Just like that our season ends, as the Saints gave up a season high 41 points in a 41-36 at Qwest field to the Seattle Seahawks. Speechless is one way how to describe my thoughts on the game. Depressed is another. To be honest, I never really considered losing as a viable alternative coming into this game. That said, I guess the injuries caught up with the Saints after all. For the last time this season, see my postgame bullets below.
— As panicked as most of us were about the run game, why did we bother? The Saints ran the ball enough to keep the Seahawks honest, and Drew Brees threw for 400 yards while never throwing an interception. That was, by the way, the first time Brees went an entire game without throwing a pick in 13 games… and the Saints lost. Go figure.
— On the heals of that last point, hard to blame Brees for this loss. He arguably played his best game of the season with the highest stakes when his running game was the least potent. Give him credit, he showed up on the biggest stage.
— Roman Harper performance was, in a word, HORRIFIC. His pass coverage was beyond bad. You all know by now how much I love the guy, and he was my defensive MVP for the season (if not team MVP) coming into the playoffs. Well, forget either. The guy single handedly butchered our season with his coverage skills. Matt Hasselbeck routinely found whoever he was manned up on and he took full advantage more times than I’d ever care to remember. Harper had a horrid, horrid performance. Did I say horrid? 3 touchdown passes were directly a result of his spotty coverage.
— The o-line was bad. Two false starts. A bobbled snap (Goodwin and Brees never mess up on snaps!), horrible edge pass blocking by both Bushrod and Stinchcomb. The Saints should seriously reconsider who they go into next season with as edge blockers.
— I thought Julius Jones played pretty well considering the circumstances. The fumble hurt the Saints badly though.
— The non call on that roughing the kicker play was UNREAL. Thomas Morstead got blown up, and the call was that the defender got “blocked into him”. Are you kidding me? Sure, the guy that annihilated Morstead absorbed some blocking, but he was fully extended trying to block a punt diving towards Morstead by the time the punt went off. Shame of the refs for a blown call of epic proportions.
— Did I mention Roman Harper cost us the game?
— Darren Sharper was horrible. Just horrible. Again, he was a step slow to every single pass play. His help over the top was useless. Many players would bite on double moves, and he would jog to the end zone watching a Seahawks’ receiver score. Time to hang it up, old man.
— Colston, Shockey and David Thomas showed little ill effects from their injuries. I thought all of them had great games. Thomas’ blocking in particular was OUTSTANDING.
— The Saints got zero pressure on the quarterback all game long. That’s been a reoccuring issue all season. It finally caught up with them. I hope to see some changes made in the offseason to improve in that area.
— Many people claim we missed Malcolm Jenkins. While that was true, because Sharper was horrible, the main reason for poor performance was bad tackling and Harper getting victimized. I hate to break it to you guys but Harper has been starting all season. Jenkins couldn’t have masked that performance. As far as the bad tackling: there is no excuse. We had the right players in there, they just didn’t perform.
— The bottom line is the defense didn’t show up. Heck of a time to decide to play your worst game of the season.
— HOLY COW was the kick return unit bad. First it was Devery Henderson sliding feet first, then it was Robert Meachem barely doing better. I realize those guys are both fast, but they clearly have no concept of finding a running lane. The return game was a farce without Courtney Roby.
— Reggie Bush apparently got hurt. He cost us 7 points on the opening drive (I guess 4 if you consider we settled for 3) and he did help the Saints pick up a couple third and longs with nice efforts on short passes. Still, he played a largely forgetful game before he left for good with an undisclosed injury. There’s no way the Saints are paying him $8 million next year. Hopefully he will restructure his deal.
— The Saints lost to an inferior team and they should be embarrassed. They won time of possession. They gained more yards. They converted a better third down %. The turnover battle was even. So how did they lose? Inexplicable.
Tough one to end the season on. I’m going to bed. Thanks for your support all season, hopefully next year will yield better results. As always, we’re Saints fans till the bitter end, win lose or draw. We will bounce back from this bad loss. I think I may pass on the player grades for this game, but rest assured, Roman Harper deserves an F-.
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