Rookie Head Coach Mike Pettine led his team to an impressive victory over the Saints for his first career win today.
The New Orleans Saints can get upset about what the media says about their struggles on the road as much as they want, but until they learn how to close out wins in games like last week and today, they have no gripe. Once again, the Saints had the lead and the ball inside of three minutes to play, but failed to get any more points on the board and close it out. The Cleveland Browns won the game in the final seconds, thanks to a 29 yard field goal from Billy Cundiff to make it 26-24.
Unlike last week, the Saints got off to a very slow start. Disaster nearly struck on just the second play of the game, when Drew Brees had to chase down a bad snap from the shotgun, saving what could have been a fumble recovery inside the Saints 10 yards line for the Browns. New Orleans went three and out, totaling -1 yard on their first two drives, giving Cleveland great field position throughout the first quarter. The Browns capitalized on their second drive, taking 9 plays for 51 yards for a touchdown, which came on a 3 yard reception by Miles Austin from Brian Hoyer.
On the next drive, the Saints were only able to gain 10 yards on six plays, again having to punt. Taking over with great field position again, the Browns were looking to extend their lead. Billy Cundiff missed a 44 yard field goal off of the right upright, but struggling Patrick Robinson made yet another mistake, jumping offsides and bailing Cleveland out. The play was a 4th and 4, so the five yard penalty gave them a fresh set of downs. Four plays later, Cundiff hit a 32 yard field goal to extend the Browns lead to 10-0.
After totaling just 9 yards of offense in the 1st quarter, Brees and the offense’s first possession of the 2nd quarter wasn’t much better. Thomas Morstead punted for the fourth time in four possessions. Cleveland answered with a punt of their own, setting New Orleans up for their first scoring drive.
Starting at their own 18 yard line, the Saints went 73 yards in 7 plays, settling for a red-zone field goal and cutting the deficit to 10-3 on a 27 yard chip shot from Shane Graham. New Orleans looked to be finally gaining some momentum, holding Cleveland to a quick three and out and forcing another punt. A 12 yard Mark Ingram run had the Saints nearing mid-field, but on the next play, disaster struck. Brees was hit by Paul Kruger as he made a threw to Jimmy Graham, causing the ball to sail high right in to the hands of Tashaun Gipson, who returned the interception 62 yards for a touchdown. The Browns’ extra point attempt was botched, keeping the score 16-3.
Brees and the Saints came up with a huge answer right before halftime, going 85 yards in 12 plays, capping things off with a 9 yard touchdown pass to Graham. The All-Pro tight end was held without a catch until that drive, which he recorded 5 receptions, 57 yards and the touchdown on. The score was extremely important, not only answering the pick-six, but because the Browns were set to get the ball starting the second half.
On that opening drive of the 3rd quarter, Cleveland gained just 3 yards on 5 plays, punting the ball away for the fourth time. Brees and the Saints wasted no time capitalizing on the chance to take their first lead of the day, marching 57 yards in 8 plays, finishing things off with Graham’s second touchdown reception, coming from a yard out. Because of Cleveland’s missed extra point, the score put New Orleans up 17-16.
The lead didn’t last for long, as the Browns answered right back. Brian Hoyer took his team 80 yards in 14 plays to retake the lead with a 9 yard touchdown run from rookie running back Terrance West.
The back and forth game continued, with the Saints answering right back to re-take the lead again. Brees led the Saints 80 yards on 13 plays for their third consecutive touchdown drive, finishing things off with a 1 yard touchdown run from Mark Ingram. The score put New Orleans up 24-23 with 12:12 left in the game.
The Saints were then given a huge opportunity that they could not cash in on. Despite getting in to New Orleans territory, Cleveland’s drive stalled and they were forced to punt the ball back to the Saints with just under nine minutes to go. With the golden opportunity to extend their lead, New Orleans failed yet again. The drive looked very promising, taking over six minutes off of the clock to leave less than three minutes left in the game, but they just couldn’t close it out. On a 3rd and 5 and just within Shane Graham’s field goal range, Brees was sacked by Carlos Dansby for a loss of seven yards, forcing New Orleans to punt. Morstead came in and did his job, downing the punt at the Browns 4 yard line.
With 2:46 left on the clock, Brian Hoyer and his offense took over to try and win the game. Cleveland then converted two third downs and one fourth down to extend their drive and keep their hope alive. A 13 yard pass on the sideline from Hoyer to Austin put the Browns on the fringe of field goal range with fifteen seconds left on the clock and just one time out. Then, the unthinkable happened. The Saints completely blew a coverage, allowing Andrew Hawkins to slip behind the defense and pick up 28 yards on a wide open catch down to the 11 yard line. Cundiff then booted through the game-winning field goal from 29 yards out, leaving the Saints in heart ache for the second week in a row to start the year with the final score being 26-24.
Observations
– Patrick Robinson may be the worst starting cornerback in the league. I’m really not trying to sound harsh, but he’s just flat out bad. This is precisely what everyone was worried about when the Saints cut Champ Bailey.
– The Saints’ quick fix for Robinson’s struggles today was to move Corey White to the outside in two cornerback sets, but then shift him back to his nickel spot when they went with three. White is far from the answer on the outside, so it’ll be interesting to see what Coach Sean Payton and Rob Ryan look to do this week to fix this problem. Either Bailey’s phone could be ringing soon or we may see young guys like Stanley Jean-Baptiste or Brian Dixon get some playing time.
– Drew Brees was very rattled by not only Cleveland’s pressure, but their crowd. Especially in the first half, Brees was having trouble making his pre-snap checks at the line, being forced to burn two timeouts just to save them from a delay of game penalty.
– The Browns were getting a lot of pressure with just a four man rush. After keeping Brees clean for all 60 minutes against the Falcons last week, the offensive line struggled at times today.
– Brees’ decision making was very questionable today. He made a few throws that were nearly picked off, but luckily just fell incomplete.
– Mark Ingram is the best option to run the ball that New Orleans has. That’s no disrespect to either Khiry Robinson or Pierre Thomas, because they have both played well. Ingram has just been that good. Ingram has also shown his dramatic improvement as a pass catcher. He caught one pass behind the line of scrimmage today and made about six defenders miss as he weaved his way for a 13 yard gain.
– Marques Colston was a ghost today. He likely saw time across from Joe Haden, but Haden covered Jimmy Graham, Kenny Stills, and Robert Meachem at times, so it’s not like he was locking Colston down all day. I’m very interested to see the snap count for Colston, because it seemed as if he wasn’t even on the field, despite not getting injured. Brees didn’t even target him a single time.
– Jimmy Graham took over the game when he had to. Cleveland did a good job on him early, but with their backs against the wall following the pick-6, Graham did what he had to get open, make the reception, and get yards after the catch to help his offense get in to the end-zone.
– Kenny Vaccaro cleaned up his tackling from last week. To my knowledge, he did not miss a single tackle after missing six last week.
– I usually try and remind myself to leave the decision making to the professionals, but I simply cannot come up with an explanation for why Ingram saw just one touch early on the Saints’ final drive to try and close out the game. He was absolutely dominating the Browns defense, but Coach Payton decided to go with mostly Robinson throughout the drive. I’m still baffled by the situation.
– Robert Meachem looked old today, despite his three receptions. He dropped two very catchable passes, one of which would’ve been a touchdown. Through two weeks, he’s struggled to get open and hasn’t looked that great. That leads to my next two thoughts. First, where was Joe Morgan today? Second, the Saints must really still not have enough trust in Nick Toon.
– The Saints will continue to use Brandin Cooks in a Percy Harvin type role. He received two carries today, taking one jet sweep for a huge 28 yard gain.
-Cam Jordan and Junior Galette got a little more pressure today, but still haven’t played up to their standards.
Stats
Saints
Drew Brees – 27-40 / 237 yards / 2 TDs / 1 INT
Mark Ingram – 11 carries / 83 yards / 1 TD / 7.5 YPC / 3 receptions / 21 yards
Khiry Robinson – 8 carries / 31 yards / 3.9 YPC
Pierre Thomas – 3 carries / 16 yards / 5.3 YPC/ 3 receptions / 16 yards
Jimmy Graham – 10 receptions / 118 yards / 2 TDs
Robert Meachem – 3 receptions / 37 yards
Kenny Stills – 3 receptions / 25 yards
Brandin Cooks – 3 receptions / 17 yards / 2 carries / 31 yards
David Hawthorne – 9 tackles / 1 QB hit
Corey White – 7 tackles (all solo) / 1 QB hit
Kenny Vaccaro – 7 tackles
Patrick Robinson – 6 tackles
Curtis Lofton – 6 tackles
Junior Galette – 4 tackles / 1 sack
Cam Jordan – 2 tackles / 2 passes defended
Jairus Byrd – 4 tackles / 1 pass defended / 1 QB hit
Browns
Brian Hoyer – 24-40 / 204 yards / 1 TD
Terrance West – 19 carries / 68 yards / 1 TD / 3.6 YPC / 2 receptions / 22 yards
Isaiah Crowell – 11 carries / 54 yards / 4.9 YPC / 1 reception / 3 yards
Andrew Hawkins – 6 receptions / 70 yards
Miles Austin – 6 receptions / 44 yards / 1 TD
Carlos Dansby – 12 tackles / 1 sack
Joe Haden – 10 tackles / 1 pass defended
Tashaun Gipson – 8 tackles / 1 INT / 1 TD / 1 pass defended
Paul Kruger – 3 tackles / 1 sack / 3 QB hits
Next Week
New Orleans will finally suit up in the comfy confines of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for their home opener. The 0-2 Saints will welcome the 1-1 Minnesota Vikings for a 12:00 kickoff next Sunday. The Vikings lost their home opener 30-7 to the New England Patriots today, as starting quarterback Matt Cassel through four interceptions and was sacked six times. Hopefully, this game is just the medicine that the Saints need
Keep faith, folks. As always, Who Dat?!
Follow David Billiot Jr on Twitter @DCBilliotJr6
