Saints survive 22 penalties to beat Titans 31-24

Sean Payton was really unhappy about 10 penalties last week, so that leaves one to wonder how he’ll feel about more than double this time around. That’s not including maybe as many as five or six others that were declined. Like any preseason game there was a mixture of some good stuff and some painful stuff, but this one in particular was miserable to sit through given all the yellow flags. It’s inexcusable, really, and needs to be corrected immediately. I have a feeling Payton is going to bring serious pain to these troops. I read that the most penalties the Saints have ever had in a preseason game prior to this was 17. The biggest take away, though, is Keenan Lewis leaving with an apparent foot injury. He walked under his own power to the locker room with a slight limp, and while that leaves me hopeful, he did not return to the game. That’s a player the Saints can ill afford to lose. Below are my bullets on the game.

• Both quarterbacks were excellent. Luke McCown was 12-19 for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns and Ryan Griffin was 13-20 for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns. I think Griffin continues to impress and improve to the point where his youth probably gives him the necessary advantage in being Drew Brees’ backup, but you can’t ignore that McCown has looked good in his own right.
• The Saints didn’t run the ball as much or as well in this one, though the number of penalties certainly stood in the way. The Saints had a 42-27 pass/run ratio, with an average of just 2.9 yards per carry.
• Joe Morgan caught two deep balls from Griffin stretching out the defense and making athletic catches on both. This was the kind of game he needed to solidify his roster spot. If the Saints only keep 5 receivers, I think Robert Meachem is the odd man out. But I think they should keep six. There is no way you can cut Nick Toon or Morgan right now. Morgan finished with 3 catches for 108 yards.
• Some names that popped out as very good besides McCown and Griffin: Jimmy Graham, Vinnie Sunseri, Cameron Jordan, Kenny Vaccaro, Morgan.
• The Saints’ kick coverage units were very poor. That’s a big concern if it doesn’t get corrected. Special teams continues to be a weakness on this roster.
• Graham decided to dunk the ball on the goalposts twice after two touchdowns. Both earned him 15 yard penalties. Hopefully he doesn’t do that in the regular season.
• Derek Dimke made three 33 yard extra points, Shayne Graham made a 34 yard field goal and one extra point. I’d say that’s a tie for this game.
• Jonathan Goodwin was with the 1’s the entire first half and played well with the exception of one holding penalty. Tim Lelito was less impressive to the naked out in the second half but made no mistakes.
• Stanley Jean-Baptiste received a gift he’ll never get as easily again. Nice to see the youngster get a turnover, though. He had an up and down game but showed some nice things.
• The Saints created 5 turnovers. Most of it was really sloppy football from the Titans, but it was still great to see. More of that please.
• The pass protection, I thought, was much improved form last week.
• Coverage was poor. Mettenberger and Locker both torched the Saints’ backfield. They went 28 of 35 combined, so that’s concerning. The Saints did get 4 sacks, though.

That’s about all I have to say about that one. Never has a win felt so ugly. The Saints have to go down from 90 players to 75 by August 26th at 4pm, so there’s about 10 more days before first cuts.