PeaveyFury

I'll agree on stopping the Hill stuff, etc., but I think the rest is a bit too forgiving. Part of that is again the poor game plan of the saints, who went 2 to 1 pass to run vs. a poor run defense and with an aging QB.

Yeah, for all the moves that didn't work out this year, Gyorko did. He graded out fine as a 1B, so if there's a way they can keep him there for his limited cost and bring in a legit 3B bat like Turner, that will go a long way to fixing the lineup, pending some other moves of course.

It'll be interesting to see what their strategy is with Dillon. I suspect it'll be to add a fresh-legs bruising running back to punish defenders in the December cold, but you'd think you'd be getting him SOME time now, even if it's just 2-3 touches per game. It's possible he's just not up to speed on the offense yet with the limited off season?

Watching some YouTube breaks of the Hit Parade product sufficiently scared me away from gambling on one of these products. One break of their 'Triple Play' product (Auto'd ball, 8x10 and jersey) saw a guy drop ~$300 to get a ball signed by Ian Kennedy, a no-name 8x10, and a signed Brett Lawrie Blue Jays jersey. Yeeeeeech.

A few very early thoughts: 1)The Saints ran the ball exceptionally well, over 6 yards a carry. And for the third straight week, the opposing coach bailed on the run in the second half. So inexplicable in a close game. I expect that from the transient coach-for-a-day Matt Patricia-types, but Sean Payton is a pretty decent offensive mind. I get it, you have a HOF QB (though clearly in the decline of his career), but that was some Mike McCarthy-level abandoning the run there. When they come up against a guy like Shanahan who showed twice last year that he's committed to his game plan and will just run it down our throats like everyone else should, that's when they'll get trounced. 2)The defense is ugly, but they're getting the one turnover or stop or whatever that allows the team to win. They've got to figure out the run defense, especially if Kirksey is out for any length of time. 3)This offense is unreal. I sound like a broken record so far this year, but for how pedestrian it looked last year, it's so great to watch. 4)TE's stepped up huge today. Sternberger, Tonyan, and Lewis all made big plays on a day without Davante. 5)I thought NO's offensive game plan of running at Z was super smart. And it was, and he still made the big play that turned the whole game. 6)On a day where the Saints clearly decided to take MVS out of the game, Lazard was as great as he needed to be. 7)King had a rough day, and Summers had a bad play on Kamara's crazy run (and wasn't alone), but guys like Summers and Burks filled in and made some nice tackles late to help seal it. King and Sullivan blowing up that swing/screen on third down on the drive before the Packers' last TD was huge. Keke played very well, and hopefully will take snaps away from Lancaster/Lowry when Clark is back. Edit to add 8)I'll jinx this something terrible, but Crosby has been so, so good since his Lions disaster in 2018. I barely broke a sweat on any of his kicks today, even the two longer ones. Really nice to have what appears to be a competent ST group overall this year thus far.

I know there are a lot of questions about Brees and the Saints now, but you get the feeling that this will end up being a significant win when we look back in January.

Going for the FG here almost makes up for the odd clock management by the Saints’ staff.

Why spike it there? Seems very odd to waste a down.

Watching it again, I can’t believe they let that free play go on. The defender was so far beyond where he was when they stopped the one in the first half.

So great to have a coach who understands how to use the clock.

Felt like first takeaway would win the game. Hopefully that’s true.

Wow, that’s a horrendous spot.

Is this true? Holy crap.

Great catch, regardless of the separation he created.

I appreciate a guy like Kamara trying to get extra yards, but he traded 25% of the remaining clock and a starting offensive lineman for 3 yards there.

Well, Keke is having a game.

I know that doesn’t give them a first down, but how doesn’t that draw a flag for running into the kicker? He has nowhere to land.

Wayne Simmons? He was an OLB. George Koonce was the MLB on those Super Bowl teams.

This is very fair.

.... and they’re still moving the ball well.... Eh. I get what he's saying. They did a nice job to get back to the edge of FG range on the first drive after taking the sack and benefitted from a phantom penalty on the last drive. Not really much going on though. Eh. Penalty happened on first down, and that sack happens with Adams on the field or not. Odd to criticize the offense when they moved the ball on both of their whopping two drives thus far.

.... and they’re still moving the ball well.... But not putting it in the endzone. They didn’t at the start of the Vikings game either, with Adams.

Yeah. It plays well into the wear them down and bleed the clock in the 4th while their defense is exhausted strategy.

.... and they’re still moving the ball well....

Regarding the fair point that SoCal made earlier about the 'herd immunity through infection' idea, I think it's worth noting that it sadly seems that there's a lot of 'we know more about the virus now than we did back when people were sanitizing their mail' folks who use early response to a novel virus as their own evidence of why a particular reaction or proposed solution should be viewed with skepticism, while not themselves being willing to acknowledge that early virus-dismissive responses have also been shown as problematic or downright false. If both sides would just acknowledge that things are found to be accurate or inaccurate regarding this pandemic as time progresses, we'd all be better off.

Wow... I hadn't realized 1)he'd passed 2)that he passed so long ago and 3)the sad circumstances surrounding his passing.