For the last month we have heard that The New Orleans Saints were the
team in The National Football Conference that had the ability to go into
Green Bay and defeat the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay
Packers in the playoffs because of their explosive offense. Just like
The Packers, The Saints were shown the door in The Divisional Round of
the playoffs. New Orleans traveled West for the second consecutive
postseason only to be turned away by a team that they were favored to
defeat. Last season it was a 41-36 upset at the hands of The Seattle
Seahawks and running back Marshawn Lynch. This season The Saints fell
victim to The San Francisco 49ers 36-32.
The 49ers defense caused four turnovers while The Saints defense only
forced one. Before you blinked New Orleans was down 17-0 in the first
quarter due to turnovers. The defense of The Saints did make enough
stops in the second quarter to allow the offense to get it going. Late
in the second quarter New Orleans cut The 49er lead to 17-14 after
quarterback Drew Brees found wide receiver Marques Colston for a 25-yard
touchdown pass.
Both teams traded field goals in the second half until Brees found
running back Darren Sproles for a 44-yard touchdown pass with just over
four minutes remaining in the game to put New Orleans up 24-23.
Candlestick Park had been raucous all afternoon until that play. The
Saints were riding a huge wave of momentum and seemed poised to advance.
When it mattered the most with game on the line, The Saints defense was
non-existent.
49ers quarterback Alex Smith proceeded to lead his team down the field
twice in the last four minutes for a pair of touchdowns. The Saints
defense turned Smith into both Joe Montana and Steve Young. First it was
Smith’s arm as we able to find Pro Bowl tight end Vernon Davis for a
big passing play to setup the first touchdown. Smith ran for the first
touchdown to give San Francisco a 29-24 lead with about two minutes
remaining in the contest. Watching the game you knew that the bad Saints
defense would be bailed out by Bress and company. Brees found his Pro
Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham for a 66-yard touchdown pass with 97 seconds
remaining. After a successful two-point conversion, New Orleans was up
32-29 and it was once again up to The Saints defense to make a stop to
keep their season alive. Once again they faltered. Smith marched The
49ers into scoring position without the aid of a timeout. With nine
seconds remaining he found Davis in the end zone for the game-winning
touchdown. The Saints will be saying “what if” until the start of
training camp.
Defensively this team has not been the same since 2009. That was the
year that The Saints won The Super Bowl and it was also the last full
season that safety Darren Sharper played in. Sharper was the anchor for
The Saints secondary and he always found a way to make big plays in key
situations. Sharper recorded nine interceptions that season and as a
team The Saints had 26 which was good for third in The National Football
League.
The Saints have lacked a solid pass rush all season as well. New Orleans
finished tied for 19th in the league with 33 sacks this season. Safety
Roman Harper led the team with 7.5 sacks. New Orleans tried to improve
the pass rush by drafting defensive end Cameron Jordan in the first
round of last year’s draft. Jordan only tallied one sack in his rookie
campaign as The Saints were expecting more from him. Defensive tackle
Shaun Rogers was brought in as a free agent to be an impact player and
he only totaled 22 tackles without recording a sack.
New Orleans was 30th in The NFL in yards allowed defensively which is a
big reason why they are sitting at home now. Prior to losing to San
Francisco, The Saints defense was torched by The Detroit Lions in The
Wild Card Round for 412 yards. Luckily for The Saints, The Lions were
not able to stop Brees and company either as The Saints offense rolled
up 626 yards.
That game was played at The Mercedes Benz Superdome which is a
tremendous home field advantage. The Saints went undefeated at home this
season, but they have still not won a road playoff game as the record
is now 0-5.
It is never a guarantee that Brees and the offense will be able to carry
this team throughout every contest and that was evident in the loss to
The 49ers. When The Saints won in 2009 they had balance on both sides of
the football. Brees and the offense will keep The Saints in title
contention, but they won’t sniff another championship on Bourbon Street
until the defense answers the bell.
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