Saints’ play cause for concern, not panic

Andrew Galliano Sr.
October 19, 2010
Local historian revisits WWII submarine warfare
October 21, 2010
Andrew Galliano Sr.
October 19, 2010
Local historian revisits WWII submarine warfare
October 21, 2010

I come today, my dear friends, with some good news and some bad news.


With so many of you out there to reach, there’s no way I can accurately poll which order to deliver my messages, so a flip of a coin yielded that the bad news be first.


So here goes.

The bad news today is that the New Orleans Saints are not very good right now.


Sugar coat it however you’d like, they’re just not a good football team right now.


When a team takes pride in winning due to a high-powered offense, then they better have just that – a high-powered offense.

When they don’t, I’ll tell you what they have – not a whole lot.


After ranking No. 1 in total offense for seemingly the entire Drew Brees era, the Black and Gold currently rank No. 18 out of 32 teams in scoring offense and No. 10 in total yards per game.


Do those numbers put fear into you? They surely don’t scare me and the defensive coordinators around the NFL, either.

And the basic root of the problem right now is that the Saints cannot run the football.


The Black and Gold ranked No. 6 in the NFL in rushing offense last year. That ability to run the ball ultimately drew defenders closer to the line of scrimmage, which would open up big plays for Drew Brees and the Saints’ deadly passing game.


Where do the Saints rank this year in rushing, you ask?

How about No. 31 out of 32 teams? That’s a pretty far fall, and it’s not just because Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush are hurt, either, because they have ranked low all season.


That inability to run the ball has taken all of the guesswork out of the game for the opposing team. Instead of guessing, opponents know what’s coming, and naturally, they are able to better game plan, as well.


Flip the football over and let’s talk about the Saints’ turnover-crazed defense, or rather the Saints’ former turnover-crazed defense.

In their Super Bowl campaign, New Orleans forced 2.5 turnovers per game – a stat that ranked in the Top 3 in the league.


This year, that number has fallen all the way to 1.6 turnovers per game, which puts the team in the middle of the pack among NFL defenses.


With fewer turnovers come less possessions and also less free points.

After all, the team that wins the turnover battle in the NFL wins the game about 75 percent of the time.

And the fact of the matter is that the Saints need the turnovers to keep the defense from being exposed, because they aren’t a dominant unit in terms of X’s and O’s.

Even when they were at their best last season, they still ranked No. 25 in total yards. This year, the unit is statistically in the Top 10, but the numbers are a bit skewed, because they have only faced one offense in the top half of the league (Atlanta Falcons), while having also faced the two worst statistical offenses in the league (Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals).

OK, well that’s enough with the bad news. It’s time to get the good news now.

The good news is there’s still plenty of time to get these problems fixed.

It’s only Week 7, and despite the team’s mishaps, they are staying afloat in the standings.

Just take a look around at the team’s biggest challengers in the NFC and one will find that the Saints’ bad is just a drop in the bucket compared to the problems other teams are having.

Dallas? Over hyped and overrated, and yes, it does pain me to say that, thanks for asking.

Minnesota? A 40-something-year-old quarterback who is looking closer to 50-something.

San Francisco? Their record speaks for itself – 0-and-2010.

Green Bay? Their quarterback is currently concussed and their depth chart is worn thin with injuries.

So the competition’s bite isn’t exactly too fierce, either.

The Saints’ current black and blue injury report will eventually get better (one would hope), which will place Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush back into the starting lineup, which (again one would hope) would allow the team to more efficiently run the football and score points.

On the opposite side of the ball, ball-hawks like Tracy Porter and maybe even Darren Sharper should come back sometime this season, too, which will boost that unit, as well.

So while yes, things look bleak, and it certainly doesn’t look like the Saints are a Super Bowl team right now, I caution everyone to be calm.

Because I’ve only been on the earth for 23 of the Super Bowls so far, but even despite my youth, I’ve never seen anyone hoisting the trophy in October.

Not in November or December, either.

The trophy is usually hoisted in February last time I checked.