The 2015 New Orleans Saints are just a weird team. They are consistently inconsistent, and just when we think they will lose out and go 4-12 the Saints not only dominate both sides of the ball, but both teams. The Saints atrocious defense gave up less than 300 yards and came within inches of making a number of big plays. However, the Saints defense also dominated itself nearly as well as it did the Buccaneers thus why you see the score being much closer than their actual performance would imply. There was of course the obligatory Brandon Browner penalty on third down (it was questionable to be fair), however the worst offender in this game was Kyle Wilson who single-handedly produced the Bucs first scoring drive all on his own. Wilson was a penalty machine all day and probably played his worst game as a Saint. Bad angles, poor coverage, awful tackling, and moronic penalties pretty much sums up his performance.
There a number of bright spots outside of Wilson and Browner though. Kenny Vacarro once again had a very good to great game, a norm for him this season. He was physical, mostly in the right spots, and played ‘downhill’ all game. A pleasant surprise was the excellent play of Jairus Byrd. I won’t know better just how he was deployed until later in the week, but whatever the Saints did he was around the football constantly and made a number of great plays. Delvin Breaux of course was basically perfect and played great coverage while also being a physical presence in the run game, he is just such a phenomenal story and a great pickup for the team.
The best story today isn’t Breaux though, it’s Tim Hightower. Hightower suffered a series of freak injuries and setbacks that derailed his NFL career, which was once quite promising, by 4 years. To see him come out today and play with reckless abandon, great vison and patience, and a ton of heart was great. To see him get his first touchdown in 4 years was even better, but what tops it all off was to see him ice the game and how happy his teammates were for him. Sometimes we as fans forget that the men who put on those pads are real life people too, and Hightower’s performance reminds us of that. 5-8 or not, today was a great day for Saints fans, a great team win, and most of all a great day for a man who truly earned his moment in the spotlight through sheer grit and determination.
My other observations from the game:
- Tampa Bay made it pretty clear early on that they would not let Cooks get open very often in this game, and the Saints response was to use that to their advantage. Brandin’s best play of the game was a key penalty drawn on the game closing drive, but his presence allowed Brees to absolutely shred the Bucs defense.
- Willie Snead had another great game showing his usual toughness, hands, and patient route running ability.
- Cameron Jordan was in Winston’s face all day and had a major impact on this game.
- Tavaris Barnes had what I would call his best game of the year and actually looked pretty good out there at times.
- Gwachum got another sack and continued to show flashes. Only time will tell if he can be more than Edebali 2.0
- Dannel Ellerbe in the game versus out of the game is a real Jekyll and Hyde elixir for this defense. When he is there they play downhill and just seem to be so much more comfortable and confident. When he goes out bad things happen.
- Ben Watson continues to defy father time and make big plays for this offense when Brees has time.
- Speaking of time I thought that Peat played incredibly well in this game, especially against a stout Bucs front.
- Zach Strief on the other hand….not so much. The Saints will have quite the quandry with those two at the end of the year when they have to figure out where to put Peat long term.
- Cam Newton may be evolving into an acceptable QB, but Jameis Winston continues to not impress me. He has a ton of weapons around him, but his lack of touch, poor mechanics, and ‘derpy’ game just do not impress me and never have. I hope he stays mediocre for the Bucs for a long time.
- C.J. Spiller is either hurt, or has cashed it in. Either way I don’t think he will be a Saint next year. On a number of plays he just looked slow, and borderline lazy. Whether he isn’t happy, or can’t make the plays he once could, this is a player I can no longer make excuses for. He’s just not of much use to us.
My final note on this game is just to ask everyone to have Damian Swann in their prayers as this young man is likely going to have to decide between his dream and his health. Swann got hit in the head again today in another freak play of poor fortune. What makes it so sad is that he really has been a VERY good player for the team as a rookie and has gone out and proven he belongs in the NFL. To see such a young man with both the gifts and the ability to get the most out of them leave the field in that manor…it sucks. As a Saints fan I hope that he recovers and can have a long successful career with the team starting next year. As a person I hope he really considers his future carefully.
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