After five games the flaws in this team are pretty apparent; the defense is awful, the o-line can’t pass protect, the receivers can’t get open or can’t catch, and our coach needs to go full on Benjamin Button Stat! Is all lost at this point? Nope. We play in a disaster of a division and it is still entirely possible for the Saints to emerge from the ashes of their failures to this point and claim the division by season’s end. There are a lot of opinions on how this can be done…here are mine.
How to make the defense not horrible: that really is the key here, not horrible, that’s really all we need. If this defense can return to being average or slightly above it the Saints have a real chance (at this point I’m not going to hope for a return to last year’s success). I think that the defense can be fixed with a very simple solution (simple, but not easy). Get. Interior. Pressure! If the Saint’s can push the pocket from the inside it gives our rushers opportunities to make plays, more importantly it will let them finish which they haven’t done to this point. I can’t count the amount of times Cam and Junior have almost sacked someone this year, just to see them step up or to the side and then torch the Saints corners who are playing wayyyyyyy too far off. Speaking of that; how about we let our guys get a little bit aggressive and stop being so petrified of the deep ball that we slowly drown ourselves in a deluge of short passes? That sound ok Rob? I understand why Rob Ryan has the corners playing off like that, but at this point the big play scares me less than the slow asphyxiating way we are getting killed off right now. If there is one guy who is most vital to the defense turning around it isn’t Rob though… it’s Akiem Hicks. Hicks needs to take the explosive power he has demonstrated in the past and harness it into a weapon, permanently. The time for wishing and ‘what ifs’ is over, we need this monster to start acting like one, because if he does this entire defense changes. Yea…he is that important.
The interior O-line can’t hold their blocks: whether it is Goodwin, Jahri, or Grubbs, someone always seems to be backpedaling lately and it is a big part of why the Saints deep game has been nothing more than a fond memory. To be fair, the run blocking has been very good, but Drew has guys around his feet way too much and it is sapping what little arm he has (and has EVER had guys). With three Pro-Bowl caliber players up front I’m not sure what the issue is; it could be health (Goody is hobbled for sure), it could be rhythm and simply not being on the same page just yet, and it could also just be age. These guys are all older vets and I have a feeling (hope) that they are simply getting ‘warmed up’ as their older bodies take longer to get going and that they will improve as the season goes on. If they can, the Saints offense should see a return to a more familiar, and dangerous, form.
Cooks, Colston, and…who? Cooks has done everything asked of him and has I believe only 1 drop this year while making some phenomenal catches. I am still waiting to see the player I saw at Oregon State for 3 years and a lot of that is due to the coaching staff not being familiar with his talents, and putting him in a role they know instead of the one he should be in. Still, he catches everything and can actually get open which is more than I can say for the rest. Colston has turned into Roman Harper (apparently only when he is on the Saints) and is on a quest to match his career total in drops in a single season. That is sadly a lesser exaggeration than it should be, Colston needs to stop rinsing his hands in bacon grease, because the biggest reason he is in the league is that he catches absolutely everything. If I was so inclined I could put two of the teams losses on his shoulders because of drops/fumbles…we know he can be so much better and I am hoping he will. Kenny Stills has seemed to still be recovering from his injury and simply isn’t getting open like we know he can, but I think more time combined with better pass protection will allow him to make more plays like we know he can.
I’m forgetting someone aren’t I? Somebody who has been far more of a problem than a help, someone whose character and work ethic are beyond contestation, but whose value doesn’t exist at this point…oh right, Meachem. I won’t say anything about his character or value as a teammate, because I have never heard anything but great things about the guy, but he should never see the field in a Saints uniform again. The Saints need a deep threat who can actually catch, and that isn’t him. Sean Payton has two guys to choose from in Toon and Morgan who both specialize in deep passing plays and can both make great catches in traffic. Morgan could/should be our punt returner(thanks Mon for that bit) and deep threat from now on, period. He has that skill set and excels at it in a way nobody else on the roster does. Toon on the other hand has constantly been billed as the heir apparent to Colston and has failed to live up to that billing. Part of that is the guy just hasn’t seemed to have the ‘click’ moment many young players need, but a bigger part is usage. In the last few drafts the only player who is really Colston like is Jordan Matthews who was drafted by Philly, other than him there hasn’t been one. Toon is a big play guy in the same vein as a player like Vincent Jackson, he is nothing like Colston. If Toon is ever going to see the field and give us anything it will be as a ‘nine’ guy who goes deep and picks up yardage in chunks, he doesn’t have the toughness or the instincts (or Tight End background) of a Colston. At this point I don’t think he is going to produce because I don’t think he will see the field, but if he were to, he needs to be put in a position to succeed by his coaches. I really believe that either Morgan or Toon can be (needs to be) the answer for what this team is missing at the position right now, but Payton has to do the hard thing and trust the unknown element. I’m not guarunteeing anything, but at 2-3 and with the film available it should be clear to everyone that Meachem simply doesn’t provide the kind of oomph that this offense needs right now.
Speaking of coaches…: Sean Payton is still one of the greatest minds on the offensive side of the ball in the league, but he needs to wake up. He keeps trying to fabricate the success of the past by pushing players into the rolls of their predecessors instead of using them where they are most effective. I don’t know why that is happening, and it is certainly natural to ‘stick with what has worked’, but coach Payton really needs to reassess how this offense works. Meachem isn’t an acceptable option anymore, Toon was never a possession receiver, Morgan is the only ‘joystick’ player on the roster, and Cooks couldn’t be used more poorly than he has been. I know he can do it, I am just hoping he does so before this season is truly and finally lost. I would also love to see the ‘whateva, I do what I want!’ version of coach Payton make its triumphant return (yup South Park reference).
Everything I see here is fixable, and I truly believe the Saints can turn this season around, but they have to actually do it. let’s hope the phoenix is reborn in Detroit (ironic) and the Saints start to get their season back on track.
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