kearly
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We won.
I don't think I've ever enjoyed a playoff win less though. At one point, and this is actually true, I thought about skipping the final minutes because I actually feared having a brain hemorrhage.
The unbelievable breaks the Saints got in the 2nd half: the fumble overturn + penalty, the shades of Brandon Stokely derpa bomb, Lynch opening the door by forgetting to slide when it would have guaranteed the win, the Kam int drop that hit him square in the chest, maddening penalties to wipe out huge plays or extend drives, and the uncharacteristic Tate botch on the onside kick. All of this while Drew Brees was demolishing our defense with what felt like over 80% completion and 10+ YPA in that second half. Oh, and during that final 3 minutes of game clock that would have been meaningless had Lynch slid, we had an Earl Thomas injury scare. Agony.
And of course, we lost Harvin not just for the second half, but probably also for the NFCCG if NFL concussion protocol is enforced.
But we won. And that's all that matters. It's all worth it, unless I die from a hemorrhage next week.
I'll give the Saints credit. The blocking in their run heavy packages was working, and their secondary played very well. Brees masterfully took what Seattle gave him in the 2nd half.
My biggest concern after this game is how awful Seattle looked on slant passes. Wilson had some bad throws, but he also had some good throws that were dropped. It all added up to a worrisome performance on 3rd and manageable situations. The Saints auto-blitzed the bootleg- Seattle's offense was horrible on bootleg plays AGAIN. Though to Bevell's credit, we ran a lot less bootleg this game and waiting until almost half time before breaking out the first bootleg play, which the Saints immediately sniffed out anyway.
Lynch had a good game, but also had some unforced errors that led to a lot of disaster runs. Wilson had some unforced errors as well. This offense shot themselves in the foot so much it's frankly amazing to think they scored two touchdowns.
It's a really good thing we won, because had we lost the first guy in front of the firing squad would have Darrell Bevell for some of those decisions he made at the end of the game, including the critical 3rd and 3 conversion that Baldwin just barely converted. It was a great play on a boneheaded playcall. It sounds like it was a play Wilson wanted, and it worked out, but I hope the result doesn't coax them into repeating that mistake in the future. They also threw an incomplete pass on first down in that series, where Seattle could have very easily won the game with a couple of effective runs, and Lynch was running well.
Anyway, mostly great performance by the defense in a bizarre game. Seattle doesn't lose very often, but when they do lose, it's always in weird fashion. Seattle was a mile short of a complete game today, and it was enough. Not sure it will be enough from here on out though.
Last thought- I know today just adds more fuel to the haters that say Percy is made of glass. For the record, I've always thought that Harvin would get dinged more than most. But even though he barely played, you could just sense how important he was to the offense, which is remarkable considering that Harvin missed the entire pre-season and has barely even practiced with the team since joining them. Hopefully he can stay reasonably healthy from now on, I think he's going to be a very big cog in this team going forward.
I don't think I've ever enjoyed a playoff win less though. At one point, and this is actually true, I thought about skipping the final minutes because I actually feared having a brain hemorrhage.
The unbelievable breaks the Saints got in the 2nd half: the fumble overturn + penalty, the shades of Brandon Stokely derpa bomb, Lynch opening the door by forgetting to slide when it would have guaranteed the win, the Kam int drop that hit him square in the chest, maddening penalties to wipe out huge plays or extend drives, and the uncharacteristic Tate botch on the onside kick. All of this while Drew Brees was demolishing our defense with what felt like over 80% completion and 10+ YPA in that second half. Oh, and during that final 3 minutes of game clock that would have been meaningless had Lynch slid, we had an Earl Thomas injury scare. Agony.
And of course, we lost Harvin not just for the second half, but probably also for the NFCCG if NFL concussion protocol is enforced.
But we won. And that's all that matters. It's all worth it, unless I die from a hemorrhage next week.
I'll give the Saints credit. The blocking in their run heavy packages was working, and their secondary played very well. Brees masterfully took what Seattle gave him in the 2nd half.
My biggest concern after this game is how awful Seattle looked on slant passes. Wilson had some bad throws, but he also had some good throws that were dropped. It all added up to a worrisome performance on 3rd and manageable situations. The Saints auto-blitzed the bootleg- Seattle's offense was horrible on bootleg plays AGAIN. Though to Bevell's credit, we ran a lot less bootleg this game and waiting until almost half time before breaking out the first bootleg play, which the Saints immediately sniffed out anyway.
Lynch had a good game, but also had some unforced errors that led to a lot of disaster runs. Wilson had some unforced errors as well. This offense shot themselves in the foot so much it's frankly amazing to think they scored two touchdowns.
It's a really good thing we won, because had we lost the first guy in front of the firing squad would have Darrell Bevell for some of those decisions he made at the end of the game, including the critical 3rd and 3 conversion that Baldwin just barely converted. It was a great play on a boneheaded playcall. It sounds like it was a play Wilson wanted, and it worked out, but I hope the result doesn't coax them into repeating that mistake in the future. They also threw an incomplete pass on first down in that series, where Seattle could have very easily won the game with a couple of effective runs, and Lynch was running well.
Anyway, mostly great performance by the defense in a bizarre game. Seattle doesn't lose very often, but when they do lose, it's always in weird fashion. Seattle was a mile short of a complete game today, and it was enough. Not sure it will be enough from here on out though.
Last thought- I know today just adds more fuel to the haters that say Percy is made of glass. For the record, I've always thought that Harvin would get dinged more than most. But even though he barely played, you could just sense how important he was to the offense, which is remarkable considering that Harvin missed the entire pre-season and has barely even practiced with the team since joining them. Hopefully he can stay reasonably healthy from now on, I think he's going to be a very big cog in this team going forward.
