New Orleans @ Baltimore

Boy was I happy when I saw that the weather forecast for the Saints-Ravens matchup only included temperatures in the mid 30′s and no frozen precipitation what-so-ever. Regardless of what Sean Payton says, I never trust a New Orleans Saints team in the snow. Never. (see 2006 NFC Championship game against the Chicago Bears) Regardless of the weather, though, I wasn’t too keen on playing the Baltimore Ravens. Even with their near embarrassment on national television last Monday to the up-one-week-down-the-next Houston Texans. After that defensive performance, I knew they would be ready to come out and prove their stout defense true. Even with the loss, though, I thought the main difference between the winner of yesterdays matchup came down to turf. If this game is in New Orleans, there’s no way we lose. I don’t think Ray Rice regains his 2009 form in the Superdome. From the sound on the television, Baltimore sounded just as loud as the Superdome on any given Sunday. The Ravens were just more pumped than we were. We didn’t run the ball well enough to win, either. You don’t win football games against anyone in the AFC East with 46 pass attempts and 14 rushes. Somehow, the Saints managed to beat the Steelers with a 44/21 pass to run ratio, but that was in the Superdome. That kinda ratio only works in the Superdome.

Aside from the loss, there were a couple of good things that came from yesterday.

Jimmy Graham

This dude went off. If his one handed diving TD catch in the first quarter is signs of things to come, go ahead and change his number to 85 and put “Gates” on his jersey. I actually wish they would have gone more to him in the second half than they did Reggie. This guy will be a beast in the next couple years. We will be asking ourselves how he went in the third round of the draft.

Marques Colston

Colston went past 5,000 receiving yards in a Saints uniform. He is the only player in the last 5 years to have 1,000 yards in each of his seasons and NOT make the Pro Bowl. Sad.

Devery Henderson

There was a Presidenderson sighting yesterday. Whoopie!

Lance Moore

What else can you say about this guy? He just makes plays. The tightrope catch in the endzone tied the game at 24. Amazing stuff.

Gotta beat ‘dem Dirty Birds on Monday. We do that, we’re playoff bound. And no one is gonna want to play us in the playoffs.

No excuses.

I really have no excuse as to why I’ve not been updating this as much as I’d hoped. No reason what-so-ever. I think one of the most important things that goes into writing a blog of any sort is to make sure you have enough going on in your mind on any particular topic that you can keep the reader interested. That also involves keeping on topic and not trying to cover too much ground. After rereading my posts to date, I’ve realized that I didn’t really have any idea of what I was trying to accomplish with this blog o’ mine. Whether or not anyone reads this isn’t the important part. The first and most important goal for this blog is to be happy with the work I’m putting out. I need to concentrate on writing about one particular topic and try not to let my mind wander. I need to figure out the direction I want to take this. Once that’s figured out, writing should come easier.

Depressed, only not.

So I admit it. I figured I wouldn’t have to write such a post until much further into the season. But here we are, week 3, and I’m trying to come up with the best way to keep my spirits up while trying to be realistic. The Saints are 2-1. There are a couple other teams (cough – the Cowboys and Vikings – cough) that would rather be where the Saints are right now as opposed to where they are. And Atlanta is no slouch. When the season started, I didn’t expect us to go 6-0 in divisional play, nor did I expect us to be undefeated after week 4. We played as bad a game as we’ve played in over a year, and we still had an opportunity to win. I really don’t want to put this win on Hartley as much as everyone else does. Yes, he missed a kick. But maybe that was karma talking? You can’t play a game like that and expect to win. You cant allow 50% or better on third down or 100% on 4th down and expect to win. You can’t expect to win when you are incapable of pressuring one of the leagues best young quarterbacks. And you can’t expect to win when you can’t cover a grandpa tight end. The Saints allowed all of this to happen…and we still had a chance to win.

Maybe the next couple weeks will help straighten things out. Our next 4 opponents are a combined 3-9, including two games against NFC South opponents. Things could change for the better in a hurry. Don’t think I don’t realize that the Saints have had a problem with bad teams over the course of history. But that was then and this is now and we have a much more disciplined team on our hands. Hopefully the coaching staff understands that we have to change a couple things if we want to regain our 2009 form. Running the ball is an absolute must.

We have one of the best offensive lines in the league paired up with one of the best fullbacks in the league. Pierre Thomas is running at a below-average 3.2 yards per carry right now. That has to change if the Saints want to be able to build up leads and milk the clock. We all know Pierre is capable of running the ball well, but he’s only had 46 attempts in 3 games. That’s lead to a team ranked dead last in rushing yards at 57 yards per game. We need to run the ball more than 15-20 times a game in order to keep defenses honest.

Our defense must play better down the middle of the field. Ove the last three weeks, we’ve allowed 264 yards and 2 TD’s to opposing tight ends. In all of our games this season, the opponents tight end has lead the team in receiving yards. Our linebackers and safetys need to play better in order to contain the middle of the field.

Last year, Gregg Williams blitzed on almost 50% of his plays last season. I don’t have the stats in front of me for this season, but I’d put money down on us blitzing less than 25% of the time. In fact, the only time I can remember us putting any pressure on Matt Ryan was in overtime when Will Smith got his sack. Blitzing leads to turnovers. We need to get 2009 Gregg Williams to come and smack 2010 Gregg Williams into shape. With that being said, with Jeff Otah most likely out for the Panthers on Sunday and with a rookie, Jimmy Clausen, at quarterback, I expect more blitz packages this week. I hope.

All in all, I’ve probably reminded myself that we won the Super Bowl more in the last week than I’ve done since February. Things will be alright. With that being said, I have absolutely no statistical evidence for that to be true. I just have faith in our coaches and players. That is, after all, what’s gotten us Saints fans to where we are now, right? Faith.

I waited 11 days for THAT???

Alright, I’ve been a Saints fan my entire life. I’ve put up with a lot of games like the one that took place last night. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of improvement that the 2010 edition of the New Orleans Saints need to make, but as a long suffering Saints fan, I know that before Sean Payton and Drew Brees’s arrival (hell, before last year) last nights game against the 49ers would not have been a victory. Some god-awful event would have happened; a sudden San Francisco fog would have rolled in making any sort of game winning field goal impossible, an earthquake would have torn Candlestick Park in half sending all players and coaches adorned with a fleur-de-lis downwards into the pits of hell while everyone in red and gold danced due to their forfeited win. Except, none of that happened, and the Saints defense was just as opportunistic as it was throughout the entire 2009 season. To use a term that far too many sports writers use, “They picked up right where they left off.” (I’m not really a sports writer, so I can use it, right?) The defense, however, didn’t play anywhere near the level they did against old-man Favre. Is Favre that bad this season? Or is Alex Smith that good? Are we that bad? The answer to all of those questions is “no”. Favre will, after realizing that maybe he shouldn’t have sat out so much preseason will regain his 2009 form. Alex Smith will come back down to Earth and regain his I-really-suck-and-I-don’t-deserve-to-be-on-the-same-field-as-Drew-Brees form. And our defense will learn from its mistakes to become the formidable defense we all know it can be while still being just as opportunistic. There were times last night where I wanted the Saints to load the box and make Alex Smith beat us as opposed to allowing Frank Gore to, well, gore us. But once he got in a rhythm in the 2nd half, I realized that my idea might not be such a good one.

Sure, on a night where Drew Brees completed 28-38 for 254 yards and 2 TD’s, we barely won. And sports analysts are right when they say that San Francisco is a bad team. Only they don’t mention, often enough if you ask me, which side of the ball they’re bad on. The truth is that they’re pretty good on defense. I’m sure if you’ve been listening to the radio all day, or perhaps watching SportsCenter for the majority of time between the hours of 1AM and 4AM, you know these stats. But for those of you who do neither, let me repeat them.

Last year, the Saints ranked 2nd overall in red zone defense. Remember all those interceptions where Sharper took the ball back 80+ yards? That’s why we were #2. Guess who was number #3? San Francisco. So, if you think back to last night and remember the three times Garrett Hartley had to kick field goals, it’s not because the Saints were struggling on offense. It’s just because we were playing against a damn good red zone defense. (Granted, the two touchdowns we scored were from inside the 5 yard line, but 2 TD’s to 3 FG’s. You do the math.) San Francisco also creates about 90% of their turnovers at home. (last year the did, anyway) We won the turnover battle last night at +4. AND we didn’t turn the ball over.

Yes, we won. Yes, we played poorly on defense. Yes, the mistakes need to be fixed. But we’re 2-0, and you can’t get any better than that.

Now on to more depressing discussion. Reginald Bush II fractured his right fibula after he muffed a punt, only to have to scramble on the ground to retrieve said punt. While on the ground, a large man wearing red fell on the back of his leg. Initial reports are that he’s out 4-6 weeks, which puts him back in time for the Pittsburgh game on Halloween night. Maybe. I was pretty depressed at the idea of Reggie not being in uniform for the next couple weeks or even for the rest of the season, but then I remembered who our coach and general manager were and all depression vanished. These guys brought us a world championship after almost 50 years of waiting. I’m sure they can replace one of the most dynamic players that have donned the black and gold for a couple weeks, right? I hope you’re nodding right now, because I’m not sure I even believe the last sentence my fingers made me type. Reggie, you will be missed for the next 4-6 weeks. Pierre already said he’s cool with taking a couple more touches every game and DeShawn Wynn already said he’ll be ready to catch a couple passes and run a couple balls while you’re out sick. Chris Ivory is just now getting over his bug, and he’ll be back in uniform in no time. So, please Reggie, while you’re out, take care of yourself. Eat lots of soup and be sure to take your medicine. I’ll see you on Halloween.

Hidden treasure!

Anyone who plays fantasy football knows that you don’t win based off of your first 3 or 4 picks. Those first 3 or 4 picks are the ones you’re supposed to make. Those picks are used to choose players that were good the previous year or players that were supposed to become featured in their team’s offense. A fantasy football team is made or broken from the 5th round on. Everyone has their sleepers, their rookies who could become Rookie of the Year. I have always prided myself on being able to draft, or acquire somehow, a player that explodes on to the fantasy football scene. Over the last 5 years, I have had the pleasure of having names such as Samkon Gado (after Ahman Green got hurt), Ryan Grant (in his first year with Green Bay), Maurice Jones-Drew (when he outplayed Fred Taylor his rookie year), Travis Henry (while he was still in Tennessee), Aaron Rodgers (in his first year as a starter), and Percy Harvin (last year I traded for him). The list goes on, but those are the most notable. Every year, I end up spending the majority of my 10th-20th picks on at least 5 players, rookie or not, that may make me look like a genius at the end of the season. This year, my top sleepers were Mohamed Massaquoi, Zach Miller, Kyle Orton, and Demaryius Thomas. Already, I’m having a good feeling about the last two. Although Thomas’ first game came yesterday, (he was out the first game recovering from a foot injury) he had a great game (8 catches, 97 yards, 1 TD) with, hopefully, more to come. Orton has already surpassed my expectations. Although the two teams he’s played against have less than reliable defenses, he is 5th in the league with 602 passing yards and a 3-1 TD-INT ratio. That’s better than Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Flacco. If I’m lucky, the Orton to Thomas connection grows and I end up in a very favorable situation.

Sometimes I spend a draft pick on a sleeper and it bites me in the ass. Last year, I took Ahmad Bradshaw in the 13th round. Great value, right? I had been unimpressed with beast-man Brandon Jacobs for quite some time. It may have started when I had Tiki Barber a couple years ago and Brandon Jacobs stole every one of his damn TD’s. I’ve always been more impressed with Bradshaw’s method of outrunning his opponents as opposed to Jacobs’ I’m-bigger-than-you-so-I’m-gonna-run-you-over mentality. Mr. Jacobs, if I may give my honest opinion, just because you’re bigger than most of the defensive lineman that you’re running at doesn’t mean that they can’t break your ankles. Oh, and you might not want to throw your helmet into the crowd. Or request a trade because you’ve been averaging less than 3.5 yards per carry. And now I’m even more angry at you, Mr. Jacobs, because you’ve made me turn this pro-Bradshaw comment into an anti-Jacobs rant. Regardless, I drafted Bradshaw this year, again, hoping for better numbers than his 700 and 7 stats from last year. If anyone watched the Manning Bowl last night, you know why I’m excited about having Bradshaw on my team this year. Supposedly, Mr. Jacobs is requesting a trade a day after he received 4 carries to Bradshaw’s 17. Who would want him, though? After the temper tantrum he threw last night (along with his helmet), why would you want to inject that poison into your team?

Thanks Brandon. You may have done me a favor after all.

Life ain’t nothin’ but football and money.

Can you imagine a life without football? Life without fantasy football? Life without the New Orleans Saints? Drew Brees? I’m tearing up right now at the thought of having absolutely nothing to do on Sundays. And these players just wanna play, they just want fairness when it comes to healthcare for their families and fair payment for the stress they put their bodies through each year for our enjoyment. These owners, though. Never happy. They want bigger stadiums for higher revenue. $18 Bud Light! I’d rather go to Bayou Beer Garden and pay $19 for a Rouge Chocolate Stout and a Smithwicks! (My girlfriend and I’s drinks while watching the season opener.) NFL players get close to 60% of the revenue from their respective teams. Owners find that amount a tad high. I’ve always found professional athletes’ salaries to be extremely high, but then I think about the amount of revenue that these teams generate for their owners. I think about the potential life altering injuries that could affect these guys for the rest of their lives. Then I think about how the closest I’ve come to getting injured during an NFL game was kicking a wall in anger when Brian Westbrook knelt on the 1 yard line.

Now, if you’ve seen the movie “The Replacements” with Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman, you can understand another aspect of why I’m so scared of a lockout. I do not want to see any version of Shane Falco playing quarterback for any of the 32 NFL franchises. However, I would welcome Nigel “The Leg” Gruff to kick for my New Orleans Saints. He can’t be any worse than Olindo Mare.

Simply put, these guys better figure something out. Owners wanting to decrease player revenue from 58% of total revenue to around 40% is ridiculous. If your employer wanted you to take an 18% pay cut, you’d find another job in which you can make either the same amount of money, or perhaps more. Unfortunately for NFL players, there aren’t very many options outside the NFL which will pay them equal to what they’re being paid now. Normally, the NFLPA and the NFL have to come to terms on a labor contract. They agreed on the current labor contract back in 2006. This contract expires in March of 2011. What makes this whole situation even more difficult for the players is that the NFL has already signed TV contracts with FOX, NBC, CBS, and DirecTV. The NFL is guaranteed to get paid from these contracts whether there is a 2011 season or not. Color me worried.

Something has to happen though, right? Please tell me it’s not possible for the most popular sport on American soil to not be played. I won’t be able to display my fantasy football trophies from years past because they won’t mean anything! At least the VooDoo are coming back, right? RIGHT?!

I hate fantasy football.

So here’s the deal. I actually had a whole blog post written out for you. It was completely done. The entire post described, in detail, each of my four fantasy football teams and the leagues they belong in. It described the people I play with and why I have a completely different, yet justifiable, reason why each one of my teams could win the league. It was a great post.

Then I proofread it.

And I realize that writing about fantasy football is just like talking about it in person. You really don’t give a shit who I have on my team. You may be just as passionate about fantasy football as I am, but you really don’t care who I’m starting this week or why. That’s because fantasy football is a completely, one-hundred percent egotistical. For every bit of information I give you on my fantasy football teams, you will give me a reason why I should have something different and why you did better in your fantasy football draft than I did. We’re all the same, us fantasy football players. We feel as though we are God and we created a masterpiece for all to view.

I’m one of the most competitive people I know. Unfortunately, when it comes to fantasy football, my competitive nature is only useful the same weeks that my luck showed up. The more I play fantasy football, the more I realize that it doesn’t matter who you draft, it doesn’t matter who you play which week. The only thing that matters is luck. Unless you’re a coach of an NFL team and know what your game plan is going to be, you really have no idea which players are going to provide you the necessary statistics to help you lift your fantasy trophy in all of its bullshit glory. But I still love the game. Unfortunately. As of right now, it looks as though I’ll go 3-1 in my leagues this week.

WEEKLY FANTASY FOOTBALL THANK YOUS

(These are only players I own in any of my 4 leagues. They only matter to me. I told you fantasy football was egotistical)

Chris Johnson - 142 rushing yards, 2 TD’s. 4 receptions, 8 yards.

Matt Forte - 50 rushing yards. 7 receptions, 151 yards, 2TD’s.

Miles Austin – 10 receptions, 146 yards, 1 TD.

Rashard Mendenhall - 120 rushing yards, 1 TD. 2 receptions for 15 yards.

(this list may be amended after Monday Night Football)

So let’s talk about some real football, eh? Week 1 is already over, sans our Monday night match ups between the Jets and Ravens and the Chargers and Redskins. As a Saints fan, I found the 31-6 drubbing of the 49ers by the Seattle Seahawks particularly interesting not only because they’re our next opponent, but also because next week’s game is on Monday Night Football and has, for quite some time, been a highly anticipated matchup. I felt as though the rest of the NFC South could have represented our division a little better, but before the Giants – Panthers and Steelers – Falcons games started, I felt as though those games could have gone either way. Thanks Tampa Bay, you got our division a win…over the Browns.

The Texans thrashing the Colts was probably the highlight of Week 1 for me. Houston’s defense actually looked legit. Even without Man-Boob Cushing. 

But could Houston actually win this division?

The answer is no. The Colts still have that huge forehead on their team and until he decides to hang them up, they will always make a Super Bowl push. But let it be duly noted that if the Texans do win the division, I will be the first one on the bandwagon calling for a Saints – Texans Super Bowl.

I didn’t get to watch very much football today. My nephew had his third birthday today, so I spent the majority of the afternoon at an indoor spacewalk facility. If I were younger than 25, it would have been a great experience. But I’m 25, so. Regardless, I spent the afternoon away from the television set, at a birthday party then work. Fortunately enough (please note sarcasm), in the 10-15 minutes I was able to watch football, I caught both Houston’s defensive end Connor Barwin’s dislocated ankle and Philadelphia’s fullback Leonard Weaver’s torn knee ligament. Reminds me of why I play fantasy football and not real football. Then again, I’m 5’9, 157 lbs. and I’ve never played competitive football in my life. So maybe that’s why I don’t play real football. I’ll let you decide.

P.S. – I had 116 blog views over the last 3 days. That’s way more than I ever expected. Thanks for stopping by.

Phew.

And just when I thought I had written enough for the first day of pretending to care about anything, I decide that I want coffee. That trip reminds me why I decided to write in the first place.

I used to work at a coffee shop in Mid-City called Fair Grinds. If anyone visits a coffee house more than two or three times a week, they begin to notice that each coffee shop has its regulars. Some of these regulars are somewhat peculiar. Eccentric even. Fair Grinds actually had more than a couple people that fit this mold. They actually had a small army of them. One such man, I’m not even sure of his name, once heard me talking to some customers about football. Since then, every single time this man has seen me, he has addressed me as “Mr. Football”. This gentleman and I have had conversations ad nauseam regarding all things football. College football, NFL, XFL, AFL, teams he played on as a child where he was a “pro ready tight end”. Everything under the sun in the world of football. When my time at Fair Grinds ended, this gentleman didn’t take it too well. Friends of mine who still worked there told me that he would come in daily asking for Mr. Football. I wasn’t trying to be elusive. I actually enjoyed talking with this guy. He seemed as though he needed a friend. But now, because I don’t spend much time at the coffee shop, when I do see him, I’m pretty much forced into having an hour-long conversation with him.

I remember our first argument like it was yesterday. I was enjoying a bagel (or was it a bran muffin?) and a cup of coffee when he walks in the door, sees me, and exclaims, “MR. FOOTBALL, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YA BEEN?” We discussed the usual: how he loved the spread offense, how he loved the use of the tight end (this man is tight end crazy), and how great Bill Walsh and the 49ers used to be. Then he asked me something I had never heard. “Mr. Football, with you being the know-it-all in the world of football, surely you love college football, right?” I actually hate college football.

(Whether it’s because I went to Hahnville High School where our school was painted purple and gold, our mascot was a tiger, and, 90% of students ended up going to LSU, or because I was raised a Tulane Green Wave fan, which if you know anything about Tulane football, sans one year, they’re not much to root for.)

I explained to him that one of the biggest reasons that I don’t enjoy college football was because I don’t want to enjoy a sport where all the teams that start a season have the same opportunity to win a championship. (I hate the BCS. This won’t win me very many readers.) I honestly don’t remember what his rebuttal was, but it wasn’t worth remembering. He probably just called me a lying sack of garbage. He called me that pretty often, especially if I didn’t agree with him. Even if I hadn’t lied.

Today, I decided that I wanted some coffee and a bagel. I drove on over to Fair Grinds, got the goods, and had a seat. No less than 10 minutes go by and he walks in. “Mr. Football, everybody!” he shouts. He’s pointing at me. No one looks. I’m spared embarrassment. He sits down next to me and starts talking about the game last night. He remembers how last year, after Heath Evans’ move to I.R., I had made a comment about how our running game wouldn’t be the same. Today, he tells me that he exclusively watched Heath Evans’ play last night. He was astounded that Mr. Evans was such a blocker! I told him so. This may not be such a big deal to most Saints fans. We all know Heath Evans is a superb blocker and a great pass catcher. This gentleman was in the dark. He then brings up next weeks matchup between the Saints and the 49ers. He’s a 49ers fan. He is calling for a 49ers win. I called him a lying sack of garbage.

New season, new blog!

This situation that you are about to encounter cannot be avoided any longer. Whether it’s coming from the mouth of slightly insane customers at a local coffee shop or from my girlfriend, people wanted to either know my take on the sports world or wanted me to communicate my perspective for all to know. I can assert, however, that I do not know everything there is to know about sports. I pay attention, mostly, to the world of American football (and my beloved New Orleans Saints), the NBA (and my beloved New Orleans Hornets), the EPL (Manchester City), and the MLS (New York Red Bulls). The NFL is, by far, the sport in which I am most educated thanks to the world of fantasy football. I have an extremely addictive personality, you see. When I get excited about something, I normally take it a tad too far. I don’t necessarily think that this is a bad thing. It just means I’m a passionate person. And that I’ll kick your ass in fantasy football.

Screw all this talk about me though. Let’s get on to more pressing topics; the New Orleans Saints season kicked off last night.

I for one was extremely anxious about the season opener last night. So anxious that I could have probably vomited if I had had more food in my stomach.

Note to self: next time I plan on eating pho before a Saints game, use less Sriracha.

I really wasn’t all to worried about the Super Bowl hangover that has plagued the minds of ESPN analysts since the Saints won it all back in February. I didn’t think that we would have the cakewalk of an opener that we had last year when the Detroit Lions visited the Dome, but I really didn’t expect the high scoring affair that we were given in the NFC Championship Game either. With Sidney Rice out, Harvin with his migrane headaches, and Bernard Berrian being Bernard Berrian, I felt as though our defense would have an easier time containing the man-beast-grandpa that is Brett Favre. The Saints went far and beyond my expectations. Sure, us here in New Orleans are used to high scoring affairs which is why this game is being portrayed as an underachievement. However, when was the last time you witnessed the Saints allowing under 14 points, let alone 10? To hold Favre and Adrian Peterson to under 200 yards passing and 100 yards rushing (especially after their previous seasons of 4,000+ passing yards, 33-7 TD-INT ratio, and 1,300+ rushing yards and 18 TD’s) is nothing short of phenomenal. While the Saints did allow the 20 yard strike from Favre to Visanthe Shiancoe towards the end of the first half, the blocked PAT showed that even though the Saints probably shouldn’t have let such a play materialize, they weren’t going to take any plays off.

The defense wasn’t flashy. We only recorded one turnover. We weren’t the “opportunistic” Saints defense of the 2009 season. But, in my opinion, we were a better defense last night. We allowed 171 yards passing. From Brett Favre. We allowed 91 yard rushing. From a team with Adrian Peterson, arguably the best running back in the league. I’m content.

This is kinda weird, right? Starting a recap of the Saints season opener with all this defensive hoopla? It’s not that the offense led by Breesus didn’t captivate me the way it had over the last four seasons, it’s just obvious that the offense maybe had a bigger head than the defense last night. Sean Payton’s play calling on the opening drive was masterful. Drew Brees coming out on the first play of the game in shotgun formation told the story; we are going to pass on you and we are going to score touchdowns. And with 2:04 off the clock in the first quarter, after Devery Henderson beat Asher Allen for a 29 yard touchdown, I thought it would be another NFC Championship Game. You’d think that, with the success of our first drive, that we would come out and do the exact same thing, right? Wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen, our second drive:

1. New Orleans Saints at 10:53
2. 1-10-NO 27(10:53) (Shotgun) 9-D.Brees pass short left to 23-P.Thomas to NO 25 for -2 yards (51-B.Leber). Pass -5, YAC 0
3. 2-12-NO 25(10:14) 9-D.Brees pass short left to 16-L.Moore to NO 27 for 2 yards (21-A.Allen, 52-C.Greenway). Pass -3, YAC 5
4. 3-10-NO 27(9:32) (Shotgun) 9-D.Brees pass incomplete deep right to 19-D.Henderson.
5. 4-10-NO 27(9:26) 6-T.Morstead punts 43 yards to MIN 30, Center-57-J.Kyle, out of bounds. No foul was given for kick-catching interference on the play.

It’s just not what you’d expect after opening the game with a 28 yard pass to Marques Colston.

But Payton did this to us last year as well. We’d open with an amazing drive, running left, throwing right. It was art. Then we’d come out on our next two possessions and lay eggs all over the field. If the dial was at 10 when we opened the game, Payton cranked it down to 3.

I really can’t justify going on about the offense anymore. They scored over 500 points last year. I’m going to chalk this up as rust and hope that we come out a little more aggressive against the 49ers.

But you can’t ask much more from a football team than to start the year off with a win.

And they did that.

And I’m happy.

And I didn’t vomit.