Pounced And Pummeled.
The Saints get thoroughly outplayed by the Carolina Panthers, 26-7, falling to 1-1
Well this sucked. The Saints went into the game without their starting center, starting linebacker, starting edge rusher, starting corner, and starting joker and to top it off, eight assistant coaches were not allowed to attend the game due to covid regulations. That really should have spelled disaster for the Saints from the get-go. The injuries, the missing personal, it was all bad. And it showed on the field. The Sam Darnold led Carolina Panthers had their fun against the Saints. DJ Moore continued to be a thorn, and the offense could not get anything going whatsoever. Here’s what I liked and what I didn’t and what I hated.
What I Liked:
Honestly, the game was atrocious. The only thing that I remotely liked was the special teams play. Punter Blake Gillikin did a good job flipping the field and giving his teammates time to get after the returner. The blocked field goal was huge and should have been a momentum swinger. Also Harris had a few good returns.
The second half adjustments made by the defense were nice. But were fruitless.
That’s it.
What I didn’t like.
The defense in the first half. They were shoved around as much as you can get. Darnold for the most part was kept clean, and faced almost no pressure. CJGJ was apparently going to be the McCaffery deterrent in the game, and his absence was felt hard. Jenkins, Baun, and Davis were just outmatched. Paulson Adebo was also bullied throughout the game. Whenever Darnold dropped back, he targeted whoever Adebo was on. And DJ Moore was made sure to line up against him. They also let white guy, Brandon Zylstra, get a touchdown too. First half defense was ugly.
The Jameis Winston experience was in full effect. While last week, he was mostly mistake free (he got bailed out on that INT last week), we got the bad Jameis this week. I know he was pressured constantly but C’mon. The first pick was his fault.
I know Ruiz let Chinn run free at Winston, but why the hell did he attempt throw it? If the pressure gets at you, roll out of the pocket, and either run or throw it away. The worst part about it was that the Saints were in field goal range. They could have gone into half with a possible 17-3 lead. But alas. Winston was forced to play Superman because he had no support.
Did the Saints look lifeless out there? One thing with Drew is that he brought two things. Great situational awareness and urgency. I want to focus on the second one because it felt like the Saints really lacked it when down. Drew may not have been the gun-slinger, but he knew when it was time to show urgency. He would start by developing some small rhythm. And then let it build. There was none of that. No rhythm, no urgency, nothing. It was off-character for this team. I don’t know if it falls on to Jameis, Payton, or whoever… but that is a problem they got to fix and now.
Lastly, the receivers are an issue. Michael Thomas being out shows everyone that these guys can’t create separation. The Panthers only had to focus on Kamara, and as a result, he was ineffective. These receivers through two games have totaled 11 catches for 164 yards in two games. That’s pathetic. I don’t think the Saints will make moves for a receiver though they probably should. They need someone to generate separation from their man, and he’s out with an ankle injury and won’t be back til mid/late October.
What was Ugly.
Okay, let’s talk about the OL. The offensive line played its worst game ever under Sean Payton. According to ESPN, Jameis Winston was pressured 18 of 26 dropbacks. And they started tracking pressures in 2009. This is abysmal. This was Cesar Ruiz’s first game starting at center and was awful from first to last snap. Lack of communication, letting rushers run free at the quarterback, unable to generate holes in the ground game, just terrible play altogether from the offensive line. Hell on the first interception by Winston, Ruiz passes off Chinn to apparently Throckmorton, but he was already blocking someone, so Chinn had a free pass to get Winston. Ruiz has to play smarter. Maybe the OL coach not being present hurt, but this is basic things out there.
There was also the penalties. The Saints had 11 penalties for over 100 yards. That is a guarantee recipe of bad football when you have double digit penalties for triple digit penalty yards.
Next Opponent: @ The Patriots at noon
The Saints have to move on and learn from this embarrassment. The OL has to be the tone setter otherwise it’ll just be a repeat from today.