By Brandon Simmons
How Long Can the Saints March?
The New Orleans Saints are without quarterback Drew Brees but you almost can’t tell. Last week, the Saints rolled over the Seattle Seahawks 33-27, on the road. Sunday night, they pulled off a huge win over the Dallas Cowboys. The Saints have proclaimed to only play for a 3-3 record in Brees’ absence; but after 2 games they could be looking to surpass that mark and out the future hall-of-famer in a position to get set up real nice for the postseason. But how nice of a setup can they actually do behind backup QB Teddy Bridgewater?
This is a completely different Saints team when Bridgewater is under center, as opposed to Brees. When Brees is taking the snaps, there’s more inclination to throw the ball down the field, or just throw the ball in general to keep the chains moving. Which can be a recipe for keeping the scoreboards active. Bridgewater is almost a complete opposite. He does not challenge many defenders going downfield with the football. Since taking over the starting job this season, his longest completion has been for 14 yards. The real difference shows up in their other aspects such as defense and special teams. Last week, Saints rookie wide receiver Deonte Harris ran a punt back for a touchdown. Sunday, the defense was able to hold the explosive Cowboys offense to a mere 10 points.
The problem with New Orleans marching into a win each Sunday is the fact that this team is kind of working with two left feet. Last week, they scored 33 points but also gave up 515 yards in the air. Despite only scoring 12 points on Sunday, they were able to bottle up Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot for just 35 yards. They have a schedule coming up that should be pretty easy for them but their biggest culprit is going to be inconsistency. After 2 games of no Brees, this team has to find a strength that can become their identity and build off of it.
Burfict Crime, Burfict Solution
The NFL suspended Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict for a year, without pay, after his helmet-to-helmet hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle. For someone who might not have kept up with Burfict’s actions, it could seem like a knee-jerk reaction, but he has had a long history of these incidents, which has included an estimated $4 million of fines and forfeited game checks, per SI.com. It has gotten him a bad reputation as a dirty player that he has earned all on his own. Some of the things that he has been fined/disciplined for include twisting an opponent’s ankles ($25,000, October 2014), an egregious hit on then-Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Antonio Brown in a wild card game (suspended 3 games of 2016-2017 season, January 2016), ejected from a game against the Tennessee Titans for making contact with an official.
The NFL had to do something to address this. The hit was too reckless for a player who has played his whole career in this era, where new techniques for tackling have been introduced and implemented time and time again. In other words, Burfict knows better and, barring an appeal, he will have to sit with this decision he made as well as the previous ones.
Still Down with the Browns?
After 4 games, the Cleveland Browns have proven to be as mysterious as their offseason projections. The team is at 2-2, tied for 1st place in the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens. Many people have gleemed over this talented roster coming into the season, but things have not been shiny consistently. They lost their season opener to the Titans 43-13, but the following came back with a 23-3 win over the New York Jets. Last weekend, they lost a close 20-13 game to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, but bounced back with a surprising 40-25 road win over the Ravens this past Sunday. To put things into more perspective, last week the Browns had their lowest offensive total of the season with 270 yards while this past weekend, they were able to drop 535 yards on the Baltimore defense, highlighted by a 88 yard touchdown run by running back Nick Chubb.
Cleveland may very well live up to the hype that has been bestowed upon them. Their next 3 games will be against the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. After that 3 game bootcamp, they will have games against the Denver Broncos, Steelers with no Roethlisberger, a rematch with the Ravens, 2 games against the Cincinnati Bengals and a game against the sinking Dolphins. With that type of schedule, the Browns could possibly be in the hunt for a 1st round bye. Outside of the next 3 contests, a majority of their remaining games are winnable. Chubb is starting to become a force and they will still get Kareem Hunt back from his suspension. QB Baker Mayfield still has receiving threats in wideouts Odell Beckham, Jr. and Jarvis Landry. This team just might finally bite as hard as their bark was this year.
Shoutout/Shutouts
Shout out to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their scoring record. Sunday, the team set a franchise record scoring 55 points in a road win over the Los Angeles Rams.
Shut out to the Rams defense who gave up such points, especially in front of their home crowd.
Shout out to defensive linemen Jadeveon Clowney and N’Domakung Suh for their touchdown returns. The Seahawks’ Clowney intercepted a pass by Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and took it back for 6. The Buccaneers’ Suh recovered a fumble from Rams QB Jared Goff and ran it back 37 yards for the score.
Shut out to injuries on starting quarterbacks. Sunday, Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubiskey suffered a left shoulder injury in the 1st quarter of a win over the Minnesota Vikings. Earlier in the day, Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen left the game after he took a vicious hit to the head from Patriots corner back Johnathan Jones.
Shout out to the Reid brothers, Eric and Justin, for being able to play against each other when the Texans hosted the Panthers. Panthers safety Eric Reid is the older brother of Texans safety Justin Reid. They shared a great moment afterwards along with family and friends.
Shut out to the Dallas Cowboys fans and their constant need for taking trash talk too far. A video surfaced online showing Cowboys fans marching down the streets of New Orleans with a marching band, similar to how the city itself does at various times. It would have been a great troll had they won the game but it was just a waste of drums and noise.
Now that the first quarter of the season is done, teams are about to get in their bag. The Rams and Seahawks are going to be at each other’s necks this Thursday. Two division rivals sitting at 3-1 is a recipe for all sorts of excitement; plus the Seahawks can either engage with you in defensive battle or run the score up with you. The game of the week will be the Cowboys hosting the Packers. Both teams are coming off losses and have sort of become one of the more exciting rivalries in recent years again. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will be in a showdown with Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, but it will be fun to watch Dallas’ 5th ranked passing offense go against Green Bay’s 3rd ranked passing defense. But until then…I’ll holla.