Saints hang in for a win... But...
WWL and NOPF's Kenny Wilkerson's take on the Saints' 2006 preseason opener

posted August 12, 2006 - print me!
neworleansprofootball.com

RB Reggie Bush (AP)

Read neworleanssaints.com's game story here.

Yes, the Saints did open up the pre-season with a win in Tennessee and you can’t take that away from them. In doing so the Saints had some very promising moments and you can’t take that away from them.

But as we have said for two weeks now… this team has long way to go. To make the point, if the road they had to travel was the twin spans after Saturday night in Nashville they now have to cross the Causeway. As one Saints official put it after the game, “We’re not very good.” It was one of the most honest statements I have heard in a long time from anybody of any consequence with this team. My thoughts when I was told this was... as long as they tell the truth to themselves and not try to act like everything is okay, when it is very clear that everything is not okay, then things WILL get better. When? I have no idea, but my feeling is it will be sooner than later.

Drew Brees’ opening performance in a Saints uniform was shaky at best. The Saints’ first two possessions were nothing to write home about and when Brees went back to throw his timing and accuracy was not very good. There was a spectacular run by Reggie Bush on the second possession. But the drive still stalled and that was really the only good play. The thing about Brees is that it is very obvious that he cares a great deal and was pretty upset with himself on the sidelines. The third time the Saints got their hands on the ball, Brees went to work by hooking up with Joe Horn and running Reggie. That drive also stalled but it was a lot cleaner and was encouraging.

Let’s stay with the encouraging things for a while. We mentioned Bush and we told you before the game not to blink. On the one big run by Bush that carried for 44 yards, Reggie reversed field and took off in grand fashion outrunning several players who had the angle on him. It was a play that should have given all Saints fans a taste of what will be coming in the future.

It was also good to see the Saints defense stop the run on several occasions and good to see some push from Hollis Thomas. But make no mistake the defense still got gashed way too many times.

On the Titans’ second and third possessions they were able to run it and throw it pretty much at will. The Saints did hold and force a field goal on the second Titan drive. The third drive resulted in a touchdown and it was pretty clear that the Titans had the edge over the Saints and could have inflicted much more damage if they wanted too.

As we have seen before the Saints missed some tackles and they did not swarm to the football as well as they need to. A very telling point about the Saints defense was that their starting middle linebacker, Alfred Fincher, had zero tackles. That’s right... none... nada... zilch. You don’t have to know much about the game to know you can’t win that way.

I will say this... head coach Sean Payton seems to be a man that WILL hold people accountable. Many times on Saturday night he was not really on the coaches like a mad man but it was clear he was making his point to his staff that he wants things fixed. Will he get on the players once the regular season gets here? Probably. Right now they are all just trying to figure out who to keep and who to let go. Once the roster is set it is my guess that EVERYONE will be held accountable.

In closing I will tell you that only a Saint player could get hurt by the other team’s mascot. But that is exactly what happened. As the two teams were warming up for the start of the second half, Adrian McPerson was fielding punts and had his foot run over by the Titan mascot driving in a motorized cart. Yes it was an accident, but freaky things some how have a way of happening to this team.

Oh yea I almost forgot... Reggie Bush, while he started out his NFL career with a jaw droping run, he also will receive a fine from the NFL for wearing Adidas shoes and not Nike cleats. The league was aware of what might happen and even sent someone from the league office to check out what shoes Reggie wore. Word was that Adidas was going to pat the fine for Bush. What’s not okay is if this happens every week. My guess is Sean Payton won’t let this fester into a weekly issue

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