Some of my concerns during the offseason for the New Orleans Saints are to secure a steady running attack and emphasize better coverage in the secondary. The Seattle game was a complete embarrassment to me. I’m still in shock that Matt Hasselbeck threw 4 touchdowns against us and in the end the Marshawn Lynch 67 yard TD run.
It has taken me about a month to write this blog because I still don’t know what to say. We marched into Atlanta on Dec. 27th and made the so called “Dirty Birds” look like a bunch of chumps on their own turf. We stuffed Michael Turner for a game total of 48 yards rushing. That is unheard of for Turner to not even reach 50 yards before halftime.
Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis have a lot of positions to fill this offseason. I personally hope to see Reggie Bush playing for another team next season. Its been a good stint for Reggie while in New Orleans but lets face it he is not the premiere NFL running back that we had all hoped he would be when he came out of USC. There are some websites reporting that a former Saints player could be resigned to help out in the backfield and that player is “Mr. Rickey Williams.” In all honesty to me this is of course just a rumor and I’m not even sure if this is even a credible source of information. In the near future that is known as the offseason and with the help of a lot of prayers and meetings with the NFLPA and the NFL I truly hope that there is a NFL season next year and not a strike. With that being said I see Chris Ivory working out and conditioning his body for the long haul of a full NFL season. Ivory is already working with strengthening and conditioning coaches in New Orleans rehabbing his broken foot. With a healthy Ivory and a healthy Pierre Thomas we will be unstoppable. It has come out in recent weeks that Brees was playing with a strained MCL for the majority of the season. That may have been some of the major reasons for his career high interceptions record.
In the secondary I am concerned that Tracy Porter the savoir of the XLIV Super Bowl has maybe lost a step or two. We need a lock down corner much like Darelle Revis or a Charles Woodson type corner that no quarterback in their right mind would challenge. It’s just so hard to find one of those players in the draft or pick one up off of free agency for a fair price and not some ridiculous salary. I’m sorry to all the Patrick Robinson fans out there in Saints Nation but Robinson every time he gets on the field and the opposing quarterback notices they throw his way almost 95% of the time and almost 95% of the time it’s a completion for the other team. Robinson is listed as 5’11 and 191 lbs. I’m thinking more like 5’9 and 180lbs. In the NFL the average size of a WR is at least 6’2. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Robinson is going to get beat up top almost every time. Maybe with more time and practice I will come to see why Sean Payton drafted him.
Some of the highlights of the season in my mind that stand out player wise are as mentioned before the pick up of Chris Ivory. I also think Sean Payton hit a home run out of the park when he drafted Jimmy Graham in the 3rd round. Graham is going to be one of the top tight ends in the NFL for a long time to come.
Next season will be a much more improved Saints team. We are over our Super Bowl hangover and the team will be prepared to make another Super Bowl run because much like in 2009 we were not expected to win the Super Bowl and we had no added pressure of having to defend a championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment