Saints find out where they need to be

By Darrell Laurant  |   Friday, September 07, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

New Orleans Saints
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Reality check.

The New Orleans Saints are a good football team, but they need to be better. The Indianapolis Colts offered that wakeup call Thursday night, scoring 31 second-half points en route to a 41-10 thrashing of the Saints.

One problem may have been the conservatism of the New Orleans offensive game plan. Saints QB Drew Brees rarely ventured beyond his comfort zone of throwing to RB Reggie Bush or tight end Eric Johnson, and it showed.

Devery Henderson was a viable long-range target, but either the Colts' defense or Brees' reluctance to roll the dice left him with only a few short-range touches.

The Saints took a 10-7 lead at one point on a 55-yard strip and run by DB Jason David, but he did little thereafter and was in fact burned on touchdown passes to Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne (twice).

Perhaps even more importantly, Indianapolis controlled the line of scrimmage. Brees was harassed almost constantly, and Peyton Manning generally had all the time he needed.

In addition, Colts LB Freddie Keihao was all over the place, most notably stuffing Bush for a 5-yard loss and picking off an errant Brees pass. The New Orleans quarterback finished 28 of 41 for only 192 yards and two interceptions. Bush and McAllister together rushed for fewer than 100 yards.

The Saints' linebackers, by contrast, were repeatedly victimized by middle-range passes to running backs Joseph Addai and Kenton Keith or tight end Dallas Clark.

Admittedly, this was a tough opener -- on the road, against the defending Super Bowl champs. Now, though, the Saints have a benchmark at which to aspire. Better to have that early than late.
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