Saints lose 37-34 in overtime to Falcons

That was hard to stomach, but the Saints start the season 0-1 behind one of the worst defensive performances I’ve seen by the team. It was reminiscent of the Steve Spagnuolo era. Marques Colston had a critical fumble in overtime to gift wrap it for the Falcons, but make no mistake, this one is entirely on the defense. The Falcons gained 568 total yards including a Falcons team history record 448 yards passing by Matt Ryan. Despite 44 passing attempts, the Saints only sacked Ryan once. That was with Sam Baker out for the year with an injury, and 1st round pick Jake Matthews out in the second half with an injury too. As bad as tackling was at the second level, and as bad as the coverage was, the pass rush was inexcusable. Junior Galette just made more money than Jimmy Graham to get largely stood up by a 3rd string left tackle. Give credit to the Falcons’ offense, who lit up the Saints, and kicker Matt Bryant who drilled a 51 yarder to send the game to overtime and drilled a 52 yarder to win it. Below are my bullets on the game.

• Drew Brees was masterful in the pocket, arguably having better footwork than ever. His ability to step up and feel pressure was as good as ever. Unfortunately, his throws downfield were off and on. He threw one poor interception and was fortunate to avoid a few others. It wasn’t his best performance, but fair to say he played pretty well.
• The offense is going to be special. If the defense can put it together, this team will be great. The Saints ran for 139 yards at 5.0 yards per carry, and Brees threw for 333.
• The offensive line was outstanding. Jonathan Goodwin and Terron Armstead are massive upgrades over Brian de la Puente and Charles Brown. That unit feels rock solid moving forward.
• The defense. My God, the defense. I will say, the tackling is something that can get cleaned up. Unfortunately the tackling is going to be bad when the NFL limits the amount of time you can practice. That’s always going to suffer, and I do expect the tackling to get better as the season progresses. I expect more from Galette and Cam Jordan, too, who were both very quiet in this game. But the Saints don’t have a #2 corner. I don’t know how Champ Bailey would have done in this game, but it’s hard to imagine it would have been worse than Patrick Robinson. P-Rob continues on with his 1st round bust legacy.
• Jairus Byrd and Kenny Vaccaro missed so many tackles that I lost count. They even managed to both missed tackles on the same play a couple times.
• The stat line will show that Marques Colston had 5 catches for 110 yards, but he had some drops, looked slow, and put the nail in the coffin with that fumble in overtime. After how the playoffs ended last year for him, not the way you want to start the season.
• Mark Ingram and Khiry Robinson both looked good running the football. Pierre Thomas was oustanding in the passing game. The back rotation doesn’t miss Sproles so far.
• Brandin Cooks is incredible. Even better than advertised. He’s already a star.
• Joe Morgan and Robert Meachem both played and were targeted on a handful of deep balls to no avail. Neither had a catch.
• Josh Hill deserves credit for a beautiful tackle on special teams on Devin Hester and a great block on a Cooks reverse. He did the little things well.
• As much as Shayne Graham was a major concern coming in, he was solid. He drilled a 50 yarder, as well. In fact, special teams was pretty much perfect. Thomas Morstead was awesome and Travaris Cadet even had a clutch nice kickoff return.
• The Saints have a lot of work to do on defense. A lot. It was poor stopping the run, got no pass rush, covered poorly and tackled worst of all. That leads to 37 points and 568 yards yielded.
• Too bad the Saints couldn’t steal this one on the road but you still have to feel good about this team’s chances in a Dome, particularly at home. 8-0 this season in New Orleans will still put this team in a place to make the playoffs.
• In the pass rush’s defense, there was blatant holding going on all game long. The refs never threw it. Not once.

That’s it. A gut wretching defeat, but as bad as the defense was you can’t say it wasn’t totally deserved. When you play like that defensively you won’t win many games. The #2 corner situation remains a major concern. It’s a shame because despite the defense’s bad play the Saints came incredibly close to stealing one. If Colston doesn’t fumble I have no doubt Brees takes them the length of the field. Winning on the road in Cleveland next week will be important.