No surprise, much like their first game from last season, the Saints are playing with more emotion than their opponent. The Saints won that game against Carolina, can they do the same against Atlanta?
NO's offense looks pretty vanilla with a couple of trick plays thrown in. It's a system that relies more on the talent than schemes and mismatches. The Saints got lucky to a certain extent that Bush and Brees where available and that Colston turned out to be so good or else this team wouldn't be staring at a 12 loss season (like the Bucs are now).
And as long as I have the opportunity, let me say I thought Houston was nuts to take Mario over Bush. Although in Houston's defense Mario will most likely have a longer career.
This is what happens when you have time to prepare, the Saints are shutting down the Falcons spread offense. And Vick can't throw the ball. Kinda eeiry how accurate my prediction is about how the Falcons can't play from behind.
Deuce McAllister (the north-south runner) is having more success against the Falcons than Bush.
These in-booth interviews might be the worst idea for Monday Night Football since Dennis Miller. Part of what makes Madden and Michaels so good is that they know when to shut up and let the game speak for itself. This version of MNF just feels over-produced much like most of ESPN's products (except Cheap Seats, which is a great show for guys that liked MST3000).
Sweet, Thiesmann just called Bush "Reggie Brown." It's not like Bush has been insanely hyped or is on every other commercial where you would recognize him immeadiately or nothing.
How dependent are the Falcons on the run? On third and five, which is almost always a passing down, the Falcons run a dive.
Theismann continues to impress, he calls Alge "Mr. Clutch" when he catchs a first down on 4 and 1, even though Alge has dropped two touchdown passes in this game.
The Saints are wisely shadowing Vick with a linebacker (Harper) something I didn't see the Bucs do a lot of last week.
Despite what Theissman is trying to sell the Saints defense is not this good (normally at least). Fujita, an outcast from a lowly Chiefs defense might be the Saints best player. Bottom line, the Falcons offense is horrible when they are playing from behind and forced to throw the ball.
Horn seems like he would be a huge asshole in the real world, the kind of guy who would rip one and start laughing when everyone else smelled it.
Remember when USC played Notre Dame last year where the Irish let the grass grow long to slow down the Trojans? I wonder why more NFL teams don't do that. The Saints crappy field is clearly working in their favor seeing as how with the exception of Reggie Bush the Falcons probably have more speed at every position. Is there any reason why the Titans or Texans shouldn't do the same thing to try and equalize the playing field?