Season Review Week 1-7: New Orleans Saints – Part I
After an offseason that was completely overshadowed by the bounty scandal the New Orleans Saints were slapped with hefty fines and suspensions.
The Saints had to face great adversity in 2012/13 after their head coach, general manager and assistant coach were all suspended for turning a blind eye to the bounties placed on opponents in the defensive roster.
Additionally their defensive captain and linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith also received suspensions for their role in the scandal.
With such a huge controversy over them the Saints struggled to perform early on in the new season.
In this three part series we will review the performance of the New Orleans Saints.
Week 1: Against Washington Redskins
With head coach Sean Payton and interim head coach Joe Vitt both serving long suspensions, Aaron Kromer took over the role as interim to the interim head coach.
Even with the suspensions the Saints still boasted a strong roster especially in offence which was led by record breaking quarterback Drew Brees.
With their first game against the Washington Redskins at home many still thought the Saints had enough in them to win even after the suspensions.
How wrong they were.
The Washington Redskins led by rookie quarterback and second overall draft pick, Robert Griffin III completely dominated proceedings in the first three quarters as they took a massive 30-17 lead.
New Orleans tried to mark a comeback with two touchdown passes from Brees but it wasn’t to be as the Redskins held them off and won 40-32 and upsetting the Saints.
Week 2: At Carolina Panthers
Next up for Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints was a tough away trip to NFC South rivals Carolina Panthers.
In what was another poor defensive display by New Orleans the franchise were completely overrun by the Panthers while their last gasp attempts to mount a comeback fell well short.
By the end of the third quarter, Carolina had built up a 15-point lead over their division rivals and with the Saints struggling to put points on board it seemed game over.
In the fourth quarter, New Orleans attempted a comeback as Mark Ingram’s one yard dash to the end zone brought the Panthers lead down to 10 points however, just a few minutes later, Carolina quarterback Cam Newton scored a touchdown with a five-yard rush
to once again restore their 15-point advantage.
Brees also scored a touchdown in final two minutes on the rush but it was too little too late as the Saints crashed to another defeat.
(The views expressed in this article do not reflect the editorial policy of bettor.com)
Tags: