What a strange weekend it was! LSU, as a favorite and ranked number on in the nation, falls at Kentucky. The New Orleans Saints, as a solid underdog, win at far away Seattle. Tulane simply loses again.
With the Saints, the first half of last night's game at Seattle unveiled a glimpse of what we saw in 2006. Special teams were special, blocking a field goal and scoring a touchdown off a Seahawks botched punt. The defense was acceptable, which is all they were in 2006. The offense found itself, with Reggie Bush running wild and Drew Brees looking razor-sharp. The Saints amassed 258 yards and 28 points in the first half. David Patten had a career-high eight catches. He had just one for New England a year ago.
The defense forced two turnovers. New Orleans won the time of possession. Scott Fujita returned from injury to post seven tackles. The team finally got after an opposing quarterback and posted five sacks. Blitzing was a big part of this front. Roman Harper collected a pair of sacks from his safety position.
While the offense shut down in the second half, with the exception of one drive which ended in a Bush fumble, the defense did enough to slow Matt Hasselbeck to hold on for the victory. While it was far from a complete effort, it was a good one and a solid victory over a perennial playoff team. Perhaps Drew Brees won't have to answer, in his own words, "the same stupid questions" this week.
Is the season salvageable? I would think that the possibility of making the playoffs remains a long shot at best. Such talk is clearly premature. If you can get to 4-4, we can have that discussion. Right now, let's rejoice in a win!
In one week's time, Les Miles went from being the most celebrated coach since, well, Nick Saban, to the most ridiculed coach since, well, Nick Saban. A week removed from a swashbuckling gambler's mentality of going five for five on fourth down against Florida in a come-from-behind win, Miles inexplicably ran the ball four straight times in the third overtime, coming up short at Kentucky.
Of course, it should not have gotten to that point in the first place. Matt Flynn missed open receivers. Open receivers could not catch. For the second straight week, a celebrated defense could not stop the opponent. It's best players, Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson are virtually invisible except for Jackson's ignorant personal foul for karate chopping the head of Andre Woodson which likely cost LSU the game.That Miles ran it on the fateful final series is an indictment of his lack of confidence in the passing game. While receivers have been inconsistent, Flynn has not been good enough, whether because of not being totally healthy or simply not being good enough. Miles is clearly very reluctant to give Ryan Perrilloux the football. That's too bad.
In my opinion, Perrilloux would have sealed the deal to an LSU win at Lexington had he been on the field. Quite simply, he can do more than Flynn in all aspects. LSU can still win out and perhaps get a chance to play for the national championship. A Jacob Hester insert appeared on last week's cover of Sports Illustrated. Perhaps the SI jinx struck again!
With regard to Tulane, the Green Wave wasted another superb effort by Matt Forte against UAB. Unfortunately, after a promising effort against LSU, Tulane has come up just short against a pair of opponents that they could have beaten. The bottom line is that the talent simply is not there and it will take a couple of good recruiting classes by Bob Toledo to make any impact in Conference USA. Unfortunately, very few folks, outside of Tulane loyalists, seem to be paying much attention to the Wave. Only winning will change. |
