Game Thoughts

[Mr. Scot]

First off, ouch

Lemme say up front I'm not even gonna bother with any deep analysis of Bryce here. Seriously, what new insight is there on that topic? We all know who and what he is, so why spend effort rehashing it?

Instead, I wanna look at other aspects of the game:

Even accounting for the Saints focus on him, Dowdle looks like he's getting worn down. Using him as a workhorse may not be sustainable over the full season, especially not with the line playing like they did in this one.

This is why it was premature to talk about shipping Hubbard. What we really need is for Hubbard is get healthy and return to form so that we have a genuine two back rotation. Otherwise we're gonna watch more games like today's.

Regardless of who's running the ball though, we got whipped in the trenches.

(on both sides honestly,but I'd say worse when we were on offense)

Hunt is sorely missed. Corbett is probably done. Moton looks like he's either not fully healthy or has hit a wall. No exaggeration to say Nijman and Curhan looked better last week.

Left side is still solid at least, but that's not enough.

(certainly wasn't today)

The Saints have a better overall set of skill players than us, and it showed, but they also enjoyed a little better blocking. Even with good play by Brown and decent defense from some others, New Orleans' blockers mostly did their jobs. Kamara had enough daylight to run, and Shough wasn't harassed nearly as much as he should have been. 

That's what you count on.

They could. We couldn't.

Mind you, the defense had its moments. Some admittedly owed to the Saints being ass, but more positives than the offense had. Even so, I still have a hard time staying with Evero at DC. Seven more games to evaluate, but I'm prepared to move on.

There are some positive players on defense, at least. Scourton is showing up on a regular basis. Wallace has been good (defense got worse when he got hurt). And there are the known quantities of Brown and Horn, even granting the latter didn't have a good day. We're still lacking a game plan defining pass rusher of course, but that's not exactly news.

Bottom line, though, what disappointed me most this game?

Canales

Genuinely felt like Canales went into this game planning to use the exact same game plan as the last few weeks.

The Saints clearly were ready for it, and Canales didn't have any answers.

That's checkers thinking, not chess.

It was obvious from early on that the Saints plan was to stuff the run and force the Panthers to depend on Young's arm. For most of us, the automatic response to that is "duh"

So if it's obvious to us, why does it feel like Canales and his staff didn't get the memo?

You can argue that having Bryce limits his options, but even allowing for that, there were things that could have been done that weren't. I'd hoped to see more as the game went on, but instead it looked like the proverbial definition of insanity.

"But Bryce" I hear someone saying...

Yes, Bryce iis bad, but he's not solely to blame here.

With Bryce running the show, there's a pretty strict formula you need in order to win. Injuries have taken away some of what that requires personnel wise, but for me leadership was the bigger weakness against the Saints.

"Keep doing what works until they stop it" is a good mindset, but you still have to have a backup plan in place for when they do. Canales didn't.

If I were to sum up up, I'd say we didn't lose this game on Sunday.

We lost this game before it even started.

[electro's horse]

Sounds like coaching is the problem

[L-TownCat]

I fail to see how a coach can overcome having zero QB production without All-Time great defense or running game?.

Not an endorsement of this staff I’m just saying it’s impossible to coach well enough to overcome that albatross.

[Mr. Scot]

21 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

Sounds like coaching is the problem

It was a problem today, for sure.

Don't know if it's the problem. I have a hard time getting on board with dumping Canales without at least giving him a Chance to try a different quarterback.

[mav1234]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

It was a problem today, for sure.

Don't know if it's the problem. I have a hard time getting on board with dumping Canales without at least giving him a Chance to try a different quarterback.

this is exactly where I am.

He got some decent games out of Bryce last year that now looks like a miracle.

[Khyber53]

We took a victory Monday off, had Keegan-Michael Key in for a zoom speaker and generally had a great time living on the laughs and loves of beating Green Bay.

And then the Saints came to town and had their first rookie QB win a game since 1981... 1981.

fug. 

 

[The Lobo]

Saints did an excellent job of exploiting our weaknesses: qb and lack of pass rush. Stop Dowdle and the game is over 

[Mr. Scot]

19 minutes ago, L-TownCat said:

I fail to see how a coach can overcome having zero QB production without All-Time great defense or running game?.

Not an endorsement of this staff I’m just saying it’s impossible to coach well enough to overcome that albatross.

See above...

Even with the limitations Bryce gives you, there were things that could have been done. There are certainly specific types of players that are geared toward attacking that kind of defense.

We ran only a very few of them, which leads me to wonder if we're even practicing them. 

I already have questions about Canales when it comes to preparation. There are certainly things I like about it, but I really need to see more "chess" type thinking.

I know we have some "mentors" on staff, but it's possible we need some different ones.

[hepcat]

I can’t say coaching was the reason they lost. They are a caged animal because Bryce is so limiting. You say you don’t want to rehash it but the offense starts and ends with the QB position. And it’s obvious the coaching staff is trying their best to make salad out of midget sh*t.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, The Lobo said:

Saints did an excellent job of exploiting our weaknesses: qb and lack of pass rush. Stop Dowdle and the game is over 

They came prepared.

We didn't.

That's a coaching fail.

[Butterflyj30]

I'm watching Charlotte Vibe on Youtube and he is basically saying Bryce just can't see down the field. I agree and if you can't do that you can't be a NFL QB

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, hepcat said:

I can’t say coaching was the reason they lost. They are a caged animal because Bryce is so limiting. You say you don’t want to rehash it but the offense starts and ends with the QB position. And it’s obvious the coaching staff is trying their best to make salad out of midget sh*t.

Again, see above...

Anybody on this board could have predicted what the Saints were gonna do today. A professional football coach and his staff should have not only known, but prepared a game plan that understood that.

We didn't, and that isn't Young's fault.

Bryce can be blamed for a lot of things, but poor game planning isn't one of them.

[SCO96]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

They came prepared.

We didn't.

That's a coaching fail.

I’m gonna press you on this one just a bit. Once the Saints locked down Dowdle, how would you as a  HC altered your game plan with BRYCE as your QB?

[TD alt]

Agree with this on most everything, but one. I don't think Chuba makes a helluva difference. You're assuming that he's not fully healthy. Healthy or not, when a team can dare you to beat them with the pass, especially this team that basically only has one starting caliber receiver---including TEs---your RBs are not going to have too much success. 

If any opposition the rest of the way is worth it's weight in gold, they will follow the roadmap and lighted pathway that the Saints used, and the true problems behind our team will be highlighted every Sunday (and the one Monday) for the remainder of the season. 

Edited 1 hour ago by TD alt