sinfony
1741
And notice how low Sproles is already, despite the fact that Hawk is just getting there.
In any event, I think you think I care more than I do. To my eye, it wasn’t a penalty. As a Bills fans, all games are equally meaningless to me; this is purely academic.
He’s low because he just stopped suddenly and AJ Hawk’s left arm in on top of him.
Zuwadza
1744
Great game. Both frustrating and encouraging as a Saints fan. Both teams looked great. Sproles looked like a stud. I like what I see from him way more than what I’ve seen from Bush the past two seasons. I don’t want to take away from the Packers, since they played really, really well, but a couple less mistakes and the game could have gone a lot differently. One of the things I love about the Saints in the past 3 years is that you can never, ever count them out. They always surprise me. I would have preferred a win, but I’m now cautiously optimistic for the rest of the season.
Zuwadza
1745
Also, barrel roll action:
This. Hats off the Packers and all that, but the Saints had one bad fumble early on, and that barrel roll thing was just one of those wildly improbable things that happens once in a blue moon. Take those two things away and it’s a very different game. Even with those errors, the Saints were still a few inches shy of possibly tying the game up against the reigning world champs. The loss stings, but I feel good about our prospects.
Still, Brees took us 80 yards in the waning minute or two, I do not understand why you wouldn’t let him try to take us the last few inches.
Hammet
1747
What I took away from the game was that either The Packers has the best offense in the league or The Saints look absolutely terrible on defense. First half was Rodgers leisurely strolling down the field and scoring at will. It didn’t seem to matter what play they called, they’d get a first down anyway. That the Saints offense managed to get within half a yard from taking it to OT (yeah, yeah they’d also need a 2-pointer) at least shows that the offense can get things done. I liked what I saw from Ingram and Sproles.
A great football game with scoring in every possibly way except safety.
This!
I don’t get why they tried to run up the gut on that last play. Hoping the Packers would overplay the pass? I agree with you… you don’t go away from your strength in that situation.
Really fun game to watch. The only downside is that now I will be able to compare and contrast Grossman vis-a-vis Brees and Rogers when I watch the Deadskins this weekend.
Mookee
1749
It was a horrible call and look at where the ref who threw the flag was. He wasn’t in a position to see what happened.
Hawk made an awesome play and got penalized for it.
And as an unabashed Packers fan (I’ll admit when they are bad)… This team is scary good/great. People seem to forget that they were a better team in September last year then they were in February when they won it all. That September team is back and barring the same injuries of last year, be scared. Jermichael Finley is a goddamn monster of a player.
Defense needs to step it up although Brees is also incredible. So it is hard to judge.
NFL Game Rewind ACTIVATE – holy crap, it’s already up! I love NFL Game Rewind.
Both announcers do call for interference immediately. My first thought watching it was great defense. Collinsworth says “goes right up over the top on Darren Sproles.”
Okay, watching the first slow motion replay they showed, as Hawk starts to leap, his lower body impacts Sproles – you can see Sproles start tumbling forward from Hawk’s legs hitting his back. They’re both playing the ball, but I still think you can’t go through the player to get to the ball. I think that’s pass interference.
I only saw the first half. I guess it got closer at the end. Wish I could’ve watched more, but the east coast and a long Wednesday night are bad for Thursday night football.
From what I saw, Sproles looked great. That guy can run.
Lorini
1752
Yeah you give the ball to Brees for the last play. And Rodgers simply picked up where he left off last year.
JonRowe
1753
Breesus starts off both of my fantasy teams with stupid amounts of points.
Well, sure. But take away the Saints’ fluky touchdown return (by definition, any return for a TD is a fluke), and the Packers’ butterfinger non-tackle on even one of those third-and-not-quite-enough plays, and now the Saints are missing 14 points and it’s a blowout.
Fluky plays go both ways.
Zuwadza
1755
Ha! We could do this all day. Fluke returns? Really? Sproles’ was good, not a fluke. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about it as far as returns go. Cobbs’ return was amazing, don’t get me wrong, and the Saints should have been over it, but that barrel roll thing was a bigger fluke than anything Sproles did!
Anyway, I agree with your premise. It could have been a blowout just as easily as it could have swung towards the Saints. Any given Sunday and all that. GB’s offense was a machine on their first two drives, and the Saints D was very slow to start. Rodgers picked on Patrick Robinson a bunch of times in his first two drives and it worked out marvellously for him. I’m starting to lose faith in Greg Williams. Lots of questionable defensive plays that game (as well as all last season).
Re: Payton’s call on the last play: I think he feels like he has something to prove with the running game this season. He probably has a bit of a chip on his shoulder now after our running game was so weak last season. I agree though, he should have let Brees take the pass; he and the receiver corps have proven themselves more than capable to make those sorts of plays.
That barrel roll doesn’t happen if Kuhn isn’t there. Great move.
Do you deny of the existence of Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington in your universe?
Yeah there’s actually a long list of guys who racked up return TDs. All lot of them happen to be Chicago Bears, which is interesting.
Omniscia
1760
Brandon Tate had a couple last year.
