The Saints ARE a good team and Brees had a great game. If not for a couple fluky plays/calls, it was a tie.

Which doesn’t exactly make me happy, but doesn’t quite depress me. Not that i can let it go, of course.

mgrex03, there was no recc button above—what’s up with that?

I really can’t believe how good some of those stats are. It’s really remarkable to think back to the game with those stats in mind. 13 more yards per drive than the Saints? A whole extra yard per play? And we lose by 14? UGH.

Thanks again for the great work, this kind of analysis would make ESPN a much better place.

but I had a feeling it was going to be like that.

That sequence DID save us 4 pts in theory, so the bad field position on that series does not trouble me much.

The lack of a 1st down does.

Also, you think you give them the ball back at mid-field with 40 seconds left, after holding this high octane O to just 3 pts in the first 29:20, there’s little chance they actually score, right? Wrong.

With the exception of the 4th and goal stop there, just about all the breaks I can think of went the Saints way. I am sure I am missing a couple for us….

instead of taking a knee and only getting to the 9 or 10 yard line.

so it must have been 18to88.

This upcoming season is different than all the others, as (most likely) there won’t be a salary cap, so they can spend any money they want. Mr. Irsay isn’t opposed to spending money, as he gets that you have to spend money to make money.

Plus I believe Cribbs could take both of the spots held by Rushing and Simpson, giving the Colts more depth somewhere else.

who can Return and play ST and Defense for depth. Like I mentioned up top the best guy for this is Javier Arenas. The guy can do all of the afore mentioned things. Check out the video I posted if you haven’t seen what he’s got. Best is a great RB, but I think the Pats will snag him with one of their billion picks

Well, LovinBlue would be happy and Michael Silver would be less of a dick, most likely…..

before our first pick?

so it is unfair to lump them into the “Special Teams suck” argument. It was the return game where all the issues arose, like they normally do.

Only this time they kept happening over and over, and the defense didn’t help the Starting Position either.

If you remove a couple flukey items:
1) the on-side kick. Unprecedented. Plus our guy touched it BEFORE 10 yards, and of course bobbled it. Short field = TD Saints.
2) The 51 yd FG attempt. I know BBS said he was making them in warmups, but did ANY of us ever think of Stover as a viable 45+ kicker? I did not and was shocked shitless when they tried. We have the greatest QB on the planet—getting a 4th and 11 is more likely than a 51 yard kick from old Man Stover (whom I love). Even a pooch punt pins them deep. Long field = No Saints TD.

And that’s not even counting the pick-six, but of course if the score was tied or in our favor before that play, the throw is probably not made, picked, and returned.

Without those two short fields (and without giving up possession on the OS Kick) say the Saints score 3 instead of 14. That means our final drive was not a desperation drive and no pick-six. We’d have won a close one, despite Brees picking our D apart in the short-mid range stuff. (Ugly flipside: We kick a FG on the pick-six drive and go up by six, say… that gives the Saints a good four minutes to score a TD, and I don’t doubt they would have with Freeney losing effectiveness as the game went on.)

One last coaching item (I DO think we were outcoached, if only because of that onside kick and the FG attempt). The end of the half is loming, we have 4th and 1 at our own 10. Saints have (I think) 1 or 2 TOs left. We should definitely have lined up to go for it. It should have forced them to burn a precious TO. And if they called our bluff, big deal, we call a TO we don’t otherwise need as the play clock expires, and punt it and we’re in the same position. But any chances of the Saints burning a TO, or maybe going offsides with a hard count were just sqandered.

It’s called coaching. It’s called putting your guys in the best position to win the game. It involves preparing them all week, making adjustments, and making advantageous decisions on the fly. On a much simpler level, I’ve coached kindergartners in flag football for four years now. On D I LITERALLY put them in the best position to win by lifting them and placing them where they should be. That is what we need from our coaches—all of them—to put our guys in the best position to win.

I’ll add one more thing too. The other team is paid as well. They were excellent in Red Zone defense all season, and were once again.

What I try to do is look at a game from a macro level, so that one or two plays don’t influence everything. In this game, however, because the teams played so evenly, those one or two plays played a huge part in the game.

it can be a valuable position, especially when you lose two years in a row in the playoffs because of it.

Field position is important, but as several others have pointed out; this had little to do with our return game.

This is directly affected by only the Return game and the Defense. While one drive started at the 1 because of the defense, all the others were the result of a horrible return game. The Colts didn’t even have to get to average to make a difference, but they were awful.

is the 2nd round too early for an electric return man who is a legit prospect at CB?

Did’t like tear up returns. They out gained Chad Simpson which reall isn’t hard to do.

just under the 18 yard line.

Returning is much more based on instinct and quick decision making. While the blocking makes a difference, Simpson’s best runs are always the ones where he picks a hole at full speed and hits it.

Others do it so much better.

what he said :)

And for a little history, Brad Wells of Stampede Blue tells me that ties the longest drive in Super Bowl history.

which are weighted based on almost 5000 games, the Colts, barely, outplayed the Saints. It was extremely even, which I pointed out in the story. Also, according to these stats, the Vikings clearly outplayed the Saints 2 weeks ago, yet it didn’t matter either.

The weights for these stats are averages, and some singular games may have much different weights than the overall averages. Two weeks ago turnovers played a much bigger role than the average for the Saints. This time was Field Position.

Also, because it was so evenly played, 1 play can make a huge difference, which it clearly did with the INT return. Again, this looks at every play, not just one.

I’m not taking anything from the Saints. I even mentioned other teams have won, even though they were outplayed statistically, like the Steelers in the Super Bowl last year. The Saints made the plays they had to to win, and the Colts did not. It doesn’t change this macro-level view of the entire game.

Use less dots when you’re writing anything

Ever hear from Hester anymore? People simply don’t kick to him these days. There’s no point in paying big money to a return man if he can’t return the ball.