January 18, 2018
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WHO DAT EULOGIES
Please see columns by Scott and Dennis below.
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Gut-wrenching, awful, sickening, and fairly predictable. As a long time Saints fan, those were my emotions as Stefon Diggs ended the Saints season.
Seriously, I did not celebrate when Lutz kicked the field goal. I texted, “25 seconds” to my friends.
The Saints lost two of their last three games this year on the last drive to a team with no timeouts. NFL pass plays last 4 seconds these days. Therefore, when the Vikings had 25 seconds left, I knew they had about 6 plays to get in field goal range. Something the Panthers did at the end of the first half last week with ease. The fact that the Vikings scored a touchdown instead of kicking a field goal is not significant to me.
But let’s be rational for a second and consider this question. How were the Saints even in position to win that game? The Saints had 3 times as many penalties for four times as many yards and one more turnover. The Saints were once again so bad on third down that they felt the need to try a double pass on third and one. For the record, I think that was a brilliant play call.
I have heard some people who think the Saints should have just gotten the yard, then tried a play like that. I completely disagree. The last month of the year the running game had fallen on hard times. Not to mention, the Saints tried running for a yard in the first half and didn’t even get back to the line of scrimmage.
Back to the question though, how did the Saints have the lead with 10 seconds left in the game? The Vikings were great on third down. Their crossing routes were wide open as Saints defenders were picked off, and the rest of the time the Viking receivers were making great over the shoulder catches. As for the Saints, third down was a problem all year. Probably the product of not having a big target tight end over the middle.
Luck wasn’t on the Saints side either as the only deflection of Brees’ pass went straight to a Vikings linebacker in the red zone.
The Vikings were healthier than the Saints. The Vikings are extremely talented on defense. The Vikings receiving corps is better than the Saints from top to bottom. The Vikings were at home.
I repeat once again, how were the Saints leading with 10 seconds left? Drew Brees and Sean Payton. Neither is perfect, but in the second half Brees was brilliant and Payton deserves as much credit for getting the Saints this far with this roster.
Perspective is important and I sense fans who cheer for the same teams as I have completely lost theirs.
For anyone to call this season a lost season for the Saints because they didn’t win the Super Bowl is more miserable than me expecting the Saints to lose after Lutz’s field goal that put the Saints in the lead.
Saints fans and LSU fans these days act like not competing for a championship each year is a catastrophe. Making the playoffs is not good. Winning 9 regular season games and finishing 6-2 in the SEC is no good. I want our teams to have high standards, but we make ourselves miserable as fans when we lose perspective.
Consequently, as we enter the long football off season here are some thoughts that might help handle the incredible amount of thoughtless, factless, baseless panic that will be promoted to generate talk and clicks.
Ignore all lists and rankings from national media. They are ill-informed and almost always wrong. Nobody who covers the whole country can know as much about our teams as local media. As a result, the national media will love it when the Saints sign Adrian Peterson when that was the only off season move that didn’t make sense and didn’t work for the Saints.
Player development is not covered and can’t be measured by those on the outside. Bryce Love was third team All Pac-12 entering the season. He ran for over 2,000 yards and almost won the Heisman. That type of development happens when the world isn’t watching. LSU played a huge number of freshmen and sophomores this year that didn’t have huge numbers, but have the talent to develop and be great players.
This last thought is directed straight to LSU fans. Last year, when Coach Miles was fired, I told you Coach Ensminger would improve the offense despite the offense not being his creation. Pointing to the Florida and Alabama losses as some sort sign that he isn’t up for the job is more irrational than me expecting the Saints to lose after kicking the field goal to take the lead. At least, I have the perspective to know that I am being irrational.
I can try to convince you that the offense will be better than it has been in years, but I know that won’t help many concerned Tiger fans. Instead, I will just point out that what you think doesn’t matter. What matters is recruiting players, developing players, getting players to learn and believe, and working well with the other coaches. Coach Ensminger checks those boxes, and when you see the offense you will see LSU take advantage of the talent they have.
HEY REF
Please allow me to write a few more words on “the miracle in Minnesota”. I’m not about to point a finger at Saints’ cornerback Marcus Williams who’s missed tackle allowed Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs to… O. K., I know we’re all very much aware of what happened on the last play of their playoff game that ousted New Orleans. Nevertheless I will take exception and point my finger at all those so called experts that instantly made up excuse after excuse as to how and why Williams didn’t make the tackle and stop the Vikings from winning their playoff game.
It was as if the excuse mill instantly started pumping out explanations after the Saints finally came back from the dressing room only to line up for the extra point. One of the earliest reasons put out there for the loss was Williams didn’t want to be called for pass interference. That excuse won’t hold water since if you took a close look at the play and I did, Williams had intentions of hitting him from behind, low and taking his legs out from under him once Diggs came back down.
If he’d have dedicating himself to that form of tackle it’s still the wrong thing to do since we’ve seen so many times a receiver or running back get hit, lose their balance for a very short amount of time then regain their balance and run downfield for additional yardage. So, in “Hey Ref’s” world Williams should’ve stayed right behind Diggs then hold him tight and take him down. That’s why the game is called tackle football. But then again I’m not a coach and the game has evolved to what it is today so I just wanted to add my two cents to the argument.
I must say though I was taken aback when the refs made the Vikings attempt an extra point. The excuse or reason given was because of the betting line in Vegas. The NFL is a massive treasure trove and cash cow for the bookies all around the country. With a kickoff spread of 5 ½ pointsalong and billions of dollars riding on that final score, well you can understand why there was so much attention being paid to that one point. I’m well aware if this game would’ve been during the regular season the point after would be tried simply because rankings/playoff spots many times depend on the points a team either allows or scores. But without anything to “win” in this instance I was surprised when they waited for the extra point attempt before declaring Minnesota the winner.
I hate rumors and the latest one I’ve heard is that Drew Brees, in the last year of his current contract, will try “FREE AGENCY” before the 2018 draft. Nothing can be more ludicrous. I’m not going to add fuel to the fire but if you were to step back a couple steps you’d see why that has to be the furthest thing from the truth. First off New Orleans has a very young team returning and with just a very few spots to upgrade they should make another Super Bowl run in ’18. Who knows the Saints might be on the road to becoming the next dynasty.
Brees also showed the league and the football world why he’s one of the top three QB’s playing along with Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Brees was burning up the Vikings all game long and never showed any hint of cooling off. During this off season I believe he’ll be offered a contract making him the highest player in the NFL simply because he is. But then again Brees might only play one more year and retire while his health remains good. Only time will tell.
I’ve been expecting the Saints to draft another QB for the last decade it seems. The franchise can’t expect Brees to play at the level he’s been playing at for much longer. With all the young talent New Orleans has under contract it should be able to contend for another Super Bowl tittle for the foreseeable future.
Till next week…
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