Week 1 Heroes and Goats

[kerouac9]

Bonus Goat: The NFL for those super-dumb gold "50" yardage markers. If that stays around all season, I'm writing a strongly worded letter to the commissioner's office.

 

[Russ Smith]

Um... I don't know how you can compare Martin not making what would've been a miraculous INT to Carson hitting four or five guys right in the hands.

In the second and third quarter, Palmer just completely lost the strike zone, and it's lucky that the Saints weren't able to cash in.

I was actually mad that Martin didn't catch it until I saw the replay and realized he lost his balance before he actually started going for the ball. Live I thought he just fell over trying to run forward to catch the ball but in replay it appeared he was tripped up and was stumbling when he realized the ball was floating there and tried to get it.

Great play by HB, he clearly still has hops after his surgery. He also came fairly close to a pick on a play where he sniffed out a pass over the middle and came up. He realized at the last second he wasn't going to get it and redirected and hit the Wr taking him down, split second earlier and he's got a chance for a pick six. If he can hold up at his size he's going to be a hell of a player.


Agreed, the throws by Palmer were iffy decisions, with Brees they were more either a bad throw or a great play by the Cards.

I like Carson but he's much better with Wr's that are used to playing with him and get that he's going to try and fit it in there sometimes and you better not give up on it and hang him out to dry.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Nelson needs to work on his punt return game and wait until next offseason to learn the WR game in the NFL. I'd honestly rather have any of our top 3 RBs on the field than Nelson.

Agree

One other thing that I'll mention here: Carson Palmer was WILDLY lucky that the Saints defenders had hands of stone in this game. 3-4 passes were right in the breadbasket of the guys wearing black, often in situations that would've been pick-sixes.

I saw 2 that hit a d-lineman and could've easily been intercepted. Not sure what others you're referring to.
Otherwise, I thought Carson played an incredibly efficient and smart game.

 

[Iceman]

Bonus Goat: The NFL for those super-dumb gold "50" yardage markers. If that stays around all season, I'm writing a strongly worded letter to the commissioner's office.

I'm with you on that. It looks horrible. What's the reasoning behind it?

 

[TJ]

I'm with you on that. It looks horrible. What's the reasoning behind it?

Super Bowl 50

 

[Russ Smith]

Agree



I saw 2 that hit a d-lineman and could've easily been intercepted. Not sure what others you're referring to.
Otherwise, I thought Carson played an incredibly efficient and smart game.

One to Nelson that should have been picked by Browner but he misplayed it. There was another one the DB jumped the route and it hit him in the hands but he dropped it, blanking on which DB.

 

[MrYeahBut]

I know Humphries was inactive for the game, so how can he be a goat?... because he was inactive for the game, that's why.

 

[gmabel830]

You sure about Minter?

I'm not going to pretend I study every play or anything, but he had 7 tackles (5 solo) and one for loss, was graded +1.7 on PFF - 5th best on the team (yes, I know they aren't the end all be all) and Keim said that Ingram's 59 yard run was the mistake of an OLB who was supposed to break off (both ILB's were to blitz).

 

[Shaggy]

One to Nelson that should have been picked by Browner but he misplayed it. There was another one the DB jumped the route and it hit him in the hands but he dropped it, blanking on which DB.

That one was when CP tossed it to Fells on a crossing route and it was behind him right into the DBs numbers. There are always 2 or 3 that occur like that for CP in every game. It happens and luckily they didn't get the INT.

 

[CFLredzoned]

I didn't hear Gunther's name but wasn't expecting a 4th rd pick outa little junior college to blow up Max Unger and the rest of the Saints very good Oline.

Oh yeah, he was going up against Unger wasn't he.

With all the preseason hype, I think alot of people were expecting Nelson to be John Brown II and I don't think it's very realistic. Either way, I'm sure they learned Nelson isn't the guy you should be throwing 50/50 balls to.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Oh yeah, he was going up against Unger wasn't he.

With all the preseason hype, I think alot of people were expecting Nelson to be John Brown II and I don't think it's very realistic. Either way, I'm sure they learned Nelson isn't the guy you should be throwing 50/50 balls to.

YOu kind of expect something since BA has started calling Nelson and Brown "Fire" and "Smoke"

 

[D-Dogg]

Another Goat:

JJ Nelson - Struggled to get away from press coverage & couldn't deal with physical defenders. He gave up on plays without even making an attempt to catch the ball & instead kept looking for flags. He should have been able to torch a weak Saints secondary, but he didn't have a single catch despite being targeted at least 4 times. He's got great speed, but he's not ready to be on the field as a wide receiver yet. He needs to add 25-30 lbs of muscle without losing any speed.

I will tell you from the endzone view on both of those throws, Carson should have made the throw earlier. JJ blew the defenders away off the line, but the ball in the air allowed the defenders to catch him to push him and disrupt the pass. It was incredible how quickly he was open, but the pass wasn't released nearly quick enough. His acceleration is ridiculous, and I'm a little surprised he wasn't the first read in the progression at least on the second attempt, because being third or whatever he was basically made those contested passes due to the (short) elapsed time vs automatic touchdowns if they were thrown early and leading him. I know he's fast, but his off the line speed there was amazing.

 

[CFLredzoned]

FWIW Keim just gave his Bloody Knuckle Game Ball (actually Wolfley's Bloody Knuckle Game Ball) to Cooper. Couldn't say enough about the high level he played at.

 

[kerouac9]

FWIW Keim just gave his Bloody Knuckle Game Ball (actually Wolfley's Bloody Knuckle Game Ball) to Cooper. Couldn't say enough about the high level he played at.

Maybe he ended the game at a high level, but not even Wolfley could homer himself into saying that Cooper was playing at a high level all game long.

When I saw driving in this morning, Wolfley was saying that Cooper got "blown up" several times during the game, and "I don't care who you are — as an offensive lineman, you're going to get blown up sometimes." Cooper was solid as the game went on, and the results in the running game speak for themselves.

Frostee Rucker probably deserves the Bloody Knuckles game ball.

 

[splitsecond]

The O-Line played better than they have in as long as I can remember. We had real running plays and respectable averages probably for the first time since we ran the ball straight up the Rams' anuses for 268 yards back in 2011. And this is without Iupati. Can't wait to see what this group can do now that they have their confidence built.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Spoiler: Jonathan Cooper is not a goat.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/heroes-and-goats-saintscards/

Special teams deserves a Goat for the "12 men on the field" penalty on the punt return. That basically allowed Brees to throw his only TD of the game.

However did Butler really do that bad? His first punt that wasn't that great at only 30 yards. However the rest of his punts were very good and had great hang time. The one at the end of the 4th pinned the Saints at the 3 yard line.

 

[kerouac9]

Special teams deserves a Goat for the "12 men on the field" penalty on the punt return. That basically allowed Brees to throw his only TD of the game.

However did Butler really do that bad? His first punt that wasn't that great at only 30 yards. However the rest of his punts were very good and had great hang time. The one at the end of the 4th pinned the Saints at the 3 yard line.

27th in the league (out of 28 teams so far) in net punting. He punted 4 times; one was terrible.

 

[MadCardDisease]

27th in the league (out of 28 teams so far) in net punting. He punted 4 times; one was terrible.

And he currently ranks #4 with punts downed inside the 20.

He currently ranks #14 with Net Avg

 

[D-Dogg]

The first punt was an example of why I don't like this guy, but to be fair, that late punt pindown was a thing of beauty..perfectly placed, nice and high so there was plenty of coverage there...textbook.

I am more concerned when he's punting from our own 20 than when he's punting from midfield. He gets the yips or something close to our endzone...the seattle game up there last season was just embarrassing...I think even worse than the playoff embarrassment. Every punt basically had the Seahawks in FG range.

 

[kerouac9]

I saw 2 that hit a d-lineman and could've easily been intercepted. Not sure what others you're referring to.
Otherwise, I thought Carson played an incredibly efficient and smart game.

2:01 in the 1st — Palmer throws it directly to Brandon Browner when he's aiming for Fitz on the slant.
0:14 in the 2nd — Palmer throws it into double-coverage to Nelson in the end zone (this isn't a huge deal since it would've been a punt).
0:11 in the 3rd — Palmer throws a dart over the middle on 3rd and 4 to Fells or Gresham and hits Stephone Anthony in the hands.

Those are the passes that were total head-scratches from a ball-placement POV. A couple more were borderline, but of the "weird bounce" variety.

OT: On the long Darren Fells reception, Jermaine Gresham ended up blocking two guys WAY downfield — absolutely leveled both of them.

Also OT: Deone Bucannon did not have a great day yesterday.

Also also OT: The Cards rotated in a ton of defensive players. Early in the 4th quarter Kareem Martin and Ed Stinson were on the field. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that almost all the defensive players who were active got snaps with the defense.

Also also also OT: That David Johnson reception was NOT a screen. It was just a little out route off of Jet Sweep action. DJ doesn't have anyone running with him when he catches the ball.

 

[Cardiac]

The first punt was an example of why I don't like this guy, but to be fair, that late punt pindown was a thing of beauty..perfectly placed, nice and high so there was plenty of coverage there...textbook.

I am more concerned when he's punting from our own 20 than when he's punting from midfield. He gets the yips or something close to our endzone...the seattle game up there last season was just embarrassing...I think even worse than the playoff embarrassment. Every punt basically had the Seahawks in FG range.

Cosign.

Obviously BA has faith in Butler and he did a very good job after that first punt but man on man, an NFL punter simply can't shank punts. I mean seriously, he has one job, punt the ball. Even a FG kicker has a tougher job for cripes sake.

What's your job dude?!?!?!?!!?

I catch the hiked ball and then kick it.

Anything else?

Nope that's it.

So what's the hard part? Catching the snapped ball, or taking a couple of steps or kicking the ball?

 

[Jetstream Green]

I never said that I expected him to add 25-30 lbs of muscle during this season. He should be working towards it though. The guy is 5'10 & 156 lbs... he should be able to support 175 - 180 lbs of weight on his frame.

How many top NFL receivers weigh less than 180 lbs?

Again, it's something to build towards if he doesn't want to get shut down at the line of scrimmage on every play... even if he get's past the press coverage then he's been re-routed or the timing of the play is off.

Speedy DeSean Jackson is one

 

[Russ Smith]

The O-Line played better than they have in as long as I can remember. We had real running plays and respectable averages probably for the first time since we ran the ball straight up the Rams' anuses for 268 yards back in 2011. And this is without Iupati. Can't wait to see what this group can do now that they have their confidence built.

Yeah when we get Iupati back I think the OL will take a jump forward. He's such a good run blocker it will actually help the pass blocking because we'll be able to run better and teams will honor the run more IMO.

Could be a pretty formidable run blocking OL when he gets back.

 

[crisper57]

Fells was the #6 TE in NFL Fantasy Football this week. Wonder when the last time was that a Card's TE broke the top 15.

 

[CardLogic]

Bonus Goat: The NFL for those super-dumb gold "50" yardage markers. If that stays around all season, I'm writing a strongly worded letter to the commissioner's office.

Start writing. 50 years - golden anniversary for Super Bowl