New Orleans Saints fans have to be happy with what they saw on Sunday. The Saints came out and whipped the Cleveland Brown 19-14. Most startling to me was the way the defense played. Heading into the season the Saints carried a legacy of terrible defensive play posted over the last three years. Sean Payton’s unit looked fired up in Cleveland, stopping the browns running game and applying good pressure on Charlie Fry. Some key points for Saints ticket holders:
1) The debut of Reggie Bush went well. Bush was used all over the field and handled everything. While he did nothing spectacular, it’s obvious that he’s the real deal and fully capable of ranslating his talents into the NFL. It’s just a matter of time before he breaks some long runs. His punt work eeds a lttle polish though. It’s the one place where he didn’t really seem to be comfortable.
2) Drew Brees made some nice plays but at times it seemed like the ball sailed on him. On the other hand his receivers (including Bush) dropped what looked like catcheable passes. The jury is still out but Brees did nothing terrible either. Hopefully he’ll get better as his timing improves with his wide receivers.
3) I was happy to see Deuce McAllister back on the field. The most telling run of the day in his case came deep in Browns territory when he made a bruising run down close to the goal. The way he ran, legs pumping and earning extra yards after the catch tells me theirs a reall chance that’s he’s going to make a good recovery from his knee injury.
4) Safety Roman Harper made some nice plays, including a sack of Charlie ry late in the game that stopped a Browns drive. We can expect some mistakes from a Saints defense that’s still young in some spots but the talent seems to be there.
5) My biggest concern coming into the esaon was linebacker. Scott Fujita established himself against the Cleveland Brown. The guy was a great pickup from Dallas.
6) Sean Payton made it clear from the very beginning that Reggie Bush was going to be a major part of the Saints offense. While some coaches may have tried to ease a rookie in, Payton threw Bush into the deep end and Bush responded.
This is only the first week of play for the New Orleans Sants and certain;y nobody’s sayng that the Saints are going anywhere in the post-season. But you have to like the tone of the team’s play in their first game. If the defense can improve on their play the Saints can do something. Offensively though, the Saints failed to score touchdowns early in the game, a failure that allowed Cleveland to stay in the game way too long. Doing that aginst better teams will breed a loss. Altogether, a satisfying start for Saints fans.
Next Up: The Green Bay Packers at Green Bay. Look for a preview in a day or two. If you like the way the Saints looked today you might want to land some Green Bay Packers tickets. Here’s a couple of links to sites that had Packers tickets available last week. Better hurry though.
