Not a very good performance last night by the Saints although it's a W just the same. The offensive line is giving up too many hits on Drew Brees. There's more than a little concern at left tackle, Jermond Bushrod. After shutting down the Giants Osi Umenyiora, who I thought was one of the best, Jason Taylor of the Dolphins and John Abraham of the Falcons both gave him a lot of trouble. Both teams made too many mistakes. Both can play better.
I'm also compelled to make an observation about the officiating. It's getting pretty bad and I don't know why. Most of the time, officials are in good position to see the plays. Some of the infractions that were called last night were pretty ticky tacky and some of the most blatant ones were no calls. An important Saints drive was kept alive by a defensive holding call which was pretty minor. A long Falcons touchdown pass to Roddy White should have been offensive pass interference. I'm also concerned about some very slow whistles once forward progress has been stopped. I don't know what their mandate from the league is but I don't know anyone who is happy with the officiating this season.
Another division game for the Saints coming up this week. Carolina played a good game this week against the Cardinals and they beat the Saints twice last year with essentially the same players. Not an easy out.
Big game in Tuscaloosa against the Crimson Tide this week for the LSU Tigers. A win would change their season into something else.
I find myself very concerned about events in the Florida-Georgia game this past Saturday. The eye-gouging was scary. What was he thinking? That he was going to emerge from the pile and raise that guy's eyeballs up to the crowd? The punishment (Half-game suspension for a game your team is favored by 100) meted out by Urban Meyer was inadequate. He should be suspended for the rest of the year or even thrown off the team. And this, from Heisman Trophy winner and leader of the team, Tim Tebow:
I don't think that we did anything in that game that they didn't do.
The Southeastern Conference needs to look at suspending that series or penalizing both programs somehow.
My two fantasy teams are both in tailspin mode. After a 5-0 start, one is 5-3. After a 6-0 start, the other is 6-2.
Quote of the Day
I don't think we played that great today
Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "Good morning Panther faithful and welcome to the Monday Morning Optimist; and boy oh boy, do we have a lot to be optimistic about this week!"
