SEA - The Saints will enter Quest field on Saturday afternoon with the same goal they had at this time last year; win the Super Bowl. This time around the Saints road to the big game will be much harsher. The Saints leading rusher in 2009 (Pierre Thomas) and in 2010 (Chris Ivory) have been put on IR in the past two days. "That's tough," quarterback Drew Brees said of the loss of Thomas and Ivory this week. "You can't deny that just because of the physical presence they bring and obviously their productivity." Pierre Thomas’ ankle injury earlier this season looked like it would be near impossible to overcome, but Chris Ivory’s 5.2 YPC (3rd best in the NFL) helped revive the Saints. Pierre Thomas was injured in practice last week while Chris Ivory was hurt early in the game against the Buccaneers and unable to return. Jimmy Graham (TE) and Malcolm Jenkins (S) also left the week 17 game against the 'Bucs and did not return. Graham joined Shockey and Thomas on the sideline which now leaves the Saints with their fourth string tight end that I have no clue what their name is. Marques Colston hurt his hip in week 16. Brees cannot afford to lose another weapon. There is a reason that Brees has thrown a pick in each game this season and tied the record for most consecutive games with one since 2006 by Jon Kitna. He is being asked too much of himself. The lack of a decent running game, like Brees had all last season, is the major reason for his 22 interceptions in his past 17 games. When defenses know that the pass is coming it becomes even harder to be successful. The only healthy running backs left on the team are Reggie Bush (only 32 rushing attempts all season due to injury) and Julius Jones (11 carries for 22 yards in the past 3 games). Julius Jones will be motivated for this game against the team that released him earlier this season, but he still will not play well enough to get the Saints to the Divisional round. There is usually a letdown game to start the playoffs for the defending Super Bowl champions. Outside of Julius Jones, what do the Saints have to prove? The won the Super Bowl last year and now have to fly across the country to play a mere Wild Card game. Matt Hasselbeck playing makes a huge difference. The last time these two teams met in week 6, the Saints won 36-19, but Hasselbeck threw for 366 yards and completed 72.9% of his throws. Those two statistics alone make me 100% sure Hasselbeck will get the head-nod over Whitehurst. The two big differences between now and then are the injuries to the Saints team and the location of the game moving from New Orleans to Seattle. The last home game Seattle had against the Falcons they did a good job of containing Michael Turner. Julius Jones should only make things easier. The Saints are 28th against defending punt returns and 24th against defending kick returns. Look for Leon Washington to have a big day returning kicks. On the offensive side for the Seahawks running back duo of Lynch and Forrsett will be the X-factor. Reguardless of whom is playing the quarterback position, the running game needs to set up the passing game. Hasselbeck will be playing injured and the running game needs to help make passing plays less obvious so that he will not get whacked to the ground as much. If Whitehurst plays then you know what you’re going to get. No extrodinary quarterback play, but also less chances for turnovers. The bottom line is that the Saints will not be motivated enough to play this game, and the Seahawks have nothing to lose. The Seahawks will win a classic trap game in close fashion 17-16. Neither of these teams are built to go far in the playoffs, and this is the only game either of them have a chance at winning. The Bears and Falcons can and will devour whichever of these teams that comes out on top. I’ll save the rest of that for next week though once the match-ups for the Divisional round are set in stone. Hope you enjoyed reading, and I'll post my predictions for the other games Saturday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment