Drew Brees Torches Lions, Leads Saints to 45-27 Win in Season Opener
by Sean Yuille on Sep 13, 2009 4:39 PM EDT
in Detroit Lions Game Recaps
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PrintWhile there was some improvement, the 2009 edition of the Detroit Lions looked quite a bit like the '08 version of the team during today's game against the Saints. As expected, Drew Brees had a field day and tore apart the Lions' secondary. He ended up with 6 touchdowns in all, which set a new career high for him. He wasn't the only one who had a great game for the Saints on offense, though, as Mike Bell, who was filling in for Pierre Thomas, ran for 143 yards on 28 carries. The Saints' high-powered offense racked up for 45 points on the day, showing that the Lions' defense has a ton of work to do.
Despite putting up 27 points (one touchdown was a Louis Delmas fumble return), the Lions' offense did not play well at all save a few plays. More than anything, they squandered numerous opportunities and had a tough time moving the ball both through the air and on the ground. Matthew Stafford especially struggled, as he threw three interceptions and went 16-37 on the day. He did throw for 205 yards and scored a touchdown on a QB sneak, but the story of the day for him was the interceptions.
The score does not represent how this game went in a couple of different ways. For one, the Saints outplayed the Lions on both sides of the ball. In that sense, the Lions were lucky to only lose by a score of 45-27. On the other hand, the Lions had a couple of opportunities where they got the ball deep in Saints territory and came away with either nothing or only a field goal. Only good teams can afford to squander those types of opportunities, and it ultimately cost the Lions a chance to make this a close game. The Lions' special teams did play great and had a couple of big returns, but that was the only unit that played well in my opinion. To put it bluntly, the Lions have a lot of work to do before they will win a game.
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Why can't we get lucky like that
2009 = The start of the Lions Golden Age (We hope).
by Hyperion Ecta on Sep 13, 2009 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions
In retrospect...
alot of comparisons have been made of Staff to Cutler, & he’s having a worse day than MS had, against the Pack.
Ugly Game
But the fact that it was certainly winnable is what gives me hope. Last year the Saints total points would look more like an NBA score
We didn't lose the games, we just ran out of time -- Bobby Layne
That game was not winnable.
The only reason the Lions were ever in that game because the Saints left them in it. That was a whoopin in every sense of the game.
We had alot of drives that just ended with a FG or nothing at all
Add alot of defensive lapses, and litle capitlization on turnovers and that came was certainly winnable. The score doesn’t imply it, but we could’ve stole that one
We didn't lose the games, we just ran out of time -- Bobby Layne
But that's like saying...
…we could have won that game if the Saints had scored less and the Lions scored more. Could have, should have, would have…
The same could be said that the Saints “could” have turned the ball over less, or they “could” have scored touchdowns instead of field goals, or “could” have committed fewer penalties on the goal line.
The point being the Saints gave the Lions every opportunity possible and were still WAY too much to handle.
No, that's like saying "we almost scored 40 points".
We all remember that 1, don’t we? I, for 1, do not believe Stafford is ready to start, they should let him scope things out from the sideline, as soon as DC’s healthy or whatever. There’s just no finnishing of drives here, consistent with what we saw in the preseason. A few glimpses of some sort of improvement on D, were somewhat eclipsed by the same old crap. Not much improvement on the DL, no pressure on the QB, & lack of presencew in the Secondary, although some promise by Delmas & Henry. Foote showed up in the middle, too. But 515 yards is too much to give up & a little over 200 yards is not gonna win many games. At least we didn’t go down 42-7 this time , that’s a positive, I guess…
+1
Thank you, I was thinking the same thing, and trying to think of a John Madden quote to insert. Obviously it we had no defensive lapses, no INTs and more points, we would’ve won. That game was never, at any point, in the Lions grasp. I don’t care what the score was. Even if Detroit had went ahead, there was never any doubt Breese was going to go right back and score again.
It's hard for me to say much
since most of my understanding came from the POD play call and the radio, but I don’t think you can be too disappointed. While things weren’t great, they certaintly weren’t horrible.
2009 = The start of the Lions Golden Age (We hope).
+1
this is my thought as well. This game was much closer than when these teams hooked up last season. We even stopped a handful of 3rd downs this time. I wasnt expecting to win this one but what I saw was a young team with a lot of upside. Next weeks game at home will be the first one we can, and will, win. I am calling it right now.
Last year: NO 42 – DET 7 (35 points between the two)
This year: NO 45 – DET 27 (18 points between the two).
That’s how we were closer.
2009 = The start of the Lions Golden Age (We hope).
by Hyperion Ecta on Sep 13, 2009 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions
That old familiar feeling...
…losing. Look, it was a depressing game, but it was exactly what we all expected (prior to the kool-aid drunkfest of the last few days). Defense struggled, Matt struggled, Brees lit it up…. nothing unexpected. We are still a ways from being a consistent team, that much is for sure. But it was expected. That has to be the mantra as we watch this team struggle to get better. There are going to be more games like this.
I’ll try to get a write-up with my full take on the game tomorrow.
damn kool aid did it again
Kevin Smith let em kno, Ernie Sims Break em, Calvin Johnson you already Kno
2009 Detroit Lions 6-10 to 8-8
by DetroitLions 4 life on Sep 13, 2009 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Touchdown Manningham!!!
I miss that :( Good to see he’s doing work for the Giants
We didn't lose the games, we just ran out of time -- Bobby Layne
The only surprises for me are this..
- Kevin Smith and the running game from pre-season were non existent.
- Stafford looked inconsistent and hasty. I hope over time he calms down a bit.
- Couple horrible penalties we could have avoided.
Do you think it would have changed Staffords attitude and helped build momentum had they given him the CJ TD? It was obvious he was in bounds, and I think it would have helped Staffords confidence.
I am dreading all these Jets fans and Sanchez lovers and all their stupid comments…
Oh an biggest surprise
The special teams play was actually good… go figure..
ya, they seemed to...
move the ball, & be providing better pass protection during the pre-season, what happened there? I guess their D is that good? But, everybody’s D seems to be All-Madden against their OL. Well, guess we shoulda got OT J. Smith & built from the OL out & got Tebow or Bradford.
That's because in pre-season
everyone runs a “vanilla” D as Peterson and/ or Foote called it.
Speaking of which, didn’t they say there was more to the defense? That they were going to blitz more?*
I didn’t see it. Granted I watched it online and the feed was a little fuzzzzzy at times, but it looked alot like a 4 man rush over and over and over and…..
*and yes I asked this same question once before. Just wondering if anyone else saw something I missed.
I was wondering about that too.
I thought we were going to get to see those linebackers gettin after Brees, at least a little bit. I can’t believe how much of a non-factor they were in this game. I guess I was thinking the one bright spot on defense woud have found a way to make their presence known.
From my perspective...
they simple couldn’t afford to risk having fewer people in coverage. Part of what makes blitzes successful is to also be getting some pressure from your front four. The pass rush just wasn’t good enough all game long. They got no sacks… zero. Rarely was Brees even pressured. We all knew this was going to be a weakness… now it’s simply confirmed. You just can’t get aggressive against a great quarterback like Brees without severely paying for it if you fail. I think Gunther knew he couldn’t get there with five and simply chose to keep those guys in coverage.
On the other hand
you can’t just let him sit back there and pick you apart.
I’d rather go lose by attacking than lose by getting picked apart. The Lions have done the same thing against Manning for the last few years, with the same (almost exactly the same) results. Hit em.
Carolina tried that last year..
What did Brees do? About 400 yards, 4 td’s and hit on 68% of his passes. Carolina has a much better D than the Lions do.
This may be true but,,,
We know what will happen if we let Brees stand back there too. He’s going to do this every time. At least with blitzing there’s the chance that we hit him a few more times and cause a few more errant throws/ INTs. If it’s going to happen anyways, we may as well go down while trying to put Brees in a body bag.
I agree...
There was virtually no pressure on DB, I didn’t see too much blitzing. I know he’s got a good arm, & we were down a man in the 2ndairy, so maybe they were overcompensating there, but when a guy can just sit back there & pick apart the D. It made me wonder what’s in store for us, when they go to MN 2 face Farve & Peterson. But, the lack of pass rush was deja vu for me, idk about you.
Suprised...really?
- You had to figure the Lions would be forced to abandon the run game early because of the Saints potent offense.
- That was Stafford’s very first NFL game against a real NFL defense. That was exactly what we should have expected out of him (insert Culpepper arguments here).
- Down early against a legit playoff team first game of the season. New coaches, new schemes, similar results. Frustration + Confusion = Penalties by the boatload!
Look this game was pretty much what we should have expected, I still think they will improve drastically as the season goes on, but it will certainly be a season of frustration for a while.
I agree with you........
although I did expect hope for better.
The lack of any rush offence doomed the Lions right off the bat. They needed to run the ball effectively to have a chance.
I had been looking forward to a better tackling defence. These guys looked the same as the 2008 crew.
And frankly, Staff did not look very cool and collected. I thought his pass protection was mediocre, not good, but not horrible.
Three and thirteen looks realistic.
I thought Stafford looked quite composed in the first half
He did come a little unraveled in the second half, but again guys… he’s a rookie and had a completely rookie-like first game. We gotta give him time before we start the patented “Detroit QB Teardown”. There were times that he looked very in control, IMO. It’s tough for a veteran to be constantly playing from behind, let alone a rook in his first action. The team didn’t help him a lot today. On those days, things are gonna be rough.
My only problem with that argument....
Is that Matt Ryan didn’t need much time before he was kicking ass and taking names…..
However, I agree with you…..and this IS Detroit……
it helps if you can ran the ball...
Atlanta was #2. Baltimore has #4. Until, the running game get rolling. There will be alot of games like this.
I agree
Which further goes to support the idea that it may not have been the right time to draft a QB, or the right time to start a rookie QB that we just drafted. Not trying to beat a dead horse here, and I am not saying we should bench Stafford (we have to stick with him now), but we all should have known that we would not have a great running game (average at best with our line) and that not having a great running game would put added pressure on a rookie QB (which it obviously did). Atlanta and Baltimore had more pieces in place, and their rookie QB’s were successful as rookies (and are still successful).
So KDawg... let's get this straight...
the Lions should NOT have drafted Stafford… even though he may eventually be a great quarterback, because he was going to struggle in his first game?
I think the confusion still lies in the realm of expectation. I guess I’m not surprised because I expected him to struggle. I hoped he wouldn’t, but expected that it might happen. The sooner he gets the struggles out of the way, the sooner we can become a potent offense. If you are expecting the Lions to be Atlanta or Baltimore… you have severly misplaced your expectations of this team.
"It may not have been the right time to draft a QB, or the right time to start a rookie QB that we just drafted"
I say “may not”…..not they should not have. My point is that we are all guilty of hyping up our non-existent running game, and I was simply pointing out (AGAIN) that Atlanta and Baltimore had a lot more of the pieces already in place when they drafted their current QBs and started them as rookies. No matter what way you spin it, that can not be refuted. It is a fact.
I never said I expect the current Lions to have Atlanta or Baltimore type success. In fact, I think quite the contrary. I think that the Lions WILL NOT have Atlanta or Baltimore type success in starting a rookie QB because Detroit DOES NOT have the same pieces already in place that Atlanta and Baltimore did when they got Ryan and Flacco and started them as rookies. That has been my argument all along as to why Stafford should not be named the starter. He might very well be ready, but THE TEAM IS NOT.
My point was that it's...
too early in the season to say “that it might not have been the right time to draft a QB” because he struggled in his first game is all. The statement alone is telling.
I would agree Drew......
But I am not basing my statement on the fact that Stafford struggled in the first game…..I am basing it on the fact that we do not have the pieces in place to support a rookie QB starting. Early in the season or not, I think that much is blatantly obvious. Stafford played as well as I expected him to play. It was the offensive line, defensive line, and our secondary that I was disappointed with. Maybe they all get better as the season progresses, but if history is a marker they will not suddenly improve to the Atlanta, Baltimore, or even Miami level (not that they started a rookie QB, but they did have a fast and amazing turn around). All of these mentioned teams built their teams before they had a QB (and Miami is still building around Henne while Pennington handles the interim). The Lions seem to have decided to put the cart before the horse….drafting the QB and starting him before they have the supporting cast in place. That is all I am saying (again….I have said this before).
I am not saying it was absolutely the wrong way to build the team, but I am saying that MAYBE we should have followed the examples of other teams who have been successful with starting a rookie QB (Atlanta/Baltimore), or the example of teams that have built their team while grooming a young QB (Green Bay, Miami, and others). I have no real problem with them drafting Stafford anymore (I originally did), because I think he will be great. I guess I should have omitted the part where I said maybe it was the wrong time to draft a QB, and just stuck with the part where I said maybe it was not the right time to start a rookie QB.
However, by saying what I did I was covering my bases….in that maybe we could have drafted other areas of need that would have better supported a rookie QB in the near future (maybe not 2010 or even 2011…..who knows). We already know that one draft can’t fix all of the problems, and we have already made our points about drafting a “franchise” QB when you have the opportunity. On the same token, we do not know that we would not have that opportunity in 2011 or 2012, after a couple or a few good drafts to build up the peripherals. Being that we did what we did, I am simply not sure that starting the rookie at QB right away was our best move. I like the kid, and like I said he very well may be ready, but I do not feel that the team was (or is) ready to support him.
This is also not meant to say that Culpepper was the better choice, even though I think his experience MAY have served us better yesterday. I’m just saying, if I were Martin Mayhew I might have gone about things differently, and if I were Jim Schwartz I might have held off on naming Stafford the starting QB right away. I still think week 6 or week 8 would have been a good move…..give the team time to get their feet under them and shake the rust of the offseason off first. Maybe that is all it is….maybe our guys are just rusty. Maybe they are just that bad. Only time will tell.
Yeah, but why even bring this argument up...
at this point into the season? I mean, this horse is really, really, really, really truly and utterly dead. This team isn’t/wasn’t good enough to support a veteran quarterback either. Haven’t they already proven that through the Kitna era? This just circles back to the pre-draft talk and how productive can it be that we are discussing this into the regular season?
You are saying it’s “blatently obvious” that this team can’t support a rookie QB after one game. I’m not so sure you can say that yet. Stafford might start to shine at any point this season and prove that he was worth that pick and play ABOVE the offensive line. I’m not sure that’s not going happen at some point. I certainly didn’t expect it on game one, but by game ten… who knows.
I refuse to chastise the decision to draft Stafford until 4-5 years down the road. Just remember I said this…. it still could be the single greatest decision made in the history of the Lion’s franchise to draft him if he gets us to a Super Bowl and makes us a perennial contender. I firmly believe that and it’s my goal to support him until that dream is no longer viable with him at the helm. To reach that goal, he needs playing time and the opportunity to make mistakes. We’ve got to at least give him that now that the decision has been made. No use even discussing the “what ifs”. Dead horse, man…. let it go… it’s okay to….
Drew, I am not abandoning ship, I mean Staff.
I just really expected better. As Killer predicted, the Saints did not blitz a great deal but seemed to throw a lot of different coverages at Staff. I felt like he had some opportunities to make a couple of big plays but he misfired. Nerves? Over excited?
This will be a learning experience for him and the Lions coaching staff too. As we all knew, there is a lot to fix here and you have to start somewhere.
I think I know and agree with what you are saying
I expected interceptions and getting smacked around in the pocket. I did not expect so many seemingly poorly aimed passes though. He overthrew, underthrew, wide left, wide right ,etc.
He was throwing laser beams in preseason and I thought that might carry over. I have hope that the laser beams will return next week.
And maybe the picks will go away too since Darren “Lion Killer” Sharper is no longer with the Vikings.
by HoorayForEverything on Sep 14, 2009 8:43 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm with you on that HFE.
It seemed in the preseason most of his throws were very close to target and had some good zip on them. Sunday he was a little wild.
I also have to give the Saints defence and Gregg Williams a lot of credit. They played and called a great defensive game. I still don’t think they are top ten material, but they will improve a lot.
by NorthLeft12 on Sep 15, 2009 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions
By the way
The line sucks. Stafford was throwing off of his back foot or while he was back pedalling like crazy most of the time. If he can’t set his feet, he’s not going to succeed. That’s just the truth of the matter. No QB has ever won (consistently) when they were running for their lives.
And where was Pettigrew?
Oh and Delmas looks realllly good.
Was this guy watching the same game as me?
The Lions were down the whole game, but never by more than 18 points. They seemed to close the gap every time. Granted, I missed the last quarter, but it seems with a little improvement they could have won. Hell, if they had been playing anyone other than the Saints they may have won.
How about we see how Game 2 goes before we start saying, “here we go again.”
Morale Victory?
Hooray for never being down by more than 18pts!
Sorry man, not trying to knock your comment, but that’s crazy.
This game was a close came very briefly when the Lions kicked off, but it was pretty much a dominating performance on behalf of the Saints after that. Wasn’t it 2 TDs on six plays from scrimmage?
I’m not going to lead the parade boasting prematurely about another 0-16 season, but this game certainly did little (at least for me) by way of instilling confidence this season will be a good one.
He said he doesn't have the "here we go again" feeling he had all of last year
I agree with what you are saying Shane…..it seemed to me that the Lions could have (and by all rights should have) won that football game today or at least only lost by a point. There were two times that we stalled in the red zone and I thought we should have scored TDs, and there was another time when I though we should have at least had a FG (Stafford forced a throw down the middle and was picked off). IF (big if) we HAD (we didn’t) actually made those scores, it would have been 44-45…..and if we had gone for 2 and converted one time, it would have been a tie game.
This has been a hard day for all of us true Lions fans here on POD…..everyone can do themselves and others a favor by taking the time to read what others are saying and giving themselves a minute to absorb it (maybe even read it twice) before we jump the gun and start criticizing each other. What happened today happened…..no what if or should haves will change it.
stafford
i new he wasnt ready to start and now its to late to take the job away from him because it will shatter his confidence. he only got sacked onece so that was a good sign and if they had ANY running game im sure his numbers would have been better. i hope he can maintain his confidence cuz they have a tough schedule in the next few weeks. If they get a win soon i think they will gain a huge amount of confidence.
While I agree...
…that Stafford should have been sitting for this game, he wasn’t on the field when the Saints exploded for two early TDs and I’m pretty sure Culpepper wouldn’t have been either. This wasn’t a winnable game by the looks of it and it is certainly gonna be a struggle in the early going.
The real reason we lost...
Was because we have absolutely zero pressure from our front four !! No pressures, no hurries, no sacks. If there is no pressure on the opposing QB they will have a field day against our defense. Brees didnt have a scratch on him. Stafford could shine and be mega productive but as long as the opposing QB has 10 seconds to FUCKING throw, it wouldnt matter.
Proud Detroit Lions season ticket holder since.......2009 !!
by BoscoHB on Sep 13, 2009 6:03 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Pressure
That front four was useless today! I think Brees would have felt more pressure if the D-Line would have thrown dodgeballs at him from a distance.
It’s hard to say that pressure would have won the game for the Lions, but I can’t argue that it wouldn’t have avoided a career day for Brees. The Saints also ran rampant on the defense, so there is no doubt that the D-Line needs A LOT of work.
Even at the few occasions where Brees was pressured...
he two-stepped around the pocket and created time to throw
The Easter Bunny is a savage...
Not to mention the DBs
They allowed the WRs to get wide open on a regular basis. That is how we got down by 2 TDs so quickly. Them running ramped on us was just the icing on their cake. I had mentioned in some previous posts that the DBs had better be ready or it would be a long day. Well, long it was. I am sure Gun is less than pleased.
Now next week, the front 7 will be tested extensively via AP. I say 7 because based on what I saw today, the 3 LBs will be seeing lots of AP next week. Lets just hope they see his front side and not the bottoms of his shoes headed for the endzone.
As far as Stafford, he did about what I thought he might. Made soe nice throws coupled with some where the hell was he going with that throws. I have a feeling he will be seeing alot more pressure from the Queens. The O-line will also need to step it up for Staff and for Smith and the running game.
Missed the game online
I ran out and bought a new computer cause mine just crapped out. Anyway, I thought this would be the case. I know some of you on POD called me a “PODowner” but our defense is really this bad. DON’T read anything into the preseason. This is gonna take some time to turn this program around.
Anyway, 0-1 is where we all thought we would be but I missed being online with Sean, Drew, KDawg, The Aussie and everyone else.
DAMN LIONS!!! I secretly was thinking they would shock everyone and win this game but realism told me otherwise. I have to pour through the stats. What happened to Kevein Smith?? We can’t always play from behind I guess – it reduces our running game to an afterthought. Lets hope we can slow down AP next week but I’m not betting on it.
I spray paint my dog Honolulu Blue and Silver
Pic - me and the great Herman Moore
bad start...
long way to go but i didn’t expect to win or it even to be that close. I mean come on, best pass offense in the game last year vs the worst defense in the history of mankind (rough calculation). Let’s keep things in perspective, our rookie qb can make some throws and he can also make some dumbass decisions. As he figures some things out this season, we will unquestionably get better. One thing I did like to see was him looking at calvin nearly every time he dropped back. The problem was we were behind and stafford was trying to make plays so he got fixated on megatron trying to make a play and threw 2 picks. (that one to the linebacker he was trying to pull back but just threw a duck right to the guy) Anyway, it sucked watching our defense get run through, over and around again, but I’m still hopeful.
Positives vs Negatives
Negatives:
- Matt Stafford. It’s unfair to expect greatness from the kid so early but he didn’t have a great game. The major negative for him is his apparant nervousness and the three picks, although being behind often forces those things. In saying that, he did score a TD, so he manage to get himself on the board in his first NFL game.
- Rushing offence. Seemingly non-existent. K-Smooth did get in for a TD but our rushing offence was just brutally ineffective, in all situations. Aaron Brown’s run of 9 seemed to be the only tinge of goodness from the unit.
- Pass rush. We couldn’t manage any consistent pressure on Brees, despite their starting LT being out injured. In saying that, we always knew that it would be tough to get to Brees since their OL is excellent.
- Run Defence. Another big disappointment. While they didn’t allow a score, Bell did seem to make his runs all too easily.
- Pass Defence. I feel sorry for this unit the most because not only had we condemned them before the game to 4+ TDs, they lost their starting CB. Brees ended up with 6 TDs, which is unacceptable but there wasn’t really much they could do, Brees is far too accurate and far too good for the Lions defence.
- Penalties. We are still undisciplined and I think they mattered when we were down on their goaline.
- Converting 3rd Downs. 3/14 is nowhere near good enough.
Positives:
- Special Teams. 2 long returns by Northcutt and Brown brings us something we haven’t had in a while, a ST threat. We also had pretty decent coverage and stopped the Saints from developing huge returns.
- Louis Delmas, Larry Foote & Anthony Henry. The Defensive standouts. In a destroyed Defence, these three managed to play solidly.
- Turnovers. We forced 3, 2 fumbles and a pick. We had a lot of trouble forcing TOs last season but the defence managed to make a plays, and sometimes, when it really mattered.
- Improvement. Last year, 45-7. This year, 45-27. That my friends, is improvement. Well, to at least one side of the ball.
- It’s important to find little positives, and here’s one I found. Bryant Johnson. He didn’t have a huge stat line, 4 catches for 45 yards, but he did at least give Stafford someone to throw to apart from CJ or K-Smooth.
The negatives far outweigh the positives here, and until we switch that around, I think losses we still come. Still, things could be much worse.
2009 = The start of the Lions Golden Age (We hope).
well put my friend...
I think that every week will tell a different story for the Lions. This they just ran into the wrong team at the wrong time. Saints are a Super Bowl contender. And they made a statement today.
Next week, it will be a different story. Maybe the same result. But something will be different. Postives and negatives.
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