We have reached the end of the bye week, and now like our team we need to focus not on the past, but on what can be done for the future. Still the key to progress is usually to look back and see how you got where you are; the Saints are a team that could (should?) be 4-1, has looked 1-4, and sits at 2-3. We came into the season with high expectations and the hopes of a second SB win (or at worst at least an appearance) and that now seems like a very very small possibility. This Saints team isn’t who we thought they were…so who are they?
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED SO FAR:
The WR position has been awful: This one is going to hurt for longtime Saints fans. There is only one player to this point who has in any way looked competent at the WR position on the Saints on any kind of consistent basis and he’s a rookie. Stills is still recovering and seems to have regressed some, Colston’s hands have disappeared which is a gut punch to him and us. And while he has looked pretty good at times Cooks is being used in the exact opposite way in which he would be most effective, and so the team leader in receptions and yards at the WR position is a rookie who isn’t even close to matching his potential. That isn’t good. But do you know what is awful? The fact that Robert Meachem is seeing the field. Let me be clear here; I like him, everything I have ever heard of him pegs him as a stand up guy who works his butt off and does whatever is needed of him. Great teammate, great person… but not a great player. Meachem in his prime was a slightly above average to average WR and he is far from that prime now. He gives you nothing on the field. He can’t blow up a secondary like he once could, and even if his blocking is good… he is a WR not a fullback. Two guys who haven’t seen the field in Joe Morgan and Nick Toon can do exactly what Meachem has done to this point… nothing. He never had ball skills or great hands, runs decent routes, but now lacks the one asset he ever truly had in his speed. If there is one thing we can see with total clarity to this point it is that Meachem needs to be an emergency option only at this point in his career and it’s entirely due to his on the field performance.
The run game is consistent: I originally wrote that as dominant, but that isn’t the kind of run game we have. With the exception of Robinson having a monster run against Dallas the Saints run game hasn’t made any big plays that would really scare teams into game-planning for them. However, what they have done is even better. The Saints backs are constantly pushing piles, fighting for extra yards, and moving the chains. They are wearing teams down and if the coaching staff will commit to them more early in games and trust them just a bit more the running game will open up the deep passing game which to this point is just as much a result of opponents game-planning it away as the Saints failing to execute it.
Speaking of the deep-ball…what’s that look like? The Saints have only hit on one classic NO deep ball this year and that was a perfect, and I mean perfect 46 yard dime from Drew to Kenny stills against Dallas. The question is why. Why can’t the Saints attack vertically like they once could? Two reasons: first the interior pass protection has been mediocre and because of that plays don’t have the time and Drew can’t fully step into throws, the second reason is teams are selling out to take it away. If the Saints could commit to a power run scheme and force them to bring safeties into the box and out of deep coverage they could get it going a bit more… but that requires Sean to trust his backs which he has had trouble with over the years.
What defense? We no see no defense: I’m going to exclude Keenan Lewis from this because at his worst he has been above average this year, but with his one exception… this defense has been a disaster. Our best players have been inconsistent and our worst players have shown why they deserve that title. That doesn’t even count the loss of our big pickup in Jairus Byrd who was just starting to round into form. P-rob had the best game a Saints corner has had this year against the Bucs, but he has also been a disaster at times this year so all we can hope for is he builds off that game. Corey White has been as bad (or IMO worse) and doesn’t have the redeeming game to build off of…he just isn’t a good corner. Brian Dixon is an undrafted free agent rookie and has looked it at times, but he has also shown better technique than the others up to this point so he at least has upside. Vacarro has turned into Harper without the tackling and the blitzing (except against the Bucs where he was phenomenal) and that hasn’t helped at all. But the biggest issue plaguing this defense is the lack of anything even close to resembling a pass rush or any kind of interior push (which I have already pointed out our type of rushers require). There have been some flashes of potential to at least be average, which I will cover later, but for the most part this defense has been putrid.
Grandpa Sean needs to go: let’s be clear, that isn’t our head coach Sean Payton that needs to go. Just his overly cautious, not-in-a-good-way-weird, glasses wearing, fake-punting, sweep to Cadet on 3rd and 1 calling, won’t commit to the run-game alter-ego… Grandpa Sean that has to leave. Payton has made poor decisions, failed to read the rhythm of games, put the team in bad positions, and misused players up to this point. Those are facts. It’s also a fact he knows it and hopefully will correct it after the bye. I’ll cover what I think are some solutions to these issues in the follow up piece to this, but frankly Grandpa Sean in all his forms needs to leave and never come back…GIVE US OUR COACH BACK!!
There is hope: The NFC South is a dumpster fire of Raiderian proportions (made that word up), every single team in it, and because of that the Saints sit at 2-3 and have a legitimate chance to still win the division if they can fix their issues (ALL of which are fixable mind you). It’s also true that there have been glimpses and flashes of the team they should be over the season, they just need to become that team all the time in order to turn the year around. I choose to believe that they will. Next time we are gonna look at some of the things I think will help them do that.
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