The Importance Of Seizing Opportunity

[AnonFalcFan]

Don't chalk a loss up for this team when we play the Saints in two weeks, assuming the playoff seeds hold. That Monday night game could have turned out radically different if a few players had taken what was given to them.

We had an opportunity to pick Brees off once on each drive for the first two drives. One opportunity was missed by William Moore after we had kicked a field goal to be up 3-0. The ball went straight through his outstretched hands. Had he capitalized on that opportunity, we hold the Saints to no points on that drive and probably make the score 6-0 or 10-0. On the second Saints' possession, Dominique Franks had an opportunity to intercept a pass but he chose to bat it away. Had we gotten that turnover, it's either a two score or three score game given that we had pretty good field position. William Moore also dropped another interception in the 3rd or 4th quarter. Now, I'm not saying that we should expect our defenders to make all the interceptions because they're not wide receivers and shouldn't be expected to make incredible catches, but we had the opportunity to have picked Brees off 5 times that game. What are the chances that we don't go up big with a net turnover margin of +4?

Nevertheless, our team made some STUPID plays. The holding penalties are drive killers. The call to run a bootleg when we were still somewhat in the game was far too predictable. Our receivers can't be dropping passes that hit them right in the hands (Roddy White and Reggie Kelly). There were also some missed sacks (granted, Brees is a great quarterback).

The only thing that is holding this team back, in my opinion, is the inability to play mistake-free football. Thankfully, Ryan is getting hot at the perfect time so we don't have to worry too much about the most important position on the field (quarterback) but we do have to worry about killing the opponent's drive when the opportunity is literally right in our hands and not having drive killers such as holding penalties and dropped passes.

[niels petersen]

I agree that we have a shot at beating the Aints in the playoffs.. But we were really outcoached and outprepared for that monday night game against them, and that doesn't bode well for the 3rd meeting IMO. But anything can happen in the playoffs, and we know them well.

In order to win we have to play mistake free football, as you mentioned. We also need to win the battle at the line of scrimmage, run the ball often and effectively and score TDs instead of kicking FGs.. Then we have a chance to beat them in their house.

[freebird310]

What shocked me was not getting scorched by Brees, but the way they ran the ball right down our throat ........man, I don't know, I'm pretty sure we just got our butts kicked by a better football team, and at this point we play the Taints 100 times, they prolly win 90 of them .......

[Guest Gritz]

and at this point we play the Taints 100 times, they prolly win 90 of them .......

I think you're being homerlicious with your math there......

[freebird310]

I think you're being homerlicious with your math there......

95 ?

[Supes™]

Nobody wants to put it on the players. You see, somehow new coordinators are gonna have all those guys suddenly making those plays and playing mistake-free football. Never mind that coordinators are in fact schemers and not true coaches. Every dropped pass and penalty is on them. Yeah baby, new coordinators will magically make our shoddy o-line and can't-stop-'em d-line a bunch of all pros and spring us into Lombardi Land for years to come.

Let me ask the witch hunters a question: In Smitty's presser Tuesday, he talked about how the Saints o-line was able to get their pads under the pads of our guys on D, thereby gaining leverage and control in the trenches. Does that sound like a scheming (coordinator) problem or a coaching problem? During this ensuing witch hunt, how come nobody is talking about Ray Hamilton, our defensive line coach? How come his butt ain't on the hot seat?

All of the dropped passes we've seen from Roddy and others this year - does receivers coach Terry Robiskie have no responsibility for that?

Paul Bourdreau, Offensive Line Coach: Is he doing the best he can with what he has? How do you know? It's easier to blame MM, right?

We couldn't stop the Saints on 3rd and long to save our lives Monday night. Does Secondary Coach Tim Lewis get a free pass for that?

No one wants to blame the players or the real coaches. This all is simply a witch hunt run wild from all of the coordinator haters in here. They don't wanna look any deeper or think about it more.

[freebird310]

Nobody wants to put it on the players. You see, somehow new coordinators are gonna have all those guys suddenly making those plays and playing mistake-free football. Never mind that coordinators are in fact schemers and not true coaches. Every dropped pass and penalty is on them. Yeah baby, new coordinators will magically make our shoddy o-line and can't-stop-'em d-line a bunch of all pros and spring us into Lombardi Land for years to come.

Let me ask the witch hunters a question: In Smitty's presser Tuesday, he talked about how the Saints o-line was able to get their pads under the pads of our guys on D, thereby gaining leverage and control in the trenches. Does that sound like a scheming (coordinator) problem or a coaching problem? During this ensuing witch hunt, how come nobody is talking about Ray Hamilton, our defensive line coach? How come his butt ain't on the hot seat?

All of the dropped passes we've seen from Roddy and others this year - does receivers coach Terry Robiskie have no responsibility for that?

Paul Bourdreau, Offensive Line Coach: Is he doing the best he can with what he has? How do you know? It's easier to blame MM, right?

We couldn't stop the Saints on 3rd and long to save our lives Monday night. Does Secondary Coach Tim Lewis get a free pass for that?

No one wants to blame the players or the real coaches. This all is simply a witch hunt run wild from all of the coordinator haters in here. They don't wanna look any deeper or think about it more.

You raise a good point.....I have often wondered why Boudreaus name never comes up on these boards, it seems to me he should share in the blame as well ........

[Supes™]

You raise a good point.....I have often wondered why Boudreaus name never comes up on these boards, it seems to me he should share in the blame as well ........

Because a lot of folks don't know who he is. The know who MM is, though.

[Trouble]

I put it on the team. Not making excuses for that game. The packers showed 1 key to beating us is attack and don't stop. It was clear the Saints where gonna pour it on after the first pass brees threw. Scoring before half all but sealed the fate of the game.

They made everything look easy while we made everything we did look hard or impossible to do.

They had the attitude they could not only beat us but whoop us and dominate the game.

We had the attitude of how can we slow them down to prevent that.

1 team was playing to win, the other was playing not to lose.

Edited December 30, 2011 by danight

[Power I]

Nobody wants to put it on the players. You see, somehow new coordinators are gonna have all those guys suddenly making those plays and playing mistake-free football. Never mind that coordinators are in fact schemers and not true coaches. Every dropped pass and penalty is on them. Yeah baby, new coordinators will magically make our shoddy o-line and can't-stop-'em d-line a bunch of all pros and spring us into Lombardi Land for years to come.

Let me ask the witch hunters a question: In Smitty's presser Tuesday, he talked about how the Saints o-line was able to get their pads under the pads of our guys on D, thereby gaining leverage and control in the trenches. Does that sound like a scheming (coordinator) problem or a coaching problem? During this ensuing witch hunt, how come nobody is talking about Ray Hamilton, our defensive line coach? How come his butt ain't on the hot seat?

All of the dropped passes we've seen from Roddy and others this year - does receivers coach Terry Robiskie have no responsibility for that?

Paul Bourdreau, Offensive Line Coach: Is he doing the best he can with what he has? How do you know? It's easier to blame MM, right?

We couldn't stop the Saints on 3rd and long to save our lives Monday night. Does Secondary Coach Tim Lewis get a free pass for that?

No one wants to blame the players or the real coaches. This all is simply a witch hunt run wild from all of the coordinator haters in here. They don't wanna look any deeper or think about it more.

You know I was just thinking about Hamilton the other day. When Smitty was hired I was just as excited about getting Hamilton as I was Coach Smith. He had a reputation for being a great defensive line coach. Well, at this point he hasn't even come close to matching the defensive line of 2004ish with Kerney, Coleman and those guys. I'd take Kerney and Coleman over what he's produced with these young guys any day. Biermann gets washed out of the play 9/10 times now. Abraham only beats up on bad teams. Babineaux keeps getting mentioned as the best DT in the NFC South, but I assume that's by default.

I want a 10 sack DT again, that's what would help our defense the most. But as it stands we sold out for the offense and now that 2nd round pick almost undoubtedly will be an offensive lineman, which I'm ok with, but it's not going to help us with the balance this team needs.

[papachaz]

Nobody wants to put it on the players. You see, somehow new coordinators are gonna have all those guys suddenly making those plays and playing mistake-free football. Never mind that coordinators are in fact schemers and not true coaches. Every dropped pass and penalty is on them. Yeah baby, new coordinators will magically make our shoddy o-line and can't-stop-'em d-line a bunch of all pros and spring us into Lombardi Land for years to come.

Let me ask the witch hunters a question: In Smitty's presser Tuesday, he talked about how the Saints o-line was able to get their pads under the pads of our guys on D, thereby gaining leverage and control in the trenches. Does that sound like a scheming (coordinator) problem or a coaching problem? During this ensuing witch hunt, how come nobody is talking about Ray Hamilton, our defensive line coach? How come his butt ain't on the hot seat?

All of the dropped passes we've seen from Roddy and others this year - does receivers coach Terry Robiskie have no responsibility for that?

Paul Bourdreau, Offensive Line Coach: Is he doing the best he can with what he has? How do you know? It's easier to blame MM, right?

We couldn't stop the Saints on 3rd and long to save our lives Monday night. Does Secondary Coach Tim Lewis get a free pass for that?

No one wants to blame the players or the real coaches. This all is simply a witch hunt run wild from all of the coordinator haters in here. They don't wanna look any deeper or think about it more.

the absolute BEST post i've seen ANYWHERE about the 'state of the franchise' thanks SUPES

[Power I]

To add to my post about Hamilton, his defensive line consisted of Henderson and Stroud and they pretty much always had subpar defensive ends. Is he better at coaching DTs than DEs? I would assume that's why Corey Peters and even Vance Walker look better than Biermann and even Edwards. Sidbury has shown flashes, but so did Biermann. Sidbury might have to step into Abraham's spot next year, I guess we'll see what he has. Hopefully it's more consistent than Biermann's production.

[Club212]

Every time the Falcs give up yardage, whoever is commentating says the same thing...HE has no answers to stopping it! Yes ...BVClueless!

[Durrtay]

Nobody wants to put it on the players. You see, somehow new coordinators are gonna have all those guys suddenly making those plays and playing mistake-free football. Never mind that coordinators are in fact schemers and not true coaches. Every dropped pass and penalty is on them. Yeah baby, new coordinators will magically make our shoddy o-line and can't-stop-'em d-line a bunch of all pros and spring us into Lombardi Land for years to come.

Let me ask the witch hunters a question: In Smitty's presser Tuesday, he talked about how the Saints o-line was able to get their pads under the pads of our guys on D, thereby gaining leverage and control in the trenches. Does that sound like a scheming (coordinator) problem or a coaching problem? During this ensuing witch hunt, how come nobody is talking about Ray Hamilton, our defensive line coach? How come his butt ain't on the hot seat?

All of the dropped passes we've seen from Roddy and others this year - does receivers coach Terry Robiskie have no responsibility for that?

Paul Bourdreau, Offensive Line Coach: Is he doing the best he can with what he has? How do you know? It's easier to blame MM, right?

We couldn't stop the Saints on 3rd and long to save our lives Monday night. Does Secondary Coach Tim Lewis get a free pass for that?

No one wants to blame the players or the real coaches. This all is simply a witch hunt run wild from all of the coordinator haters in here. They don't wanna look any deeper or think about it more.

Maybe it's because I'm fairly new here, but is logic even allowed on this board???

[Trouble]

Nobody wants to put it on the players. You see, somehow new coordinators are gonna have all those guys suddenly making those plays and playing mistake-free football. Never mind that coordinators are in fact schemers and not true coaches. Every dropped pass and penalty is on them. Yeah baby, new coordinators will magically make our shoddy o-line and can't-stop-'em d-line a bunch of all pros and spring us into Lombardi Land for years to come.

Let me ask the witch hunters a question: In Smitty's presser Tuesday, he talked about how the Saints o-line was able to get their pads under the pads of our guys on D, thereby gaining leverage and control in the trenches. Does that sound like a scheming (coordinator) problem or a coaching problem? During this ensuing witch hunt, how come nobody is talking about Ray Hamilton, our defensive line coach? How come his butt ain't on the hot seat?

All of the dropped passes we've seen from Roddy and others this year - does receivers coach Terry Robiskie have no responsibility for that?

Paul Bourdreau, Offensive Line Coach: Is he doing the best he can with what he has? How do you know? It's easier to blame MM, right?

We couldn't stop the Saints on 3rd and long to save our lives Monday night. Does Secondary Coach Tim Lewis get a free pass for that?

No one wants to blame the players or the real coaches. This all is simply a witch hunt run wild from all of the coordinator haters in here. They don't wanna look any deeper or think about it more.

I just wanna quote this since everyone else is...... i have no points to make or witty jokes at this time.

[Supes™]

Every time the Falcs give up yardage, whoever is commentating says the same thing...HE has no answers to stopping it! Yes ...BVClueless!

Is that a fact? Really? C'mon man!

[Miller2Rison]

This was not a typical falcons-saints game. The Saints wanted it more they knew our weakness was our secondary and they exploited it. I also saw a lot of questionable calls in the game. We need to jam receivvers when the qb starts throwing quick release passes and that IS on the coordinators, why stay in zone when the hole in your zone is more gaping than paris hilton's ******.

[Supes™]

This was not a typical falcons-saints game. The Saints wanted it more they knew our weakness was our secondary and they exploited it. I also saw a lot of questionable calls in the game. We need to jam receivvers when the qb starts throwing quick release passes and that IS on the coordinators, why stay in zone when the hole in your zone is more gaping than paris hilton's ******.

Fact is we couldn't get enough heat on Brees. They had our d-line dominated and their run game was proof of that.

In all fairness though, Drew Brees is one tough QB to coach against. Very few teams have had done much better than we did. He's very good and there's no easy answer.

[Karst41]

I just wanna quote this since everyone else is...... i have no wit to make jokes at this time.

Fixed!

[Trouble]

+1 (im just trying to pad my post count to get 10,000)

Fixed for you.

[Miller2Rison]

Fact is we couldn't get enough heat on Brees. They had our d-line dominated and their run game was proof of that.

In all fairness though, Drew Brees is one tough QB to coach against. Very few teams have had done much better than we did. He's very good and there's no easy answer.

i just dont understand why we dont jam receivers when we are being picked apart by quick release passes, i understand running the zone for interceptions and big hits which are now illegal but good QBs like Brees will always pick apart the zone and its hard to get pressure when the QB only has the ball for 2-3 secs. You have got to take timing away that is my biggest problem with BVG is he does not adjust you dont stay in the same defense when it's being picked apart you have to adjust.

[Supes™]

i just dont understand why we dont jam receivers when we are being picked apart by quick release passes, i understand running the zone for interceptions and big hits which are now illegal but good QBs like Brees will always pick apart the zone and its hard to get pressure when the QB only has the ball for 2-3 secs. You have got to take timing away that is my biggest problem with BVG is he does not adjust you dont stay in the same defense when it's being picked apart you have to adjust.

I'ma gonna step out on a limb and say you'll see some major adjustments when we face the Saints again. Will it work? Who's to say, but it's clear the scheme (and players) failed on MNF for a variety of reasons, the main one being Drew Brees.

[Trouble]

I'ma gonna step out on a limb and say you'll see some major adjustments when we face the Saints again. Will it work? Who's to say, but it's clear the scheme (and players) failed on MNF for a variety of reasons, the main one being Drew Brees.

1 major change we better make is playing like we are playing to win. Playing with heart. Hit harder, tackle harder, block harder, run harder and be aggressive and execute. Stop the killing penalties and that alone will go along way in helping us stay in the game.

[Supes™]

1 major change we better make is playing like we are playing to win. Playing with heart. Hit harder, tackle harder, block harder, run harder and be aggressive and execute. Stop the killing penalties and that alone will go along way in helping us stay in the game.

100% agree.

[Miller2Rison]

1 major change we better make is playing like we are playing to win. Playing with heart. Hit harder, tackle harder, block harder, run harder and be aggressive and execute. Stop the killing penalties and that alone will go along way in helping us stay in the game.

while i'll agree its hard to say "hit harder" Lofton did get flagged for making a tackle...