No Looking Back

"Not so fast, bud. I'm a head coach."

So, here we sit. 0-2. Deflated, embarrassed and hopefully a little pissed. I watched the Carolina game a few times and it's the same thing that happened against Washington. This defense is ugly. Hopefully this doesn't become a trend in week 3. Matt Cassel is a statue. There will be no read option, therefore no more excuses. I like what Romeo Crennel had to say about his team's 0-2 start putting it squarely on the players. How shitty is that? They are in the same situation as we are with Crennel wearing two hats as defensive coordinator and head coach, but they had the brilliant foresight to put themselves behind the 8 ball by doing it intentionally. This team is awful from top to bottom. I know they have what is statistically a top 5 offense, but that really doesn't concern me. I'd be fine with them putting up huge numbers in yards and getting beat by a few scores. Remember Vikings fans after the NFC Championship Game? "But we got more yards than you!!!" Kansas City is the only team that sucks as bad as we do on defense and we know that their offense is nothing compared to a fully clicking, locked and loaded Saints offense. So, that begs the question: will we see the Saints offense that has turned this team into the contender they've become over recent years? If there was ever an opportunity for Drew Brees and company to get things rolling, this is it. Devery Henderson being cleared for contact and getting back into action this weekend could be the spark we were missing last week. He hasn't been consistently referred to as "Ole Stone Hands" in years and if it means not throwing anything in the general direction of Joseph Morgan, I'm good with it. Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is getting tired of seeing Corey White getting beat or being 2 steps behind his receiver so Johnny Patrick being back is also a big plus. If you were to ask me, I would have to say that this is going to be the Saints week to shine. Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins, you were made captains of this defense for a reason you haven't shown us since the pre-season. Please pick a damn pass off on Sunday.

The Chiefs defense is not stout and should be picked on early and often. I know Drew Brees supposedly has trouble playing against a 3-4 defense, but I'm still clinging to hope that this is going to be the turnaround point for our offense. Feed the ball to any of our 3 active backs and control the clock. Wear the Chiefs down so that we can open up the play action passing game and get some one-on-one match ups when they have to honor the run. Everything the Saints haven't been doing this season is Football 101, and both you and I know it.

"I'll be back. With bigger balls than ever.
Bringin' some bitties with me too."

One thing we seem to sorely be missing is Sean Payton's in-game adjustments and play calling. Random guy whose head is still stuck up his ass will want to make his point. "But Carmichael called the plays after Payton went down last year!" Yeah, well, so what? It hasn't been pretty and we have shown up looking disgustingly flat in two consecutive weeks. The preparation with Payton during the week leading up to the game obviously had much to do with Carmichael's success calling plays come game time. And whatever happened to the Saints team that would be in a close game going into halftime only to come out in the second half to blow the god damn doors off and roll to a W? It went the same way as the play calling. It's sitting on the couch eating junk food and drinking beer. Screw you, Roger Goodell. I hate you and the shit you have pulled.

I'm not going to just throw up my hands and drop a tear in my beer because Payton is gone. Screw it. It happened. We've got to be able to rise above this putrid start. Honestly, heading into week 3, I can't help but feel that running with Vitt and Kromer as the interim and interim-interim head coaches was a rather large blunder. Seems like they (Benson, Loomis, whoever) did it this way so that there wouldn't be a huge disruption in coaching when Payton does come back, rather than in an effort to win football games this year. Seriously, how can you say that this coaching situation is anything other than a total clusterfuck? You can't. Look, I'm not piling on Kromer. He didn't ask for this. He is not Sean Payton. He's the offensive line coach and running game coordinator for a reason. Well, we're stuck with this situation and I don't think that Joe Vitt is magically going to fix things when he comes back after game 6. All I know is that, just like the defense, there's nowhere to go but up from here. Joe Vitt is a rah rah kinda guy and that's something that we can use during the game. I can't recall our coaches working the scab officials even once. How is that possible? What the fuck else is there to do when there are officials whose sole purpose, it seems, is to be worked over and taken advantage of? (Apparently, yelling at referees is now banned too in the NFL.)

Heading into the season I said that as long as we went 3-3 before Joe Vitt came back we'd be okay. I still believe that. Really, I just wish it wouldn't have started like this. Wouldn't have been so damn painful and ugly. I still have hopes for a good season that finishes in the dome with Goodell having to hand over the Lombardi to Tom Benson, who in turn says, "Nice try, Roger.". I still believe that Drew Brees is going too be in the discussion for MVP (and subsequently get snubbed). I still have faith in Steve Spagnuolo and what he can do for our defense, with the players we've got. (How awesome of him was it to move his press conference from Friday to Monday to face the music from the press following a dismal showing in Carolina? That takes balls.) We don't have to be world beaters on defense considering the potential of our offense. A few turnovers and three and outs would be satisfactory. Something. Anything.

All in all, heading into week 3, we couldn't ask for a better opponent than the Chiefs.

Who dat, y'all. We got this.