Tag: Sean Payton (Page 12 of 13)

      Saints mount wild comeback, beat Dolphins

      October 25, 2009 /

      In one of the wildest games of the season, the Saints beat the Dolphins 46-34 on Sunday as Drew Brees completed 22-of-38 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for two scores as New Orleans outscored Miami 43-10 starting late in the second quarter.

      The final score would suggest otherwise, but both defenses actually played well until the fourth quarter. Miami repeatedly harassed Brees while racking up five sacks and forcing three interceptions and two fumbles. At one point, the Dolphins led 24-3 but Sean Payton never abandoned the run and Brees slowly started to strike for big plays. He repeatedly attacked the middle of the field while finding Jeremy Shockey (four catches, 105 yards) for a couple of big plays in the second half.

      For the third time this season, Darren Sharper intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. He now has five interceptions on the year and is making a case for being the best offseason acquisition in the NFL, which is amazing considering how several teams thought he was done at 33 years old.

      The Dolphins learned a lot about themselves today. While they blew a 21-point second quarter lead, they are the only team that has put the Saints on their heels this season. They may have given the rest of the league a blueprint on how to slow the Saints down. (Or at least, slow the Saints down for two quarters.)

      It’s unfortunate that they couldn’t find a way to pull out the win, but by no means are the Dolphins out of contention at 2-4. Chad Henne made a couple of mistakes today, but the youngster will learn and continue to develop.

      NFL

      NFL Week 7 COY Power Rankings

      October 25, 2009 /

      Okay, so we can finally separate Josh McDaniels and Marvin Lewis after the former beat San Diego to reach 6-0 and the latter lost a tough home game to Houston. Here is our current power rankings for NFL Coach of the Year:

      1. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—Seriously, 6-0? The schedule keeps getting tougher, but it doesn’t seem to faze this team or their confident coach. Dude is a mini-Belichick, the first “offspring” to be worthy of that title.

      2. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—After beating the Giants to reach 5-0, we can start talking about the very real likelihood of the Saints reaching the Super Bowl for the first time, and this guy is a big reason why. It’s still amazing that he managed to pay his defensive coordinator a quarter mil of his own cash to lure him, but it seems to have been worth it.

      3. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—Just like his QB, you can’t fault Caldwell for the bye week.

      4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—Now 6-0, there should be no question that Childress did himself and the city of Minnesota a huge favor bringing back #4. He sure wasn’t going to be 6-0 with Tarvaris Jackson, was he?

      5. Mike Smith, Atlanta Falcons—A tough win against the Bears, and this team is not fading any time soon. Really, the Falcons and Saints are two of the best teams in the NFC and it should be interesting when they meet.

      Honorable mention: Tom Coughlin, Giants; Bill Belichick, Patriots; Marvin Lewis, Bengals

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, NFL

      The best team in the NFL routs Giants

      October 18, 2009 /

      The New Orleans Saints are the best team in the NFL. Not just the NFC, but in the entire league. And if you disagree, then make sure you watch the highlights of the Saints’ beat down of the Giants on Sunday.

      In what was supposed to be a battle of the two best teams in the NFC, the Saints absolutely guerrilla-smacked the Giants 48-27 at the Superdome. Soon-to-be MVP winner Drew Brees was brilliant, completing 23 of his 30 passing attempts for 369 yards and four touchdowns. He finished with a QB rating of 156.8.

      The Giants turned the ball over twice and had nine penalties that totaled 110 yards, but this wasn’t a matter of New York shooting itself in the foot. New Orleans was just flat out better in all facets of the game. The stepped on the Giants’ throats and kept it there for four quarters.

      For years, the one thing that had been missing for this Saints team was a stellar defense to go along with their explosive offense. Now now they have one under new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and we’re finally seeing what this team is capable of. New Orleans limited the Giants to only 84 rushing yards, 241 passing and as previously noted, they also caused two turnovers and sacked Eli Manning twice.

      Speaking of sacks, the Giants’ explosive pass-rush was limited to just one today. ONE. The Saints have one of the more underrated offensive lines in the league, which is something that is often overlooked when pundits gush about Brees and Sean Payton’s offense. One of the keys for the Giants today was being able to generate pressure on Brees and they couldn’t. New Orleans’ offensive line was that good and it doesn’t even have Pro Bowl left tackle Jammal Brown, who was placed on injured reserve in late September after he had to have sports hernia surgery.

      As for the Giants, they saw today just how behind they are to the best team in the league. They certainly don’t have to go back to the drawing board, but they tried to match wits with another elite team and got their asses handed to them. They better get healthy defensively and figure out how to wake up Brandon Jacobs or else they won’t last in the postseason. Today was certainly a wake up call for the G-Men.

      I don’t think any NFC team can beat the Saints in the Superdome. If they earn the top seed in the NFC, they will be on the fast track to the Super Bowl.

      NFL

      NFL Coach of the Year Power Rankings

      October 18, 2009 /

      Amazingly, Josh McDaniels and Marvin Lewis are still tied atop this list. And even if they were ranked 1-2, what difference would that make? They both have exceeded expectations in a big way to this point.

      1. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos & Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—After last weekend, these two are still tied, even though McDaniels’ team is 5-0 and Lewis’ is 4-1. Denver beat the Patriots and McDaniels’ mentor Bill Belichick last weekend in Denver, while Lewis’ Bengals had an emotional win over the Ravens in Baltimore a few days after defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s wife tragically passed away.

      2. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—Really, did anyone expect the Colts to be 5-0 out of the gate? Everyone thought that with the departure of Tony Dungy and Marvin Harrison, there would be a regression. Then Anthony Gonzalez got hurt, and still, Caldwell and Peyton Manning are carrying on the winning tradition.

      3. Tom Coughlin, New York Giants—You have to give a guy credit when he has his team fully prepared each week. The last three weeks, the Giants have utterly dominated their opponents, because Coughlin and his team take no one lightly. The Giants have been hit fairly hard by injuries too, but Coughlin always seems to have a guy to plug in.

      4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—With a 5-0 start, it’s time we gave this guy his due for having the balls to coax Favre back even after Favre’s waffling act teetered on the retirement side again.

      5. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—His team came flying out of the gate with the same high-flying offense, but also with a much-improved defense. We’ll see if Sean is still sitting here after the big showdown against the G-men Sunday.

      Honorable mention: Mike Smith, Falcons; Andy Reid, Eagles; Lovie Smith, Bears

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, NFL

      Shockey looking for revenge this weekend

      October 13, 2009 /

      Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey still has a bitter taste in his mouth from his days as a Giant, writes the New York Daily News. The Saints will host the Giants this Sunday at the Superdome.

      Shockey gets his shot at revenge when the undefeated Saints and Giants meet Sunday in the Superdome. The defense should expect plenty of yapping from him. The Giants were thrilled to dump Shockey, who had become a divisive malcontent, and Saints coach Sean Payton, his offensive coordinator with the Giants in his rookie year, was glad to hand over second- and fifth-round picks right before training camp in 2008.

      Shockey had been one of the faces of the franchise. But whether it was a bruised ego when the Giants won the Super Bowl without him or a feeling he was disrespected by management or money, it was clear his act had grown stale in New York and he forced his way out of town.

      Shockey told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in yesterday’s editions that he had a “bitter taste in my mouth,” from his Giants days. “It’s just something that if you cross me once – it’s hard enough to gain my trust as it is – and if you lie to me and if you say something behind closed doors between that person and myself …

      “I needed change in my life,” he said.

      He had a blowup with GM Jerry Reese during a minicamp in June of ’08 and that made it impossible for him to return. He is happy and healthy in New Orleans after he was injured for much of last season, playing in 11 games and catching 50 passes with no TDs. In the Saints’ 4-0 start, he leads the Saints with 18 catches and also has two touchdowns. He is the third receiving option for Drew Brees after Marques Colston and Reggie Bush.

      One of the things that always stood out to me about the Giants’ Super Bowl run a couple years ago was that Manning had so much success in the playoffs without having Shockey at his disposal. That was just one example of why individual players – no matter how talented they may be – will never be more important than the team.

      Shockey has little right to be bitter with the Giants and he should just be happy with his new surroundings. Payton loves him in New Orleans, which is a perfect fit for his skill set. He should use his motivation in helping his team win this Sunday and not let his anger cloud his focus.

      NFL

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