Saints lose 30-27 in Baltimore to open Preseason

There were few positives to take away from this first preseason game and the strongest sentiment that prevails is disappointment all around. Three things in particular were very poor:

1. Injuries. The Saints lost Brandon Browner, Dannell Ellerbe, Delvin Breaux, Cyril Lemon, Lawrence Virgil and Ramon Humber at various stages of the game. Browner’s injury looked the most serious but Nick Underhill has since tweeted that it is not believed to be major. Thank God for that. Still, this is not how you hope to go through your first preseason game.

2. Penalties. You expect sloppy play in a preseason game but 16 penalties for 143 yards? That is abusive. The Ravens had 6 by comparison. Absolutely horrific show of discipline by the Saints. Particularly Anthony Spencer who jumped offsides on 3rd and 5 and 4th and 1. That is criminal. I would advocate he be cut immediately after this game if it wasn’t for his otherwise very good play.

3. Defense. The starters in particular were pretty much pathetic. The opening drive for the Ravens went 16 plays, 80 yards and 8:15 minutes. After a 3 and out by the Saints offense, they went 7 plays for 68 yards and it was 14-0 in the blink of an eye. With 12:42 left in the 2nd quarter the Saints had 6 offensive plays and were down 17-0. The backups and the offense would manage to find a way to give the Saints the lead at 27-23 with under 2 minutes left, but the Ravens would of course drive down the entire field for a touchdown to win the game with 2 seconds left. Mind you they converted on a 4th and 20 at one point on that drive.

To be honest, despite the very close score that almost ended in a head scratching win for the Saints, I thought they absolutely deserved to lose and the end was fitting. This was a generous score for the Saints who were outplayed, especially early.

Some notes:

• Drew Brees, Marques Colston and C. J. Spiller all sat out. Of course Jairus Byrd did too. Clearly the Saints didn’t take this game too seriously so neither should you.
• The players I would list that impressed me are Khiry Robinson, Marcus Murphy, both Dustin Hopkins and Zach Hocker, Kaleb Eulls, Josh Hill, Ryan Griffin, Garrett Grayson, Brandin Cooks, Jamarca Sanford, Max Unger, Terron Armstead and Stanley Jean-Baptiste.
• The players who showed flashes at times but made mental mistakes at others were Tim Hightower, Luke McCown, Tyeler Davison, Anthony Spencer, Andrus Peat, Ramon Humber, Damian Swann, Willie Snead, Jahri Evans, Austin Johnson and Kasim Edebali.
• The players that looked pretty rough were Vinnie Sunseri, Bryce Harris, Orson Charles, Brandon Coleman, Travis Manning and Edwin Baker.
• The Saints pass rush was non existent all night long. Zero pressure on the quarterback. This could be a problem.
• The Saints had two interceptions in this game, one by Swann and one by Terrence Frederick. Enjoy it because it be a long time before this defense forces two takeaways again.
• Swann looked like a pretty aggressive and tough cover guy. Unfortunately he drew a couple flags but I liked his game.
• Jean-Baptiste was very clean in coverage and physical/helpful in run support. That was very encouraging to see.
• For all the Brandon Coleman/Seantavius Jones talk, they combined for 1 catch for 5 yards on 4 targets. Not impressive.
• Pierre Warren’s high tackle attempt on 4th and 20 which allowed a first down was awful. This is why he’s buried on the depth chart.
• I would say special teams was pretty good with the returns by Marcus Murphy and the kicks by Zach Hocker (he did miss one 50 yarder) but there were so many holding calls on kick returns I can’t praise them too much.

Overall the injuries are obviously most concerning and we have to hope for some luck there. Otherwise I thought the penalties were inexcusable, particularly Spencer lining up offsides on 4th and 1. Those are the kind of back breaking mistakes that lose you football games. I thought the Saints quarterback play by and large was extremely good. The three passers combined to go 25 of 39 for 266 yards, 2 touchdowns and no turnovers. The running game was just ok. This is clearly not a playoff team so far and there will be lots of work needed to improve. The good news is this is only the first preseason game.