A good win

[Catfish]

OK then---------#1 is out of the way, and it was a very good win. That is not to say that there won't be a number of red faces when BA breaks out his little note book during the film sessions this week, but that the overall effort was sufficient to chalk up a pretty solid W to begin the new season against a team with some really decent offensive firepower.

Muffin, I thought of you during the game, and feel pretty confident that you got the exciting game that you were hoping for. At least I felt it was an exciting game.

Mitch, you will be happy to hear that a good number of my family and friends from Southern NH, and Southern Maine, (all Pat's fans), watched our game along with us today and were very pleased with what they saw. Us Desert Rats watched their game with the 'Stillers' Thursday evening and they were returning our favor. By the way, I felt that your selections of offensive, defensive and special teams players who excelled was spot on.

As for me, I was most satisfied with the play of Patrick Peterson. Alone on his island with Cooks all day, he was very solid. On the plays that Cooks won, he displayed that his memory is still short and there is no pouting on the bench or on the field. He simply laid it all out again, next play, and took home the biggest share of the wins between them. I felt he really manned up today and set the tone for our entire secondary. That, to me, is what leadership is all about.

I felt that BA let his play calling slip a little in the second period when he sort of got pass happy and went pretty much away from the run. After the half, things got nicely squared away though with the play calling. I really do feel that we need to take a hard look at the coaching of our special teams. The punt return teams still run hot and cold, and the personnel management of that unit was atrocious, with uncertainties in numbers of players on the field for punt receiving being obviously unclear to those players on at least two occasions.

Offensively, I was elated with the overall speed, and was very happy with the pass protection afforded Carson Palmer by the O line. The run blocking did not achieve the same results as the pass pro did, but when it clicked, there were some great blocks made, and some huge holes opened. That only looks to get better as Massie, and Iupati become due to return to playing. It would appear to me that Arians' belief in his O line is well founded.

I was very impressed to see that we ran the ball as well as we did today. I also feel very good that we have signed Chris Johnson to help in the backfield. His experience came through today and he certainly added a calming factor to the run game after Ellington's injury. This was a good, solid, and comfortable win so far as I was concerned. Go Cards!!!!!

 

[MartinD]

A good win is right. I think you're spot-on with your observations. Peterson is solid again, Badger is back, Fitz is the heart of this team and displayed it, and I'm so pleased to have a top tier QB under center. I think Palmer is too easily dismissed by the rest of the sports world, especially on radio, but I believe he's a top ten quarterback.

 

[schutd]

The Saints lined up to go for it on 4th down before calling a time out for that horrible penalty on the ensuing punt. Is it possible that the D sent guys out there not realizing/communicating well that NO had switched it up after the TO and decided to punt? 13 guys?!? That was atrocious. ANd it was a defining play that ended up in a TD for NO and kept us from putting our foot on their throat. I agree with both you and Mitch. ST's need a good kick in the pants. And our new "knee deep" seems like it should be Amos Jones.

 

[blindseyed]

Started out great, slowed up a bit and NO got into a groove but we got our bearings and finished solid. I'm not gonna break down all the nitty gritty, we won and it was well deserved!! On to Chicago!

 

[Catfish]

The Saints lined up to go for it on 4th down before calling a time out for that horrible penalty on the ensuing punt. Is it possible that the D sent guys out there not realizing/communicating well that NO had switched it up after the TO and decided to punt? 13 guys?!? That was atrocious. ANd it was a defining play that ended up in a TD for NO and kept us from putting our foot on their throat. I agree with both you and Mitch. ST's need a good kick in the pants. And our new "knee deep" seems like it should be Amos Jones.

Ha ha ha, I love your comment about the new 'knee deep', and I wholeheartedly agree. Someone needs to get Amos Jones' attention. We have far too many talented players on special teams to be playing like we do in the transition game. To me, Butler seems to have been selected by Rod Graves. He moves at a snails pace when he is in full out 'go' mode. I am beginning to wonder if he isn't just following the pace of his own mind, and is actually a slow thinker???

 

[Catfish]

One thing that I completely overlooked was how well Fitz has assimilated himself into his new role on this offense. With both he and Fells filling out the underneath patterns, and Juron Brown helping out in the slot and more mid to longer ranges, our receiving depth is very, very good even without counting the receiving help out of the backfield.

My son and I re-watched the game last night, and we both had to chuckle at the frustration that was obviously eating away at Rob Ryan as he watched David Johnson receive that pass and run for the 'I got this' touchdown that drove the death stake into the heart of the Saints 'D'. One almost can feel the bile filling his mouth as he was to pleased to know that he had called a great defense for that play, only to see Johnson sprinting away down the sideline for that score. From reading his lips, and seeing the red flush in his face from the rage he was feeling from knowing that he had no defense for what BA gave him to handle, was somehow very satisfying to me. I would bet that the man was bringing up vile green stuff all night that he was choking on.