Tag Archives: Mike Mayock

Just like everyone predicted, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New Orleans Saints, the 10.5 point favorite Saints. The defending Super Bowl champion Saints.  The almost #1 seed New Orleans Saints.  Yeah, those Saints.  Yeah those Seahawks.

So what did we learn from this game?  The over used cliche in playoff football: that’s why you play the game.

But the fact was there were several tell tale signs that the Saints shouldn’t have been huge favorites like they were.  The Saints have not been efficient as they were last season.  Why?  Because they lacked balance.  They had no running game to speak of.  This is how a defending Super Bowl champion goes basically under the radar during the entire regular season.  The Saints had 34 passing touchdowns and 21 on the ground last year on route to one of the best offensive seasons ever, while this year’s unit had 33 passing touchdowns and 9 on the ground.  Their leading rusher Chris Ivory was out for the game.  Their second leading rusher Pierre Thomas, the underrated hero of last year’s post season run especially in the Super Bowl was out for the game as well.

Their defense was slightly better but playing with several starters out including Free Safety Malcolm Jenkins who we will see became a very vital reason why they lost. The Saints had been doing it on the back of Drew Brees their all world QB who entering the season was being inserted into that Peyton Manning-Tom Brady debate everyone loves to have about who’s the best QB in the league right now or better yet, who would you rather have in this situation or that situation.  But Brees statistically had one of his worst seasons as a pro when you consider that he got sacked for the second most times in his career for a season and also threw more interceptions than he had ever thrown since he began starting at the NFL.  This was a guy basically carrying his team much like Peyton Manning was doing with a running game that was only ONE spot better than Peyton’s running game and yet we give Manning sainthood for carrying a terrible running game.  Check the stats.  Its right there.

So what happened during this game?  Could it have been overconfidence?  I don’t think so.  The Saints opened up with a 10 point lead including an INT that should’ve had people turning off their TV’s as soon as they saw it because like most of the human race, no one gave a 7-9 team a chance in hell to win this game.  I think the Saints opened up very fresh and played more loose than the Seahawks were.  Once the interception happened, the negative momentum could have overwhelmed the Seahawks but a few things really helped the home team in this game:

– The Saints were deathly afraid of the Seattle return game, namely Leon Washington.  The Seahawks started off in New Orleans territory 3 times (once because of a horrendous onsides kick and the other thanks to a fumble recovery), but otherwise the average starting position for the Saints was their own 30 while the Seahawks routinely started off at their own 45 which is a huge advantage.  The Seahawks took all the field position that the Saints were giving them.

– Roman Harper will remember this game for a very long time.  I mean a VERY long time.  He played terribly and looked like he was involved in every single bad play that the Saints had on defense which came up very small when it counted.  Let us count the ways:

2nd quarter 11:38- 2nd and 7- Matt Hasselback pumps once, Harper bites Cameron Morrah twisted around him and caught a beautiful touch pass.

Very next play.  John Carlson in a very cunning and old school move faked like he fell, got up and Roman Harper forgot about him, remembered him in time to see him catch the touchdown pass.

Two consecutive plays, two okie dokes.  One very noticeable glare by Sean Payton.

2nd quarter 1:23- 3rd and 3- Brandon Stokely goes RIGHT BY Roman Harper for the touchdown.  I mean right by him.  Harper lets him walk right by him and Hasselback, as he showed great touch all night with the football, lofts a beauty over everyone’s head right into Stokely’s arm in stride for the touchdown.

– The fans were GREAT.  I mean REALLY great.  They did what every fan base should do: their team started off a bit sluggish.  The road team wouldn’t let up and kept scoring but the home fans kept bringing the noise.  The home team just kept scoring and the sound got louder.  That was probably the best job I’ve seen by any fan base I’ve seen in quite some time.  They never let the other team take the momentum and continued to cheer their team believing they were in it and finally let all hell loose when Marshawn Lynch broke that run.  Almost enough of a great job for me to reconsider my original stance on whether Seattle deserved to host a playoff game.  Almost.

– What more can be said about Marshawn Lynch’s EPIC 67 yard run that hasn’t been said?  Lynch seemed to need 5 guys every time to take down.  Not once did I see ONE guy take him down which was pretty remarkable.  Think this guy was waiting to play in a playoff game after starting his career in Buffalo and playing in 0 playoff games?  Final tally?  19 carries 131 yards 6.9 ypc and 1 TD.  The Saints total? 22 carries 77 yards 3.5 ypc 2 TD.  Other than the goal line, the Saints had very little contribution from the run game as we had discussed earlier.  The Saints were one dimensional all day and the Seahawks had very good balance.

But back to the play: Marshawn Lynch got 67 yards broke 10 tackles, including one of the greatest stiff arms and Matt Hasselback was 30 yards down the field blocking for him.  I dont know what more needs to be said about his effort and like I said, the guy seemed to have 3 Saints EVERY TIME he got tackled and it was only a matter of time that he was going to break a run like that against the Saints who absolutely did a horrendous job tackling.

– I disagree with Rodney Harrison’s assertion that the Saints were soft.  My opinion is that the Saints were never a tough physical defense.  They are a clever, pressure defense that forces mistakes from the offense because of disguising coverage, not because they are tough and they force you into mistakes that way.  I think the Saints just couldn’t out smart Matt Hasselback today.  He picked apart that secondary.  Most people will assume they were soft thanks to the repeat of the Marshawn Lynch run, but I dont think the Saints were ever a TOUGH defense.  Even last year they were a defense who tricked teams and schemed well thanks to Greg Williams defense.

– Brees played it safe all the way to the end.  At some point I was waiting for him to take a chance, to trust his skills and try and fit something into a tight window but it never happened.  Does it mean that Brees isn’t a great quarterback?  No.  It just means that he will always make the smart play and not try to force mistakes which I’m sure was drilled into his head.  Playing mistake free football was going to be key for the Saints considering his season but the Saints threw the ball SIXTY TIMES! Which is beyond ridiculous.

– Drive of the game: A game that combined for 77 points needs a drive of the game and naturally I’m going to pick a defensive stand.

5:18 3rd quarter- drive starts at the NO 28 after Robert Meacham took the ball 22 yards.

1st-10, NO28 5:18 D. Brees passed to R. Bush to the right for 2 yard gain

2nd-8, NO30 4:48 D. Brees passed to D. Henderson to the right for 5 yard gain

3rd-3, NO35 4:20 D. Brees passed to J. Jones to the left for 2 yard gain

4th-1, NO37 3:51 J. Jones rushed up the middle for no gain

Curiously the Saints decided that the 3rd quarter drive was big enough to go for it on 4th down in their own territory which gave Seattle terrific field position which naturally they didn’t get to score on because New Orleans had their own defensive stand.  But let’s think about this for a second.  The Saints had been outscored 27-10 since the start of the 2nd quarter.  The Saints were clearly lacking momentum.  Here is where they missed the toughness of Pierre Thomas between the tackles.  They needed a yard.  ONE STINKING YARD and they couldn’t get it.  How many times have sports casters had the discussion about teams not having the personnel to get that one stinking yard when it matters?  It mattered then and the Saints couldn’t get it.  If the Saints get it, who knows what kind of momentum they have?  Instead, the Seahawks got the ball back and the momentum stayed on their side.

What did that do to the Saints game plan from their on out?  Saints next possession- 12 plays, 9 passes., possession after that 7 plays, 5 passes, possession after that 4 plays 4 passes.  the possession after that 9 plays- 9 passes.  So since that possession they had 32 plays and they ran the ball a whopping 5 times.  Yup.  The Saints lost their confidence in their running game and went one dimensional.

– So what did we learn about the Saints-Seahawks game?  Home field DOES matter especially when its Seattle.  Qwest Field has lost some of its luster from years ago but put a playoff game there and a decent team on the field and trust me, the home crowd is good for at least 3 wins. The Saints were not the Saints of last year and they didn’t have that magic that they had going into the playoffs this year.  Interesting stat: the Saints STILL have not won a single road playoff game.  Before the Marshawn Lynch run the Saints on their possession were forced into a false start, the Saints used a timeout and should’ve been called on a holding penalty.  The Saints NEVER had a chance on that drive.  Amazing.

One final note from this game:  how great was the playcalling by Tom Hammond and Mike Mayock.  I’ve been impressed by Mayock since his days at the NFL Network.  He’s just a smart guy who broke down plays very well and intelligently while doing so simple enough for the average fan to understand and Tom Hammond is your understated play by play guy who never seems to over do it and just calls the game.  He doesn’t try to wow you with lines or his personality but adds to the broadcast by taking himself out and allowing the analyst to do his job.  I would’ve loved to see this duo have more games.

IF you need any evidence, go back and listen to them calling the Lynch run.  Picture perfect.  Mayock’s foaming at his mouth breaking down the play and frankly it was an excellent job.  A lot of times the excitement of the play can be either ratcheted up OR brought down by an announcer, they played that one perfectly.

In a perfect world, you put Hammond, Mayock and Collinsworth in a 3 man team and you’ve got magic.  No offense to Al Michaels who’s voice is more for radio.