Our "new & improved" D

[Zodiac]

(12-29-2010 12:49 PM)USAF HART Wrote:  I didn't like our personnel match-up when Jimmy Graham caught the go ahead touchdown. He had William Moore going against him and Willie was 3 yards into the endzone. If a team is inside the 10 yard line, you need to be playing bump and run coverage, or tight man coverage. You can't play a soft zone, because just like Roddy did, Jimmy ran a 1 step slant for the easy touchdown and there was not much that Willie could do.

Spoon was supposed to drop back into the line of the throw, he didn't do it in time.

[Sun Tzu 7]

(12-29-2010 12:49 PM)USAF HART Wrote:  I didn't like our personnel match-up when Jimmy Graham caught the go ahead touchdown. He had William Moore going against him and Willie was 3 yards into the endzone. If a team is inside the 10 yard line, you need to be playing bump and run coverage, or tight man coverage. You can't play a soft zone, because just like Roddy did, Jimmy ran a 1 step slant for the easy touchdown and there was not much that Willie could do.

I agree but when was the last time you have seen us play tight man or bump and run.

Our team hardly ever does it and it can come back to get us on situations like this.

[AsylumGuido]

(12-29-2010 12:46 PM)Zodiac Wrote:  Yes we shut him down, he couldn't do what he wanted to which was go downfield with the ball, he was having to throw to checkdowns all day long, thats what I call a success.

You obviously haven't seen much Saints football this year. Teams have been taking the long ball away all year long with various strategies. Some have gone cover two or cover three allowing just the short underneath stuff. Others have used the exact same approach the Falcons used Monday night by constantly bringing the house, thus limiting the deep game by forcing the ball out quicker. Brees and Payton have adjusted to taking that short stuff and treating it as a passing run game. They have been taking those four to five yards routes all day long.

There is more than one way to win the game offensively. Do not think that the Saints can only wing it to win it.

[Peyton]

(12-29-2010 12:56 PM)AsylumGuido Wrote:  You obviously haven't seen much Saints football this year. Teams have been taking the long ball away all year long with various strategies. Some have gone cover two or cover three allowing just the short underneath stuff. Others have used the exact same approach the Falcons used Monday night by constantly bringing the house, thus limiting the deep game by forcing the ball out quicker. Brees and Payton have adjusted to taking that short stuff and treating it as a passing run game. They have been taking those four to five yards routes all day long.

There is more than one way to win the game offensively. Do not think that the Saints can only wing it to win it.

The Saints defense won that game. The only thing the offense did was atone for their own very huge mistake.

Brees had that great completion percentage going all night, but through 11 drives, the team had 7 punts, 2 INTs, and their longest drive had been 44 yards.

[AsylumGuido]

(12-29-2010 01:04 PM)Peyton Wrote:  The Saints defense won that game. The only thing the offense did was atone for their own very huge mistake.

Brees had that great completion percentage going all night, but through 11 drives, the team had 7 punts, 2 INTs, and their longest drive had been 44 yards.

Exactly! In this type of game you play for field position. The Saints were content to control the clock with what they were given and maintain field position. Atlanta started every possession inside their own 27 yard line until the second interception in the fourth quarter. The game dictated the play.

Until the first interception the Saints had maintained a lead and field possession the entire game. They were content to trade punts at that point. Don't forget that Koenen had seven punts of his own at that point. When that pick was returned for the TD the Saints were forced to turn up the offensive heat a bit and were successful doing it.

The Falcons brought a lot of pressure most of the game and did one of the better jobs I have seen at it this year, but had the Falcons gotten off to a lead I feel you would have seen a slightly difference approach by the Saints offense.

The Saints have a very good defense this year, better than last year's, and have learned to lean on them. That is not saying, however, that the offense cannot move the ball when push comes to shove.

[NCFalconfan]

Eliminate the unforced errors in this game offensively and this game is double digit win for Atlanta.

[USAF HART]

Can we stop with the "if we had done this or this, it would have been different." The fact of the matter is, we gave them a touchdown when Turner fumbled, and Brees gave us a touchdown when he threw a stupid pass. those nullify each other. Abraham set us up for success with his interception, but our offense couldn't capitalize. We had one of the worst snaps in NFL history, and their offense drove the short field and scored. We only lost by 3 points in a very sloppy game. It is nothing to hang our heads on, or to sit here and say "well if this had gone this way, then the outcome would have been different." The same thing could be say for both sides.

[Falconmama]

(12-29-2010 01:43 PM)USAF HART Wrote:  Can we stop with the "if we had done this or this, it would have been different." The fact of the matter is, we gave them a touchdown when Turner fumbled, and Brees gave us a touchdown when he threw a stupid pass. those nullify each other. Abraham set us up for success with his interception, but our offense couldn't capitalize. We had one of the worst snaps in NFL history, and their offense drove the short field and scored. We only lost by 3 points in a very sloppy game. It is nothing to hang our heads on, or to sit here and say "well if this had gone this way, then the outcome would have been different." The same thing could be say for both sides.

Exactly lol.

[ViperXX79]

It was great until we stopped using it when we got the lead and Brees went down the field and scored the winning TD. BVG got scared and was playing not to lose and it killed us.

[Irishfalconfan#35]

(12-29-2010 12:27 PM)AsylumGuido Wrote:  As for the two mistakes, if you can eliminate those then the Saints get their two back. Who's to say that the Saints don't march down and score on both those possessions that were stopped by the picks? In that case the Saints win it easily. The fact is that the Falcons turned the ball over as many times as the Saints. You can't have it both ways.

valid point. but the fumble by McClure was an unforced mistake which had a big outcome on the game. at the start of that drive i personally though it was an important drive for us. maybe we would've ended up punting, maybe we get a FG/TD.

i agree with jedi to an extent, without that mistake the outcome may have been different, it may have been a hard fought win for us. the fumble by Turner and the two ints thrown by Brees i would class as a different type of mistake/turnover, in that they were as a result of pressure/good play by the other team.