Credit Where Credit Is Due

@"BarrNone55" said: Mike Zimmer.

Holding the Saints to 20 points, half of what they've been putting up recently, was masterful. When we went big nickel, I expected Kearse not Sendejo. Mike Thomas was a non factor. Cam Jordan was a non factor (maybe keep your yap shut?). We didn't fold after the early fumble. 

Yep...a lot of kudos to go around. Cousins, Hunter, Griffen, Thielen, Cook...but IMO the MVP in this game was Mike Zimmer. Kamara non factor. Thomas non factor. Jared Cook non factor. Saints had to resort to trickery with Taysom to generate any offense at all.

Sendejo playing the slot in the big nickel package was a big surprise. It was not a move that I expected to work, but he pulled it off. I also noticed that they matched up Barr on Thomas with a safety over the top several times. They did a good job of adapting to play without two corners, plus Rhodes and Waynes were banged up too. I'm not sure what Alexander's timeline is, but I hope we get him back next week.

Yep. Who dat got outcoached this game?? Who dat?

The master play caller was reduced to a masturbator. Great to shutdown that arrogant bastard!

The Saints were clearly focused on taking away Diggs and forcing Thielen to beat them through the air. He got off to a rocky start with the fumble, but he got stronger as the game wore on and finally started to look like himself for the first time since the hamstring injury. Having Thielen back contributing is huge, since Diggs had to carry the receiving game for the bulk of the season.

I do wonder about some of Stefanski's play-calling. The attempted end-around pass play was an early drive killer and late in the game the Saints were sitting on outside runs, which resulted in a couple big losses in yards. I get that outside running is the offense's strength, but those were risky calls when the offense needed to close out the game.

Yup, Stefanski had a difficult time figuring out what was working and what wasnt. Saints had no answer for Cook early on, but he kept running the WRs. It was maddening. 

Stefanski set it all up. Those end arounds and reverses served a purpose. The Saints D had to be mindful of EVERYTHING. It mattered. Zimmer got his asshole puckered as usual late with a lead, but decided to let his nut sack hang down in overtime and release the fucking hounds.

Game over.

@"StickyBun" said: Stefanski set it all up. Those end arounds and reverses served a purpose. The Saints D had to be mindful of EVERYTHING. It mattered. Zimmer got his asshole puckered as usual late with a lead, but decided to let his nut sack hang down in overtime and release the fucking hounds.

Game over.

There's certainly truth that the calling the end-around pass is meant to make teams pause on those plays in the future. Though it still killed a drive where they had good momentum until that play. I am very happy that we didn't let a gadget player in Hill beat us. The D was not adapting to him well, but I'm happy that he's sitting at home next week and that his fake punt failed.

I dont know if it was on Stefanski or Zimmer but the offensive play calling became a major issue at times and really made this game more of a contest than it needed to be down the stretch.

Setting things up or not,  when you see 9 in  the box on first down and you still try and power run behind a very weak interior OL... to damn many times we needed to PA to a TE or other and they insisted on pounding a RB between the tackles.

This is a feel good win for a lot of reasons,  but really a fucking head scratcher far to  often for a playoff game.

Lets just not let Diggs attempt a pass for a while - huh?

@"purplefaithful" said: Lets just not let Diggs attempt a pass for a while - huh?

Yeah. Especially when the Saints had no answer for Cook early on. No need to be cute. Run it until they show they can stop it. Pretty basic.

@"purplefaithful" said: Lets just not let Diggs attempt a pass for a while - huh?

I tell ya, it was all part of the new narrative they were putting out there. Unpredictable even if sometimes ineffective. It fucked with NO's defense's head.

@"Tyr" said: The Saints were clearly focused on taking away Diggs and forcing Thielen to beat them through the air. He got off to a rocky start with the fumble, but he got stronger as the game wore on and finally started to look like himself for the first time since the hamstring injury. Having Thielen back contributing is huge, since Diggs had to carry the receiving game for the bulk of the season.

I do wonder about some of Stefanski's play-calling. The attempted end-around pass play was an early drive killer and late in the game the Saints were sitting on outside runs, which resulted in a couple big losses in yards. I get that outside running is the offense's strength, but those were risky calls when the offense needed to close out the game.

if we can stop calling those double end arounds with the pass option “that would be great.”

@"PSBLAKE" said:

@"Tyr" said: The Saints were clearly focused on taking away Diggs and forcing Thielen to beat them through the air. He got off to a rocky start with the fumble, but he got stronger as the game wore on and finally started to look like himself for the first time since the hamstring injury. Having Thielen back contributing is huge, since Diggs had to carry the receiving game for the bulk of the season.

I do wonder about some of Stefanski's play-calling. The attempted end-around pass play was an early drive killer and late in the game the Saints were sitting on outside runs, which resulted in a couple big losses in yards. I get that outside running is the offense's strength, but those were risky calls when the offense needed to close out the game.

if we can stop calling those double end arounds with the pass option “that would be great.”

@"Tyr" said: I do wonder about some of Stefanski's play-calling. 

Yes. The runs to the left, especially the long pitches lost at least 4 yards each time. STOP IT!!!!

Credit to all of you who said regular season results didn't matter once we got to the playoffs...great win today!