Vandebilt soccer wants to win final game
December 4, 2012
Quality Rose blooms: Hotel laundry lady’s ethic is enduring example
December 4, 2012
Saints
Quarterbacks – When the team succeeds, he gets all the credit. But after throwing five interceptions in a second-straight poor performance, it’s only fair that Drew Brees gets most all the blame. Easily the most dreadful performance of the quarterback’s New Orleans career.
Grade: F
Halfbacks – With fresh legs, Pierre Thomas ran like a man possessed. His 84 yards on 14 carries were the bright spot of the team’s offensive day.
Grade: B+
Receivers – The Saints’ receivers did a solid job getting open down the field against Atlanta. It’s not their fault the football often sailed into the arms of guys wearing the wrong jersey.
Grade: B
Offensive line – The New Orleans offensive line didn’t do itself wrong during Sunday’s game. The run blocking was sufficient and Brees usually had time to throw the football.
Grade: B+
Defensive line – After being absolutely gashed in the opening drive of the game, the Saints’ defensive front stiffened and shut down the run, while continually pounding Matt Ryan on drop backs. Atlanta’s offense was soundly defeated by the Saints’ defensive front.
Grade: A-
Linebackers – I don’t mean to pick on Jonathan Vilma, but the guy’s lost a step. That’s putting it mildly. Curtis Lofton is a keeper, though.
Grade: C+
Defensive backs – Never in a million years did I expect the Saints to limit Roddy White to just one catch in a game. Sure, a lot of the credit belongs to the defensive line for generating pressure. Regardless, the defensive backs didn’t get its weekly gashing – that’s progress.
Grade: B
Special teams – I really wish Travaris Cadet would keep the ball in the end zone when it’s nine yards deep. His averages look solid, but they are skewed. A 26-yard return from eight yards deep in the end zone is still not as good as a touchback.
Grade: B-
Coaching staff – Coming into this game, I was concerned about the Saints’ preparedness with a short week schedule and patchwork coaches. That was a flawed way of thinking – the team was ready to play. The Black and Gold’s hope on this day were demolished by No. 9’s interceptions – you can’t sling five to the other team and defeat an elite team on the road.
Grade: B
Overall – The Saints’ gameplan for the rest of the season is very simple. They must first win every game. They must then hope for the Seahawks and Bears to begin to lose a few games. With the Giants, Cowboys, Bucs and Panthers left to play, the Saints’ task is an extremely tall order. Their 0-4 start appears to have doomed the team’s 2012-13 chances.
Grade: C
Nicholls
Quarterbacks – Against the best defense he’s faced all season, Landry Klann’s completion percentage wasn’t bad. But the two turnovers continue to be a nuisance – a regularly occurring nuisance.
Grade: C
Halfback – I just don’t understand how a halfback averages five yards per carry, but gets just nine rushes in a game. Marcus Washington was voted as the Colonels’ best offensive player for a reason – give him the dang football!
Grade: B+
Receivers – Congratulations to Ellender Memorial graduate Jesse Turner for catching 11 passes for 100 yards against a PAC-12 foe. That’s quite a feat for the local product.
Grade: B
Offensive line – It’s so hard to grade this game. Sure, the Colonels’ offensive line was overmatched. But they were playing one of the best teams in the United States – what do you expect?
Grade: C-
Defensive line – Oregon State did whatever it wanted offensively in Saturday’s shellacking. Giving up six rushing scores in a game is unacceptable – no matter who you’re playing.
Grade: F
Linebackers – For most of the season, the Colonel linebackers have been the brightest facet of the team’s defense. Against a powerhouse opponent, they largely fell flat and poor tackling and missed assignments defined a lot of the team’s day. I will be sad to see Jordan Piper go – kid’s a whale of a player.
Grade: C
Defensive backs – As a team, three Oregon State quarterbacks combined to complete 36-of-44 passes for 453 yards and five touchdowns. Does anything else need to be said?
Grade: F
Special teams – The Colonels’ special teams didn’t allow a long Oregon State return in the game – a plus. The Nicholls extra point defense team also did a fine job guarding on all 11 of the Beavers’ extra point plays. That last part was sarcasm.
Grade: C
Coaching staff – The Colonels are now officially a one-win football team for the second-straight season. Something needs to change. There’s no better way to say it than that.
Grade: D
Overall – A college football game should never end in a 77-3 margin. I don’t care who the two teams are. Sure, Nicholls was outclassed in talent and size. But maybe that should be a memo to the team’s recruiters that the talent disparity between the teams shouldn’t be that large in the first place. Each season, about a dozen FCS schools beat FBS teams. No one is saying the Colonels should win at Oregon State. But we are saying that the game should not end with a 74-point spread – there’s no excuse for that.
Grade: F
Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzales makes a leaping catch over the out-stretched arms of Curtis Lofton during Thursday’s game. The Saints’ defense stood tall and played its best game of the season against the Falcons. But poor decisions by Drew Brees cost the Saints a chance to win the game.
