special teams when it included a missed 42 yard field goal. Top to bottom the team did not show up today when they had a tremendous opportunity to take the NFC South by the horns. But let’s be honest, this team is finished. Sure the NFC South is still up for grabs and they might be tied for first place if the Falcons lose to the Packers, but it doesn’t matter. This team is going nowhere. Some thoughts below:

• I wonder if it’s time to shut Jimmy Graham down for the year. Whatever is wrong with his shoulder it’s clear it’s still impairing him. Numerous critical drops in this one, including several easy ones on 3rd and short which forced the Saints to punt.
• The Saints turned it over on their first two possessions AGAIN. Twice in a row against the Panthers. Next year, I advocate punting on 1st down against them on the opening drive to avoid making this a habit.
• The Saints were down 17-0 faster than you could blink. The crowd was taken out immediately. It was all downhill from there.
• The defense should be ashamed. The front seven in particular has given up. They are not even trying to stop the run at this point. I don’t know why anyone would bother passing on the Saints at this point (not that they can stop that either). 40 carries for 271 yards.
• The read option in particular killed the defense. Junior Galette stood out as constantly losing containment. Some game he had after running his mouth about being better than Will Smith in his prime. In case you were curious, Galette had ZERO tackles before going down with an injury. ZERO. All bark and no bite. I’m starting to regret that contract.
• Jalen Saunders averaged 22.7 yards on three punt returns. Two were big plays that he almost took the distance. He’s pretty much the only guy that showed up.
• I’m getting to the point with Marques Colston where I’m surprised when he catches the ball.
• Hard to blame Brees for much. The interception was a badly underthrown ball, but he had no running game, no blocking, no defense, and his receivers seemed to drop everything.
• A fight broke out after a Cam Newton TD and a Panthers player was ejected. Lots of bad blood. Newton seemed to instigate the whole thing.
• Speaking of Newton, he was acting like he was on a Super Bowl team. What a joke. He’s quickly overtaking Roddy White as public enemy #1.
• Nick Toon had a decent game and seems to be coming into his own a little bit.
• Regarding injuries, Toon, Lofton, Lewis, Galette, Armstead and Goodwin all had various ailments. Graham favored his shoulder, too. This is a really banged up team.
• Brees played the whole game. Don’t ask me why. Luke McCown should have started the 4th quarter. Really poor judgement from Sean Payton in my opinion.
• So much for Rob Ryan owning Cam Newton. But like I’ve said, this Saints defense seems to be the perfect cure for a struggling quarterback. He had 83 yards rushing, 1 TD, and was 21-33 for 226 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. How quickly things change.
• You’ll never hear me complain about the Panthers throwing with the game out of reach. Glad they did it to the Saints. We deserved it.

The Saints go on the road next week to face the Bears. I expect them to pack it in, so I’m sure they’ll win. Whatever they do, I’m done predicting or expecting anything out of this team. They’ll do what they do and I have no idea what that is. That said I’m sure we’ll still in for some horrific play down the stretch.