Saints post game thread

[Fat Stupid Loser]

My buddy pointed out his "tell" also. I think the way he smacks the ball before he throws it is honestly contributing to him having so many batted down passes. It's crazy to watch but it seems like it makes it a ton easier for linemen to bat down his passes.

Its a new thing for him this year. He has always patted the ball. So I don't know why so many this year. Its kind of weird.

[Purple Domination]

I’m not impressed with the saints at all. And we can beat that team any day of the week. We beat ourselves. Period. Shut down Brees, contained Kamara/Ingram for the most part, contained their WRs with starters of Waynes, Hill and Alexander. The #1 run defense in the nfl didn’t impress me. Murray played fairly well against them. Overall, not an impressive team IMO. They caught some lucky breaks due to stupid mistakes.

I agree with this. Of course, to be fair to them, we didn't get to see how the Saints would have responded with their backs against the wall in the second half because we handed them the game on a silver platter. But, my sense was that we were the better team.

[TSonn]

My buddy pointed out his "tell" also. I think the way he smacks the ball before he throws it is honestly contributing to him having so many batted down passes. It's crazy to watch but it seems like it makes it a ton easier for linemen to bat down his passes.

Its a new thing for him this year. He has always patted the ball. So I don't know why so many this year. Its kind of weird.

Yeah, lots of QBs pat the ball before throwing. Brady does it. Noticed it all day yesterday watching RedZone including Mahomes doing it every throw. So I don't think that's the issue. It's probably a combination of running quick routes and our oline letting them get free to jump. Why can't we teach our oline to hold like GB does every play?

[VikingLord]

- Thielen's fumble took away at least 3 points from the Vikings (although with their kicking game nothing is a sure bet anymore) and handed 7 to the Saints. Treadwell throwing his helmet down was just plain dumb and unnecessary. Vikes defense just crumbled after that play and handed the Saints an easy score.
- Zimmer follows it by just taking a knee to run out the half with a solid 30 seconds and 2 timeouts left.
- Zimmer follows that by going for it on 4th-and-1 on his side of the 50 to start the 2nd half. Vikes fail to convert, hand the Saints a short field and essentially more easy points. If you don't want to be aggressive to end the 1st half, be consistent and don't be aggressive to start the 2nd either. Can't have it both ways.
- And then Diggs just stops on a safety valve route. I mean, what the heck? The defender sure didn't stop on the route.

And that right there is pretty much the game.

[VikingLord]

My buddy pointed out his "tell" also. I think the way he smacks the ball before he throws it is honestly contributing to him having so many batted down passes. It's crazy to watch but it seems like it makes it a ton easier for linemen to bat down his passes.

Its a new thing for him this year. He has always patted the ball. So I don't know why so many this year. Its kind of weird.

The defensive linemen can see when he's going to throw and he's looking in their direction, so they put their hands in the air and wave 'em like they just don't care... (I am trying to think of a time when I felt compelled to put my hands in the air and do anything with them as a sign that I didn't care about something... That must be why I don't write rap lyrics for a living...)

In my opinion, this is another reason to go deep more often. Cousin's can use the tell against not only the rushers, but the defensive backs if they are watching as well and then arc the ball over the top. Defensive linemen will sacrifice their rush to try to bat a ball they can't possibly reach, and maybe the defensive backs will bite on the route and allow the receiver to get behind them.

[Svt40]

I've been saying it all year but Zim has no killer instinct. When behind he will not do what's needed to get ahead and when ahead he will go into prevent. I want to see this team put games away and put them away decisively.

Eight minutes and three scores down and our offense showed absolutely ZERO urgency.

[Maelstrom88]

I've been saying it all year but Zim has no killer instinct. When behind he will not do what's needed to get ahead and when ahead he will go into prevent. I want to see this team put games away and put them away decisively.

Eight minutes and three scores down and our offense showed absolutely ZERO urgency.

Agree. I like Zimmer in a lot of ways but this is an issue with him.

[PacificNorseWest]

Out play the Saints, but lose the TO battle and lose the game...Where have I seen that before?

[YikesVikes]

Cousin was pressured on 49% of his passes this game. O line remains a huge issue.

[halfgiz]

Cousin was pressured on 49% of his passes this game. O line remains a huge issue.

The Daily Norseman, a Minnesota Vikings blog
@DailyNorseman
3h
2015 - "Teddy Bridgewater is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"
2016 - "Sam Bradford is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"
2017 - "Case Keenum is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"
2018 - "Kirk Cousins is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"

[Pondering Her Percy]

If we get to play the Saints again and are anywhere close to healthy, we beat them. Even in NO. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure we get to play them again with the way we've been shooting ourselves in the foot.

Playing for home field in the playoffs is basically gone now, we need to aim for the division which we can still control.

I wouldnt say home field is gone. The saints do not have one game left on their schedule against a weaker team. The weakest one is probably Tampa who already beat them. Basically our remaining schedule is much more promising than theirs. Nobody is catch the rams I dont think. But that #2 spot is definitely up for grabs still. It's going to be down to the saints, panthers and us I believe. I dont know if I see anyone else challenging for it.

[Pondering Her Percy]

- Thielen's fumble took away at least 3 points from the Vikings (although with their kicking game nothing is a sure bet anymore) and handed 7 to the Saints. Treadwell throwing his helmet down was just plain dumb and unnecessary. Vikes defense just crumbled after that play and handed the Saints an easy score.
- Zimmer follows it by just taking a knee to run out the half with a solid 30 seconds and 2 timeouts left.
- Zimmer follows that by going for it on 4th-and-1 on his side of the 50 to start the 2nd half. Vikes fail to convert, hand the Saints a short field and essentially more easy points. If you don't want to be aggressive to end the 1st half, be consistent and don't be aggressive to start the 2nd either. Can't have it both ways.
- And then Diggs just stops on a safety valve route. I mean, what the heck? The defender sure didn't stop on the route.

And that right there is pretty much the game.

It's tough to say our defense crumbled in any way. This goes back to early in the year when guys were questioning the defense and I continued to say, many of the TDs that were given up early in the year were due to the offense putting us in a bad position. Thielen's fumble put the defense in a bad position and the saints were well into field goal range just on the return alone. To stop that offense after a turnover like that, isnt an easy task.

The defense dominated that offense for most of the day. They are the last part of the team I can complain about right now

[YikesVikes]

I think the rotation was weird. Seems like Tom Johnson played more than Richardson. Then Iloka played 5 snaps

[Maelstrom88]

- Thielen's fumble took away at least 3 points from the Vikings (although with their kicking game nothing is a sure bet anymore) and handed 7 to the Saints. Treadwell throwing his helmet down was just plain dumb and unnecessary. Vikes defense just crumbled after that play and handed the Saints an easy score.
- Zimmer follows it by just taking a knee to run out the half with a solid 30 seconds and 2 timeouts left.
- Zimmer follows that by going for it on 4th-and-1 on his side of the 50 to start the 2nd half. Vikes fail to convert, hand the Saints a short field and essentially more easy points. If you don't want to be aggressive to end the 1st half, be consistent and don't be aggressive to start the 2nd either. Can't have it both ways.
- And then Diggs just stops on a safety valve route. I mean, what the heck? The defender sure didn't stop on the route.

And that right there is pretty much the game.

It's tough to say our defense crumbled in any way. This goes back to early in the year when guys were questioning the defense and I continued to say, many of the TDs that were given up early in the year were due to the offense putting us in a bad position. Thielen's fumble put the defense in a bad position and the saints were well into field goal range just on the return alone. To stop that offense after a turnover like that, isnt an easy task.

The defense dominated that offense for most of the day. They are the last part of the team I can complain about right now

Good post. I was saying after the game the defense actually played them pretty well.

[S197]

Cousin was pressured on 49% of his passes this game. O line remains a huge issue.

The Daily Norseman, a Minnesota Vikings blog
@DailyNorseman
3h
2015 - "Teddy Bridgewater is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"
2016 - "Sam Bradford is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"
2017 - "Case Keenum is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"
2018 - "Kirk Cousins is among the most pressured QBs in the NFL"

Wouldn't worry about it, we'll grab a LB in next year's draft to fix that.