As usual, Saints were in a giving mood in Week 10

By Randy  |   Wednesday, November 15, 2006  |  Comments( 2 )

New Orleans Saints
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'Tis the season of giving. However, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton wishes his team wasn't in such a generous mood these days.

On Sunday, three turnovers - two leading to Pittsburgh touchdowns - proved to be the team's undoing in a 38-31 loss to the Steelers at Heinz Field. The final miscue, rookie wide receiver Terrence Copper's fumble at Pittsburgh's 29-yard line, thwarted any hope of a Saints comeback.

Fumbles and interceptions are not denizens of any NFL head coach's comfort zone. They usually cause him to reach for the nearest antacid.

Plop, plop. Fizz, Fizz.

Since the training camp dog days of late August, Payton has been preaching to his team about the dangers of turnovers - how they can spoil an otherwise perfectly pleasant autumn Sunday afternoon. Talk is cheap. After a certain point, you're only going to get so far with it.

However, losses are not cheap and Payton's young Saints - the surprise team of the NFL in '06 - are learning that lesson the hard way. In losing two of its last three games, New Orleans has turned the ball over eight times in slipping to 6-3 after a 5-1 start.

Turnover ratio is arguably the best barometer of success in football. The league's elite are selfish. They're usually not known as the giving types. On the surface, it appears the Saints are defying conventional wisdom by leading the NFC South while having six more giveaways than takeaways this season.

Not so, says Payton.

"When that's the case, I think you're living on borrowed time," Payton told The Times-Picayune last week. "When the season ends and you take a look at the playoff teams, while there might be one exception each year, they're all in the plus. They're taking care of the football. They get the takeaways on the other side of the ball."

New Orleans has 16 giveaways this year, while forcing only 10 turnovers - a minus-6 ratio. A defense that is not creating turnovers is not providing its offense with good field position and is usually leaving its quarterback in a snippy mood.

In a league where parity prevails, "the most telling stat of a game is turnovers and takeaway ratio," says Saints QB Drew Brees.

New Orleans knows that if its dream season is to continue, the Saints must find a way to reverse this disturbing trend. The best way for these Saints to brighten the spirits of fans dealing with a great deal of difficulty and deprivation is better ball security and a little more thievery on the defense end.

After Sunday's loss to the defending champion Steelers, Payton said, "It's difficult to come into a place like this (Heinz Field) and win. It's more difficult when you turn it over like we did."

"We're our own worst enemy," remarked running back Deuce McAllister. That's the bottom line."


Stay tuned for Randy Savoie's latest commentary on the New Orleans Saints at RealFootball365.com
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