Finally got a chance to sit down and watch a little bit of the Saints yesterday. Now let me start off by saying I hate preseason. What you see is not what you're going to see once the season starts. And what I've come to completely loathe is the way the NFL has hyped it up like it's the playoffs or something. Seriously, half the guys you see out there after the 1st quarter will not even be there opening day. But enough rambling............................... The little bit of time Brees was in there I thought he looked good............................................................................getting away from the rush. Which brings me to my next point...................... our O-Line is WAY overrated. I'm scared to think what a full game with our starters vs their starters would have been like. Our defense hasn't yet arrived. I thought they really over pursued alot. I like Kenny Stills. I really like Luke McCown. Heaven forbid that Brees goes down with any injury, but I feel better with him than say, Jamie Martin. Got a chance to see Foster. That was refreshing to see some new talent on defense for a change. I think our running game still needs some work but to me, that starts with the O-line. But hey, it's pre-season. We'll see what it's like come opening day against the Falcons.
The Saints have done well without much of a running game for some time. I think you guys will still be contenders this year
in regards to our Oline, while we have a decent tandem of guards, that is what happens when you have to let some players go. While I was not a huge fan of Bushrod, he is better than Lucy's nemesis. If you think it is bad now wait till after the season. Three of our linemen's contracts are up. Thankfully we have all our higher draft picks, so far, for next draft While Brees looked good somewhat in the couple of series he was in, if it wasn't for that 50 something yard screen play to PT his numbers wouldn't have been so good. I thought he would have played more but I think what happened to Sanchez sorta made Payton think about leaving him in too long. Stills and Toon are the real deal. Toon can be the heir apparent to Colston in the future and Stills is a straight up beast. I think we have potential ROY on both offense and defense. Stills and Kap's doppelganger. Big running backs have always given us fits and it seems this defense will be no different. Hopefully our corners and man up and allow 8 or nine in the box to stop the run. I hope we can get a left tackle somewhere soon. Armstead may be a good one in the future but I don't think he can handle first string pass rushers as of now. I could be wrong. Let's hope I am. The running game is there. I can see flashes of it but as you said it starts with the guys upfront.
True, if you have Drew Brees and the stable of receivers we have and you concentrate on the run you're goofy. When the running game is important is when our passing game gets shut down. It happens. There have been times when we play an aggressive defense and they are able to disrupt the timing that is very critical to our offense. That's when you see Brees throw numerous interceptions --- most of which are to defensive lineman and out in the flats. That's when you want a running game that the defense can respect. I think our O-line's weakness has been covered up to a large degree by the play of Brees and our runningbacks.
