Oh yes, it's STAT TIME!

We beat them in every single statistical category except turnovers and ToP.

Like Frank said, we whooped their ass up and down the field. The stats back it up. Obviously where we faltered was with our arch nemesis, OURSELVES.

Crazy over excited/not thinking Baas snap into the EZ. Alex was lucky to keep it to a safety. Correctable.

Two tipped passed picked off. The Alex haters will say it's his fault and the Alex homers will say it's sh!+ luck. Correctable.

Two friggin' fumbles. Delanie has to learn to wrap up. Simple. Correctable. Poor rookie Adams. Guy is put into a very difficult situation in his first active game. Wind was awful all night. Still, gotta make the catch. Lucky for us, once our first and second options @ punt return come back (Ginn and Williams), he'll unlikely be asked to do it again. Correctable.



NO SF
1st Downs 17 24
Passing 1st downs
14 12
Rushing 1st downs
1 10
1st downs from Penalties
2 2
3rd down efficiency
6-14 5-9
4th down efficiency
0-0 0-0
Total Plays 64 58
Total Yards 287 417
Passing 237 275
Comp-Att
28-38 23-32
Yards per pass
6.2 8.6
Rushing 50 142
Rushing Attempts
24 26
Yards per rush
2.1 5.5
Red Zone (Made-Att) 2-4 3-4
Penalties 5-54 5-40
Turnovers 0 4
Fumbles lost
0 2
Interceptions thrown
0 2
Defensive / Special Teams TDs 0 0
Possession 32:40 27:20


I'm most proud of our OLINE. They held up GREAT. Great pass pro (no sacks!!) and Frankie had a stellar night.

Big Up's to Alex Smith too. He really grew up tonight. He could have easily crumbled after that terrible snap for a safety and the fluke pick off Gore. He didn't. He was poised, used his legs when he had to, and the team clearly responds to him.

The haters gonna hate and thats just fine. The bottom line is, we are legit. Maybe not a SB team yet, but we will win this division and we will be heard from in the playoffs. And thats just the way it's gonna be. This team believes in itself. We should too. I do. Ya digg?

Alex' best game ever.

Too bad all I heard leaving the stadium from countless Saints fans was

"...If only you guys have a QB.."

Originally posted by oreck16:
Alex' best game ever.

Too bad all I heard leaving the stadium from countless Saints fans was

"...If only you guys have a QB.."

Can you blame them?

Our fans talk a lot of shat about Smith. More than the analysts and other teams fans. So as far as I'm concerned we give them license to say that garbage and Smith hadn't given them much to chew on over the last 5 years.

I hope we're at the point where that will change. I won't hold my breath here on the Zone, cause our haters outnumber the Opposing fans for hatred of all things Smith. Look how little they give Smith credit. They blame this Loss on Smith, nevermind that the Saints got what 3 points off the 2nd Interception?

~Ceadder

People were talking smack about Alex?

Nearly everyone I hear from only had glowing reviews on Alex's performance in the game.

I honestly wonder if it wouldn't have been better for Smith to just let them have the TD on the safety. Because they wouldn't up getting a TD from the good field position anyway. If they wind up with 7 points then they have to kick off to us and we get the ball back. Thoughts?

Anyone who blames this loss on Alex Smith has an agenda.

The stats speak. 24 first downs?!? I'd love to know the last time that happened. 5-9 on 3rd downs? You don't do that without great play from the QB.

Like Nate's uncle once said, "You can't beat luck sometimes"

Originally posted by SWAGG-ER:
Anyone who blames this loss on Alex Smith has an agenda.

The stats speak. 24 first downs?!? I'd love to know the last time that happened. 5-9 on 3rd downs? You don't do that without great play from the QB.

Like Nate's uncle once said, "You can't beat luck sometimes"

Yeah for the most part he played really well. The 1st INT was his fault, the 2nd wasn't, he lead us on multiple long drives. If only we don't fumble a few times we have 3 more points and they have less. I want to see this Smith in KC.

I wonder how bad Bushs injury is, that might throw a wrench in the Saints SB plans if he is out for the season.

Originally posted by WillistheWall:
I honestly wonder if it wouldn't have been better for Smith to just let them have the TD on the safety. Because they wouldn't up getting a TD from the good field position anyway. If they wind up with 7 points then they have to kick off to us and we get the ball back. Thoughts?

Uh no. I thought it shows how far he's come to hit the ball out for the safety. Pre-shoulder injuries i could easily see him trying to pick it up and make a play. It's 2 points early in the game. Smart move.

The real issue with that, IMO, was the crappy Andy Lee punt after the safety! He gave them the ball @ the 50! He did make up for it tackling Bush later on though. GO ANDY LEE! haha.

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by SWAGG-ER:
Anyone who blames this loss on Alex Smith has an agenda.

The stats speak. 24 first downs?!? I'd love to know the last time that happened. 5-9 on 3rd downs? You don't do that without great play from the QB.

Like Nate's uncle once said, "You can't beat luck sometimes"

Yeah for the most part he played really well. The 1st INT was his fault, the 2nd wasn't, he lead us on multiple long drives. If only we don't fumble a few times we have 3 more points and they have less. I want to see this Smith in KC.

Im anxious to see the OLINE in KC. I bet after the game and especially after watching the film, they go in there BEAMING with confidence. I don't wanna jinx it but they young guns looked great against DR. HEAT's D

Originally posted by SWAGG-ER:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:
I honestly wonder if it wouldn't have been better for Smith to just let them have the TD on the safety. Because they wouldn't up getting a TD from the good field position anyway. If they wind up with 7 points then they have to kick off to us and we get the ball back. Thoughts?

Uh no. I thought it shows how far he's come to hit the ball out for the safety. Pre-shoulder injuries i could easily see him trying to pick it up and make a play. It's 2 points early in the game. Smart move.

The real issue with that, IMO, was the crappy Andy Lee punt after the safety! He gave them the ball @ the 50! He did make up for it tackling Bush later on though. GO ANDY LEE! haha.

Yeah I was counting and I'm sure he was too on the fact that Lee would give them the ball at like the 30 or something. Instead the horrible punt puts it at the 47 or whatever and they get an easy TD. We really miss Heitmann IMO, Baas has had 2 months to practice this stuff plus he was practicing some back up C before Heitmann got hurt and he makes a simple mistake that is this costly. Just a total bummer. Without the safety we probably win. We just frikkin gift wrapped them points.

I had succumbed to the all of the negativity this past week and was beginning to write Alex off. He played a hell of a game and put this team in positions to succeed. He produced some of the best QB play we've seen in a long time. Sorry haters you can go screw yourselves on this one. Take away the damn turnovers and this game is a win assuming we didn't sit on a 3 point lead. When we got into the redzone and didn't shoot ourselves in the foot (3x's), we scored.

PWilly and the D played lights out all night long. Think about what they did.

DWalk is a fumble machine. He needs to be slapped upside the head for how he carries the ball out and away. He should be made to carry the ball high and tight for the next 15 weeks wherever he goes. How many times does the ball pop out of his hands when he goes down? His shoddy ball security skills keep him from becoming an elite player.

I thought the ESPN crew did a great job of calling the game.

Originally posted by SWAGG-ER:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:
I honestly wonder if it wouldn't have been better for Smith to just let them have the TD on the safety. Because they wouldn't up getting a TD from the good field position anyway. If they wind up with 7 points then they have to kick off to us and we get the ball back. Thoughts?

Uh no. I thought it shows how far he's come to hit the ball out for the safety. Pre-shoulder injuries i could easily see him trying to pick it up and make a play. It's 2 points early in the game. Smart move.

The real issue with that, IMO, was the crappy Andy Lee punt after the safety! He gave them the ball @ the 50! He did make up for it tackling Bush later on though. GO ANDY LEE! haha.

what if he just picked it up and just threw it our of bounds? woulda been intentional grounding and a penalty, but at least we wouldnt have given the Saints a free 2 points and the ball back!!

right?

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by SWAGG-ER:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:
I honestly wonder if it wouldn't have been better for Smith to just let them have the TD on the safety. Because they wouldn't up getting a TD from the good field position anyway. If they wind up with 7 points then they have to kick off to us and we get the ball back. Thoughts?

Uh no. I thought it shows how far he's come to hit the ball out for the safety. Pre-shoulder injuries i could easily see him trying to pick it up and make a play. It's 2 points early in the game. Smart move.

The real issue with that, IMO, was the crappy Andy Lee punt after the safety! He gave them the ball @ the 50! He did make up for it tackling Bush later on though. GO ANDY LEE! haha.

what if he just picked it up and just threw it our of bounds? woulda been intentional grounding and a penalty, but at least we wouldnt have given the Saints a free 2 points and the ball back!!

right?

IIRC when he touched it he was already in the end zone and I think IT Grounding from the end zone results in a safety too or something but I'm not sure. He didn't really have that much time anyway.

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by SWAGG-ER:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:
I honestly wonder if it wouldn't have been better for Smith to just let them have the TD on the safety. Because they wouldn't up getting a TD from the good field position anyway. If they wind up with 7 points then they have to kick off to us and we get the ball back. Thoughts?

Uh no. I thought it shows how far he's come to hit the ball out for the safety. Pre-shoulder injuries i could easily see him trying to pick it up and make a play. It's 2 points early in the game. Smart move.

The real issue with that, IMO, was the crappy Andy Lee punt after the safety! He gave them the ball @ the 50! He did make up for it tackling Bush later on though. GO ANDY LEE! haha.

what if he just picked it up and just threw it our of bounds? woulda been intentional grounding and a penalty, but at least we wouldnt have given the Saints a free 2 points and the ball back!!

right?

offensive penalty in the endzone is still a safety IIRC.