New Orleans Saints Let Another Game Slip Away

Well maybe slip away is not the best way to describe the Saints 30-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns today as that implies the game was in hand but slowly got away from the defending Super Bowl champs.

In fact the better way to describe it is the Saints let another game get ripped away from them as the Browns defense was able to rip the ball out of the air and out of players hands including probably the most shocking stat of the contest, four interceptions o.f Saints pro bowl quarterback Drew Brees.

Brees has now thrown ten interceptions so far this year, eight in his last three games, after totaling only eleven throughout the 2009 season. Is there really a Madden curse?

He did manage to lead the Saints to fourteen fourth quarter points throwing for 356 yards in the game but the effort simply was not enough to overcome his abundance of turnovers.

Browns linebacker David Bowens was responsible for two of Brees’ four interceptions both of which he ran back for touchdowns adding insult to injury.

Running back Chris Ivory, who rushed for 158 yards last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was held to 48 yards on 15 carries seeming much more human this game with a yards per carry average of 3.2 instead of the 10.4 he averaged while gashing the Bucs.

The Saints defense however played very well surrendering only 16 points to the Browns and 210 total yards bringing there average over the last four games to a respectable 233 yards per contest.

It seems ironic that while the Saints offense played to perfection over recent years the one thing that was always holding them back was a suspect defense and now that the defense is finally playing to form it’s the offense that’s preventing success.

Brian Allee-Walsh of the Times-Picayune described the Saints performance today probably better than any other analyst close to the sport.

"On this day, Oct. 24, 2010, the Saints played like the ‘Aints’ of old. They were outplayed, out coached, and outclassed by a last-place team in the AFC North that actually allowed an inferior opponent (on this day, mind you) to hang around and make a game of it on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter."

New Orleans season is not lost at this point as they are only 4-3, and are 2-1 in the division, but they are now at risk to become a .500 team staring down a matchup with the tough 5-1 Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday.

Every one says not to panick about the Saints performance so far this season and everyone in the organization insists they are not panicking either and that all is well — maybe that’s the problem.

Check out Keith Null’s weekly article about the Saints on NFL.com by clicking here.

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