Chiefs at Saints: Analysis

Before we being, I'm going to go on a rant. So bear with me here.

The officiating of this game was terrible, horrific and outright absurd. I've never seen so many blown calls, delays and just erroneous decisions by the officiating staff in my entire life. This is pathetic. Goodell needs to get off of his pillar and beg the old officials to come back. They may not have been perfect but they are FAR better than what is out there now.

With that being said, I REFUSE to place the blame of any loss of any team on the referees. It is simply impossible to do. Officiating is an uncontrollable aspect of this game that will never be fully justified. Just like messed up fields, crowd noise and weather conditions, this is an aspect that neither team can really control and it is something every team and fan must deal with. 99% of the time it does not come down to the referees, it comes down to the team. If the team didn't put themselves in the position to lose, then the decision wouldn't matter. I don't care if it erased a touchdown off the scoreboard, that still doesn't mean the team would have one. The game could have gone a completely different way even if the call went your way, you just never know. I'm not doing this to say that the officiating is fine and we should simply obey it; in fact, I suggest you use your first amendment to complain to the NFL front office and I think you have every right to criticize these guys who get paid to officiate. However, I do not believe you should blame the referees for the fallacies of your team. Look at your team first. If they did everything right and nothing wrong but still lost, then you can blame the refs. If not, go jump on your team. End of story.

Now.

Chiefs at Saints: My prediction: 28-31; Actual score 27-24.
Pathetic. Simply pathetic. The Saints blew an 18 point lead in the second half, at home, to a team that has been nothing short of atrocious. Normally this is where I say what was good about the game and what was bad...but there isn't enough good for me to justify anything. This time, I'm going to break it down by 4 sections: Offense, defense, special teams and coaching.
Offense: We are very far away from the Saints of last season in terms of offense. Drew Brees has not looked comfortable, especially in the second half. Our offensive line is getting blown out the water. Our receivers are not getting open and are dropping passes everywhere. Where do I begin? Well you always begin with the O-Line.
Our tackles are struggling severely. Zach Strief got destroyed multiple times and allowed 3 sacks from Justin Houston. Houston is not a wily veteran, nor is he an elite 1st round draft pick. He's a 2nd year 3rd rounder with 5.5 sacks in his career. One sack is understandable, maybe two. But 3 sacks? Including one for a safety? You have got to be kidding me. But its not just Strief, it's the entire line. Our guards kept getting backed up by guys like Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey. Maybe it's a Louisiana homecoming thing, but that is just ridiculous. Our running backs continually had no lanes to run and were just destroyed. Maybe putting Aaron Kromer at head coach was a bad idea. He needs to focus more on his line...a lot.
Then again, it really doesn't help when your receivers blow so many opportunities. Jimmy Graham dropped two passes that were very much needed at the time. This gives Graham 3 crucial drops in the last 3 games. That's only crucial ones. He's making Devery Henderson, who had some great catches this game, look like Cris Carter. I think Jimmy may be letting some of his fame go to his head. I know Payton would jump on him, but what about Kromer?
With a struggling O-Line and receivers that just can't seem to get open, Drew Brees struggles. He's looking very uncomfortable and hasn't executed like he normally does. Not to mention, he's trying to overdo things a lot. I fear for this offense. A lot.
Defense: The defense actually showed some flashes of improvement, but flashes don't win games. The truth is, they gave up 510 yards to the Chiefs. We have further proved that we couldn't stop the run if we built levees in front of the opposing team's offensive line. Jamaal Charles ran for over 220 yards. Sure, Jamaal Charles is good. But he hasn't been good all season. Pathetic.
Also, it looks like Greer is still struggling with injury. I noticed that he was out on a lot of plays, leaving Patrick Robinson and Corey White starting on the outside. Not good. For some reason Corey White has moved over Johnny Patrick over the depth chart so Saints fans need to get used to his...uh...skill? P-Rob also looks like he's taking a step back. He shows flashes of good plays, but when he messes up, its big. I think he's just having some growing pains, but those pains are coming at an inopportune time.
The D-Line actually got some pressure today! But it wasn't enough. We can't just get some pressure. We need consistent pressure. Spags needs that pressure.
I'll be honest here: With the personnel we have, I would prefer Gregg Williams' defense. Hear me out. At least with Gregg WIlliams' heavy blitzing scheme we at least stood a chance at stopping the opponent. Its true, you live by the blitz and die by the blitz, no doubt. But at least we got some good plays out of it. Hell, our overall regular season record with Williams was 37-11. And even then we didn't give up this many yards. I don't think our personnel matches what Spags needs and I don't think we're gonna get it anytime soon. But, like I said earlier, I'm gonna give him the Juan Castillo approach, I'm gonna give him time.
Special Teams: We had one touchback from kickoffs all game. Garret Hartley missed an easy kick. We allowed an average of 13 yards on punt returns. Do I need to go on here?
Coaching: Between the play calling and the overall coaching I am just disgusted. I'm not even going to look at the play calling, but I am going to look at the attitude of the coaches. Spags is more fiery than Kromer. I know the interim interim head coach has to keep his cool, but he also needs to get in some refs' faces (I could give two shits about the NFL fines), and get his players in line. I saw him chew out his O-Line after the safety today. That was beautiful. But he's not getting on anyone else's case. Kromer needs to pull Jimmy out to the side and get his head in the game for dropping those passes. He needs to smack Corey White upside the helmet and tell him to play a little more up. He needs to give his D-Line a pep talk and get them energized to rush the passer. He needs to do something. I pray that during these meetings he calls out every single player who messed up and fixes this team. And I can only hope that Vitt will do a better job when he returns.

Overall, the Saints are a mess in every way, shape or form. For you fans who have had your hand over the panic button, I wouldn't blame you if you pressed it at all. However, I still have faith in this team. I don't think we will make the playoffs at this rate. Hell, I honestly only see us going maybe 6-10 or so. But I still have faith. I still love this team. And I'll stick with them through thick and thin.

Still, this team needs fixing. Just give it time guys. Let them work this out. All else fails, we will have a high draft pick next year and get ourselves a wonderful OT or a WR or something. Gotta stay positive when you can.

I know I probably missed a few things, and probably offended a few people. But I'm fired up today. I'm ready to debate. If you'd like to discuss anything feel free to comment or message me on here. Or if you're on that twitter junk, follow me @The_JurisDoctor. I'd love to talk with you guys.

Chin up guys. See ya next week.

Juris Doctor. Out.