I think they will. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like the Saints have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. The Steelers are quite the opposite with Big Ben being sacked the most in the league last season. Big Ben with his third turnover of the first half.
So, does anyone actually feel pessimistic about the rest of the year after this? I sure as hell don't.
It's too early for the biggest game of the franchise's history stuff we heard this week. It's week 3. The Bills beat the Pats for Pete's sake. There are wins littered all over the schedule. The Panthers. The Bengals. 5 more within the division. I think we easily get to 10 barring injury.
This long stings a bit. I will not take solace in a moral victory. We should have won the game, plain and simple. We need to go at least 2-1 over the next three weeks, in my opinion. I saw lots of things I liked, lots I didn't like this week. It was a superb team that we played, and it's hard to win with anything other than perfect football. I just want to know what the Ben Tate over Foster supporters have to say about this game? Our red zone offense was EXPOSED in this game. With Foster, I truly believe we convert one or two of those field goals into touchdowns. Foster's explosion and pass catching abilities are severely underrated, in my opinion. (DaDakota, where you at?)
'Course, last year we were all feeling pretty good after game 2. And still felt pretty good going into the bye with a 4-2 record. We then played the Colts in IND. A tough team, on the road. And then... the wheels came completely off. Sure, its a new season. But what were the problems last year? A CB that got torched. A DL that allowed QBs to pick apart the D. Special teams lapses. Frustrating stretches when the QB appears pressured into making bad throws. Odd play calling, often going away from conventional and successful plays. And... an inability to piece together complete games. PIT will be another tough team. A loss brings them to 2-2. A trap game against an improving OAK team. Then a tough stretch against BAL, TEN and JAC. We could be 4-4, or even 3-5 at that point. Panic then?
All this "biggest game" talk needs to be shelved. The biggest game was week 17 vs. the Patriots in 09. At the time, they were playing for their playoff lives and our first winning record in team history against the NFL's gold standard franchise. Not since then have we had a game of such significance against such a high caliber opponent. But yes, I agree with you. I see 10 wins minimum. Dropping 33, and what likely should've been 40+ on a Superbowl caliber team in their house, without the NFL's rushing champion, is impressive and nothing to be pessimistic about. Nor is giving up 40 to that very same team, we figured that was going to happen, but we got the turnovers we needed though to win the game, which would not have happened last year. That was likely the toughest game we're going to play all year, and it was well within reach. There is no offense short of the Patriots even in this conference that could even remotely do what the Saints did to us. So, as far as our outlook goes, it's fairly bright.
Sorry to double up... Foster will certainly help the red zone offense. But... "In 2010, though, under first-year offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, and with Leach and Foster pairing up in the backfield, it all clicked. Houston scored TDs on 62.3 percent (33 of 53) of its red-zone trips, good for fifth in the league. The overall red-zone numbers were even better: points on 51 of 53 trips (96.2 percent), second only to the Colts. Of Foster’s 18 touchdowns last season, 13 of them came on runs of eight yards or fewer, more often than not running behind Leach. It’s in that area of the field that Houston might not be able to fill the gap." This was pulled from an SI article about how Leach's loss will hurt the Texans most... http://nfl.si.com/2011/08/15/red-zone-where-vonta-leach-loss-will-hurt-houston-most/ Maybe seeing Vickers in there may help?
On the bright side...Casey sure had a hell of a coming out party. He will add a great dimension that wasn't there last year.
We have hardly been using a RB in the red zone offense let alone a FB this year. It's as if Kubiak burned that chapter in the playbook when Vonta left. Casey has shown he can do many things lets see if he can lay a lead block in the redzone too. I've only seen Vickers in on special teams so far; don't know what that is about.
I thought it was funny to juxtapose just how much respect both D's had for the opposing quarterback. Wade Phillips was apparently petrified to blitz Drew Brees. The Saints blitzed Schaub mercilessly.
Good game, Texan fans. I won't even say the two words Im sure you don't wanna hear. It probably won't come as much solace to you, but y'all scared the crap out of us. That was about as intense as a football game can get. That was our second wild, heart-pounding shoot-out already, Im certainly glad we came out on top in this one, but I know how it feels to lose one. It hurts, but in the big scheme of the season, it won't really matter. From the sound of things, some of y'all are really upset about your defense, but I honestly wouldn't take much from this game about how good your defense is. You may not have liked what you saw today, but the Saints do this to just about every defense. The Bears and Packers are both considered by most to have very good, if not elite, defenses, and the Saints put up 30+ on both of them. When Brees gets going there's really not much you can do to stop him. I would be pretty happy you forced 2 turnovers and were able to get a couple key sacks. The Texans lost the game when they failed to score in the red zone all those times in the first half. I know it's been said a buncha times, but yeah, that was the difference in the game. Y'all had us on the ropes, but never landed that knock out blow. My thought on it is that y'all lacked a legit #2 reciever that could beat man coverage down there. Our linebackers couldn't cover crap most of the game, but when they only had a small field to defend they were able to do a decent job of containing your TEs and whatever it is Casey plays(H-Back?). Foster prolly would have made a difference too, but regardless, the Saints played better in the red zone than the Texans did and that's why they got the W. Overall, your offense moved the ball spectacularly but needs to improve their efficiency in the red zone, and just keep thinking whatever you thought before the game about the defense. The D didn't get exposed or anything like that, they're just yet another defense that was made to look alot worse than they actually are by Drew Brees. You're a guarunteed playoff team and if you stay patient with Foster and get him 100% for the playoffs and he's able to punch the ball in in the red zone, you've got a damn strong chance at making some noise. Good luck the rest of the way!
The Texans blitzed but the Saints picked it up. OTOH when the Saints blitzed they were a bit more effective. Their DBs also gave less cushion.
No, not really. Mario is still playing for the team that drafted him. Meanwhile, the other two knuckleheads are on different teams being second and third stringers. Go find your dog.
