NEW ORLEANS — In a large pool filled with negatives right now for the Saints, if there is one positive aspect to hold on to for dear life: It’s the timing of Drew Brees’ injury.
My four biggest takeaways from NFC championship rematch with the Rams starts with that bittersweet aspect.
Early reports are that Brees is expected to be out somewhere in the neighborhood of six weeks, so operating under that assumption that would have Brees missing games against:
- Seattle Seahawks
- Dallas Cowboys
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Chicago Bears
- Arizona Cardinals
Their next two games against the Seahawks and Cowboys will be tough sledding, but matchups with the Bucs, Jags and Cardinals are all winnable games with shaky quarterback situations, too.
Even better, in case Brees needs eight weeks to recover instead of six, a bye week comes seven weeks from now, in Week 9, and he wouldn't have to play until Week 10 against Atlanta on November 10.
My second takeaway is that the refs simply have to be better, and they should be further disciplined for egregious mistakes. For now 3-straight games dating back to last season, the Saints have had to deal with officials “craptastically” making blown calls.
Their latest mistake wiped out Cam Jordan's fumble return for a score, costing New Orleans a touchdown, in a critical game, at a critical moment.
This one was made by 17-year NFL vet Walt Anderson. If we can't trust him, who can we trust?
And yet, Sean Payton can't criticize them after the game, or else he'll get fined.
The only thing that happens to officials is they receive a bad grade that could keep them from reffing a big game in the future, like the Super Bowl.
But in my opinion, that's not enough. They should be open to fines for terrible mistakes, too. And the NFL should be more transparent in how they punish those refs to restore the public's confidence in a fair game.
Our third takeaway...the Saints normally stellar offensive line was manhandled by the Rams.
Not only did they give up two sacks, but of the Saints’ 11 penalties, every Saints starting O-lineman was responsible for a flag.
Lastly, the Saints secondary was scary, and not in a good way.
Their no. 1 corner Marshon Lattimore had the roughest outing. He surrendered LA’s lone receiving touchdown to Brandin Cooks and pass plays of 57 yards to Cooks and 66 yards to Cooper Kupp.
It’s something they have to fix, especially with Drew Brees out for the foreseeable future.
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