New Orleans Saints 2009: Week 7 Game Preview – Saints @ Dolphins

The last meeting between these two teams was in week 7 (October 30th) of the 2005 season – aka the season that never happened, Uh hmmm. The Dolphins D shut down our boys in the black and gold allowing only 200 hundred yards while managing to force two turnover’s.

Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks spent most of the game on his back as he was sacked five times.

The Saints offense sputtered as well as they failed to reach the end zone the entire game, only managing two John Carney field goals for a whopping 6 points.

Dolphin kicker Olindo Mare went 4/5 on field goals, carrying his team to a lopsided 21-6 win. The Dolphins improved to 3-4 on the season while the Saints slipped to 2-6 and into the depths of despair.

On a side note kicker Olindo Mare would sign with the Saints a season later after Sean Payton thought John Carney was just too old to kick a football through an upright. Ironically Mare turned out to be a complete bust as apparently he couldn’t hit a kick from 5 yards out. Meanwhile Karney caught on with the Giants where he has enjoyed great success, and he can kick from longer than 5 yards out.

Next Meeting: Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Location: LandShark Stadium

Series Leader: The Dolphins lead the all time series between the two teams, 9-3

Offensive Keys  To Success:

The Saints have to do everything better this time around, and luckily they will. Obviously this is an entirely different team with an entirely different offense, one that presents a challenge to any defense in the league. If you look at the Dolphins defense last season they were stout against the run (10th) yet weak against the pass (25th). Sean Payton will exploit this to the Saints advantage, as he should. Drew Brees will need to spread the ball around to the plethora of receiving options he has available to him to keep the Dolphins D guessing and off balance. When they start to sell out on the pass, pushing the safeties back and linebackers into coverage, it’s time for Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush to rip of some long runs. If they do these things, while minimizing turnovers and maximizing third down efficiency, then it’s smooth sailing to another win.

Defensive Keys To Success:

A defensive game plan is essentially the same plan from week to week – tackle well, maximize turnovers, minimize big plays, and shut down the opposing teams weapons. You do these things well and your defense plays well. The Saints can account for 10 to 15 percent of the Dolphins snaps to come out of the wildcat formation, or wildpat formation if you prefer. Gregg Williams will need to have his unit prepared to combat the formation or beware of the consequences. If the Dolphins line up in the wildcat with a RB at QB, or worse yet QB/WR Pat White, Vilma will have to read and react quicky to audible into an inside blitz, thus forcing the run to the outside where the unit has more time to react. Meanwhile the corners and safeties have to stay in man coverage against the receiver’s and tight end’s, and hopefully no one bite’s too hard on a fake run/pass. So if the Saints can play solid D, dial up some pressure, and tame to wildcat, it should be an easy day for Gregg Williams and the Saints defense.

Game Stats From Last Meeting: Stats

Prediction: Da Saints, 31-24

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