The New Orleans Saints have signed S Jay Bellamy. Bellamy will take the roster spot of RB Deuce McAllister, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. The Saints secondary definitely needs help, they have not defended the pass very well this year. Bellamy is a 14 year veteran who has played for the Saints and Seattle Seahawks. Bellamy was cut on Monday by the Seahawks.
As if the New Orleans Saints needed more bad news, that is exactly what they received. According to the Associated Press, starting cornerback Jason David will be sidelined for at least six weeks with a broken left forearm. The injury occurred in Monday’s game between the Tennessee Titans and New Orleans Saints, which was won by the Titans, 31-14.
Saints head coach Sean Payton hasn’t decided yet who will replace David at starting cornerback; David’s possible replacements could be from a group of 3: Jason Craft, veteran Fred Thomas and rookie Usama Young. David has had his ups and downs with the Saints this season. He earlier against the Colts forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown and intercepted Titans QB Vince Young Monday night. But he has also been burned on several pass completions, a couple of them for TD’s; David attributes this to his slower than desired adjustment to the Saints’ defensive man-to-man schemes.
The Saints fall to 0-3 after losing to the Titans (2-1) 31-14. The New Orleans defense looked very suspect on the first few drives of the game. QB Vince Young didn’t have a problem finding an open receiver as the Titans had two solid drives that resulted in 10 points. But on the first drive the Saints were able to tackle Young for a loss of more than 10 yards to take the Titans out of field goal range and force a punt. CB Jason David also ended a Tennessee drive quickly with an interception he returned for 19 yards but the Saints were unable to capitalize and did not score on the ensuing drive.
The Saints did a poor job protecting QB Drew Brees. He was only sacked once but was hurried on almost every pass attempt. Despite a slow start in the first half on offense, the Saints were able to sustain a drive to close out the first half. RB Deuce McAllister was not apart of that drive, as he had already left the game with a knee injury. RB’s Aaron Stecker and Reggie Bush stepped up in McAllister’s absence; Stecker converted a key 3rd and short and Bush carried the load when the Saints got inside the 10, capping the drive off with a TD to bring the score to 10-7 in favor of the Titans.
The Saints opened the second half with a trick a play that had Bush taking a hand off but throwing back across the backfield to Brees who was unable to find a receiver and had to throw the ball away. New Orleans was forced to punt following the first drive, but the second drive of the 2nd half had an entirely different result. Brees led the Saints offens down the field with key third down completions to WR Marquis Coltson. Bush capped the drive off with a short touchdown run to give the Saints a 14-10 lead.
The Titans answered right back, starting the drive on their own 43 following a great kick return by rookie Michael Griffin. Young again led the Titans down the field with some great precision passes. The Titans took a 17-14 lead when RB Lendale White smashed his way into the endzone following a clutch catch by veteran WR Eric Moulds to get the Titans to the 1-yard line. On the next drive after the Saints had driven the ball inside Tennessee territory. But on the first play of the 4th quarter Travis Laboy stripped Brees of the football and the Titans Randy Starks recovered the football to give the Titans the ball on the 50-yard line. Young connected with WR Roydell Williams for a big 18 yard pass to convert a 3rd down before he found TE Bo Scaife for a 3 yard TD pass to extend the Titan lead to 24-14 with 8:55 to play in the game.
The game was basically over when Titan LB Keith Bullock intercepted a Brees pass near midfield and returned the ball inside the 10 –yard line. The Saints defense was able to come up with a big stop on 3rd and short to force a 27-yard field goal that was missed by Rob Bironas. But the Saints were unable to capitalize; with less than 3 minutes to play Vincent Fuller intercepted a tipped Brees pass and returned the pick 61 yards for a TD. If the game wasn’t over before the “pick six” it certainly was after as it brought the score to 31-14. Bullock intercepted his 3rd pass of the night to end the final New Orleans drive.
Young finished 14-22 for 164 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT. He carried the ball 3 times for 23 yards. RB Lendale White carried the ball 17 times for 50 yards and 1 TD. The Titans’ most valuable player of the game has to go to LB Keith Bullock who intercepted 3 passes.
Brees finished the game with 4 INT’s and 1 Fumble lost. 4 of Brees’ turnovers came in the 2nd half. Bush gained 15 yards and scored 2 TD’s on 7 carries. He caught 6 passes for 30 yards. WR Marquis Colston caught 4 balls for 68 yards.
The Saints will have their work cut out for them as only 5 times have ever made the playoffs after starting a season 0-3.
The mood will certainly electric at the Superdome as the Saints once again open up their home schedule on Monday Night Football. The Saints are looking to avoid their first 0-3 start since 1997. They are 4.5 point favorites over the Titans. It will be interesting to see whether or not RB Deuce McAllister will get a majority of the carries especially inside the tackles because RB Reggie Bush has been so ineffective carrying the football. A big key to their success will be establishing the running game. If McAllister can pound the ball up the middle that will open things up for Bush on the outside. That will require the offensive line to step up and start pushing some people around. They have not played with very much attitude but hopefully they will find their swagger playing back at home. It is also vital for the O-Line to protect QB Drew Brees, if Brees gets enough time to throw, there is no reason he can’t tear up the Tennessee secondary.
The New Orleans defense will have their hands full chasing Titans QB Vince Young all over the field. The Saints defense will focus on getting pressure on Young while making sure he doesn’t break containment. They will also make sure they don’t try to arm tackle Young; he is a big strong runner who can break arm tackles. This game will be reminiscent of the Rose Bowl between Bush’s USC Trojans and Young’s Texas Longhorns. Young provided late game heroics that won the game for Texas, Bush is hoping to exact his revenge tonight by making some big plays of his own.
The New Orleans Saints have placed their starting TE Mark Campbell on injured reserve for the rest of the season. Campbell’s injury is an undisclosed disc problem in his back. His back began to stiffen up and hurt towards the end of the pre-season. The injury has kept Campbell out of practice for weeks. The Saints training staff has tried a variety of treatments from just resting his back to injections and nothing has relieved the pain in Campbell’s back.
Taking Campbell’s place on the active roster is rookie QB Tyler Palko, a player who many were surprised to see cut prior to the start of the regular season. Palko had been on the Saints practice squad.
It didn’t seem possible, but the New Orleans Saints looked even worse in their second game of the year than they did in the opening loss to the Colts. The Saints lost 31 to 10 and have now been outscored 72 to 24 so far this season. The Buccaneers dominated all phases of the football game from the first snap. The Saints had established a decent running game in the first half but had to abandon it in the second because they had to put the ball in the air because they were trailing by so much.
Reggie Bush was basically non-existent while QB Drew Brees didn’t look too bad but he couldn’t come up with the big play when it was needed. He finished 26 of 44 for 260 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception. Bush gained only 27 yards on 10 carries and 43 yards on 6 receptions. Deuce McAllister had 49 yards on 10 carries. Marques Colston led the New Orleans WR’s with 8 receptions for 70 yards and 1 TD.
For the second week in a row the secondary got torched. This time it was worse because it wasn’t against one of the best passing offenses in football, it was against an offense led by QB Jeff Garcia. Tampa Bay WR Joey Galloway led the way for Bucs and added insult to injury by holding the football in one hand taunting the defense as he trotted to one of his 2 TD’s on 4 catches for 135 yards. The Saints defense gave up way too many big plays and that is evident in Garcia’s passing stats: 10 of 16 for 243 yards and 2 TD’s.
QB Drew Brees told the media after the game, “I’m very surprised. We really need to take a deep look at ourselves, identify the problems and figure out how to fix it.”
After a poor opening performance the Saints will travel to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers. Despite last weeks poor showing the Saints are goign to stay calm, RB Deuce McAllister said, “It’s not something where we’re goint to rush and panic. We know what type of talented guys that we have on this team.”
QB Drew Brees and RB’s Reggie Bush and McAllister need to play much better than they did last Thursday if they want to bring home a victory. Brees told the media after the game, “Maybe we needed to get our butts kicked to get a little fire going.” The last time the Saints and Bucs met on November 5th last season, Brees went 24 0f 32 for 314 yards and 3 TD’s in a 31-14 win. WR’s Marques Colston and Devery Henderson will alos look tobounce back after a dismal performance against the Colts combining for 9 catches and 81 yards. Last November against the Bucs, Colston caught a career-high 11 balls for 123 yards and 1 TD while Henders scored 2 TD’s on 3 catches for 111 yards. Look for these two WR’s to have a big game as Tampa Bay might be without their starting CB Brian Kelly who is nursing a groin injury.
The Bucs also might be without Carnell Williams, he left last week’s game against Seattle with a rib injury. QB Jeff Garcia, who also left last week’s game with an injury, is expected to be readyt o go. Tampa Bay failed to score a TD against Seattle last week. The Saints defense looks to improve after getting torched by Peyton Manning and the Colts.
All in all, it looks like this game favors the Saints big time.
Indianapolis Colts 41
New Orleans Saints 10
Somebody should have told the Saints that the preseason is over and the Thursday night game against the Colts actually counted. New Orleans struggled in all facets of the game in the season opener.
Led by QB Peyton Manning, the Indianapolis offense marched all over the Saints’ defense, especially former Colt CB Jason David. 9 passes were thrown at David, 7 of them were completed for 147 yards and 3 TD’s. Just as someone should have told the Saints the preseason was over, someone should have reminded David that he didn’t play for the Colts anymore. Credit must be given to David though for scoring the only New Orleans TD on a 55-yard fumble return, that he forced in the first quarter. After the game, David told the media, “Anytime you come back and play a team you used to play for, you want to play your best game,” he said. “I didn’t play my best game tonight. All the plays you saw tonight … that’s on me. There’s nobody else to blame but me.”
RB Reggie Bush and QB Drew Brees both struggled, leading the offense to a very poor performance. Bush ran sideways (sideline to sideline) for more yards than he did running forward towards the endzone. Bush also dropped a few passes that he should have caught. The former USC super-star finished with 12 carries for 38 yards and 4 receptions for 7 yards. That certainly didn’t help Brees who completed 28 passes on 41 attempts for only 192s with 0 TD and 1 INT. “It just felt like we never got in synch,” Brees said. “We felt we hadn’t accomplished much in the first half so we were chomping at the bit to get out there and sustain some drives. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe we needed to get our butts kicked tonight to get a little fire going.”
The offense did’nt do anything spectacular but WR Marquis Colston had a few sweet grabs and RB Aaron Stecker also looked solid but only had 2 carries for 21 yards and 2 receptions for 20 yards.
The Saints were looking alright at the half with the score tied at 10. They didn’t play too well offensively but they held the Colts to just 10 points. In the 2nd half, it was all Colts. They scored 31 points in the final 2 quarters while shutting the Saints out. “I thought at halftime, being on the road and with all that went on we were in good shape,” New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. “But we had some miscues. Our inability to convert third downs and keep the ball hurt us.”
The Colts are favored by 6 points against the Saints in the preseason opener. This line is a little bit steep but oddsmakers are doing it because gamblers want to bet on the defending champion Super Bowl Colts. So for you Saints fans who like put money down, this might be a good week to pick the Saints and take the points.
The New Orleans Saints announced on Saturday that they have waived RB Antonio Pittman, S Curry Burns, G Tim Duckworth, FB Kevin Dudley, DE Willie Evans, WR Tramain Hall, CB David Jones, LB marvin Mitchell, QB Tyler Palko, CB Anwar Philips, S Chris Reis and G Dave Yovanovits. The Saints also terminated the contract of DE Anton Palepoi.
Two of these cuts stick out as surprising; QB Tyler Palko and RB Antonio Pittman. The release of Palko is surprising because Head Coach Sean Payton had talked about keeping a roster spot open for him because of his exceptional play this preseason. Pittman being released is more surprising because the Saints basically wasted their 4th round draft choice. Look for Pittman to sign with another team soon.
Now that the Saints have made their final roster moves to set the roster at the maximum 53 players they are gearing up to face the colts in the season opener on Thursday night.
