Game 2: Saints 24, Big Dead 10

Game 2 is here from what appears to be a far-from-overstuffed Pink Taco Dome, Saints vs. Big Dead. Broadcast is by ESBFN with Tirico, Jaws, Korny and Michele Tafoya. So far they've managed to talk about the players in tonight's game, never mind, Korny just got in a veiled BFF reference right before kickoff, which is a deep touchback by Neil Rackers. Apparently still thinking this is college, Ken Whisenhunt deferred the coin toss and the Big Dead start on defense.
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Sean Payton gets creative right away with an endaround for Lance Moore. That gets five, plus the Big Dead take one play to commit an idiot face mask penalty for 15 more. The Big Dead give up another first down with a delay of game penalty. Three plays, two penalties. Saints get to the Dead 10 largely on Brees dinks and dunks and Arizona penalties. Reggie Bush has maybe 15 yards on 6 touches, almost all his runs are right up the middle. Brees hits David Patten for a 6-yard TD to finish a 13-play drive. Patten got inside Dead safety Aaron Francisco pretty easily. PAT by Martin Gramatica - crap, he's back? - puts the Saints ahead 7-0.
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Nice, deep directional kickoff by Gramatica to the goal line, and Steve Breaston can't even get it across the 20. I'd appreciate it greatly if the NFL web site could come up before the game is over, btw. Matt Leinart starts for Arizona. They gain nothing on a James run and a rollout pass before Leinart drills one to Jamaica Rector on the sideline for 23. Great throw and good pocket awareness there, Leinart had a Saint steaming in on him. Mark Simoneau sacks Leinart a couple of plays later on a blitz where Levi Brown appeared confused on whom to block. Third down pass is too short and the Dead punt from midfield.
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Brees has already been pulled out of the game, as we learn that Mark Freaking Brunell is still in the league. Bush gets stuffed on first down, and though he makes 15- and 20- yard runs the next two plays where he looks like the real Reggie Bush, they're both called back by holds, and Brunell has to throw the third-down pass away with everybody covered. Saints punt with about 1:00 left in the quarter.
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Arizona takes over on their 37. After JJ Arrington, who's fighting for a job, drops a first-down pass, Breaston turns a little crossing pattern into a 34-yard gain on 3rd-and-5 to end the first quarter. Saints 7, Big Dead 0.
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Rookie Tim Hightower takes over at RB and gains about 7 on a draw to get Arizona into the red zone. Dead's first decent run. Apparently Arizona's version of Alex Barron, Leonard Pope false starts for their FIFTH penalty until Terrelle Smith takes a short pass and barges his way down to the 1. Next play, Hightower neatly bounces it outside and finds no resistance for a game-tying TD. 7-up.
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Pierre Thomas slips a tackle at the 20, finds the seam and returns the kickoff across midfield. Oh, those Big Dead special teams. Almost as bad as, well, you know. Aaron Stecker now the Saint RB. After a third down pass route THAT'S TOO SHORT, the Saints go for it on 4th and 1, but not only call a pass, they have the offensive line block down and leave Pierre Thomas on DE Kenny Iwebema. WHY DO OFFENSIVE COORDINATORS DO THIS? Thomas' dive/cut block is woefully inadequate, and Brunell can't even find anyone to unload to and takes a big sack. Big Dead take over at their 41.
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What the hell is this? Whisenhunt skips over Kurt Warner and puts Brian St. Pierre in at QB. A completion and a Saint facemask get Arizona inside the Saint 30. Though he's thrown nice, accurate passes otherwise, both of St. Pierre's passes into the end zone are a mile over the closest receiver's head, and the Dead settle for a FG after getting inside the 20. 10-7, Arizona. Credit Saint coverage there for preventing St. Pierre from hitting quick passes to his primary.
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After Thomas' big return last kickoff, the Big Dead's correct kickoff strategy is to have Rackers just blast deep kicks, which he does here. A couple of Brunell completions get them out to midfield. TE Mark Campbell has played the whole first half and has 4 or 5 catches. Calais Campbell makes a nice play at midfield to blow up a 2nd down run, but on 3rd down, Brunell steps up and Robert Meachem makes a perfect, full-extension catch in stride to put the Saints inside the Dead 5. All this time Tafoya's been interviewing Warner on the sideline, trying to bait him into complaining, trying to bait him into asking for a trade, but he doesn't bite. Meachem beat Francisco on the bomb; the safety trailed him the whole way and never really had a chance. On 4th-and-goal with a foot to go, though, there's too many Saints falling down and nobody apparently blocking, as Campbell, Ali Highsmith and David Holloway all flash in to shut down a Thomas run. Still 10-7, 2:27 left in the half, Big Dead take over at their own 1.
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St. Pierre scrambles for about 6, after which Aaron Glenn gets away with two shots to Breaston's head after the whistle after a completion. Guess the Ed Hochuli crew was busy checking everybody's chinstraps. The Dead take most of the final 2:00 to get out to midfield, though, where their drive dies, as both Saints tackles, Orien Harris and Antwan Lake, criss-cross and beat the Arizona interior to get to St. Pierre for a sack. Nifty defensive play there. Saints backfield did nice job taking away the deep routes the last 2:00 as well. But it's 10-7, Arizona at halftime.
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Super half if your last name was Campbell. TE Mark was probably New Orleans' leading receiver. DE Calais, a draft prospect I was dubious about, had a fine half for Arizona. The Saint secondary seems to be doing its job. Arizona has had to dump off a lot & their QBs have had trouble finding receivers at times. The Saint running game, though, has been non-existent. Good first halfs for Arizona by Leinart and Breaston, bad one for Aaron Francisco. Their running game didn't impress, either, but Tim Hightower's shown some game. I'd certainly take him right now over Arrington.
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There, hopefully I just fixed the carriage-return problem this post had been having.
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Big Dead return a terrible Saint kickoff across the 30. Did they just show Leinart snacking on his own ear wax, or did we catch him giving himself a Wet Willie? Freak. St. Pierre brutally misses a wide-open Ben Patrick over the middle for a big 2nd down gain, and on 3rd-and-4, it's the dreaded smoke route to Rector, which is shut down by Oriel Harris and several other Saints for minimal gain. Saints will take over from around their 24.
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Aaron Stecker pops one up the middle for 18, key block by G Tim Duckworth. He breaks off a couple more nice runs, signalling to me there's a pretty big talent dropoff on the Big Dead depth chart. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie puts Mark Campbell out of the game with a nice hit, though. The Saints get down to the 4 by recovering their own fumble, and several runs later, Stecker hurdles over the top to put the Saints ahead 14-10.
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Arrington's kickoff return is only out to the 20, after which I get an uncomfortably-sexy vibe out of that commercial where the Russian babe asks me if I have worms or a computer "wirus". Ah, I'm always a sucker for accents. The Big Dead turn in the game's first 3-and-out after Rector runs a buttonhook on third down while St. Pierre throws a slant. Saints are at their 30 after the punt.
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With just under 5:00 left in the 3rd quarter, Tyler Palko enters the game as Saints QB. After Calais Campbell gives New Orleans 15 yards on a helmet-to-helmet hit on Palko, the Saint third-stringer hits Adrian Arrington with a nice pass for 32 yards, inside the 10. Who'd Arrington beat? Yep, Aaron Francisco. On second and goal, Holloway comes up the middle clean on a blitz; he blows the sack, but Joe Tafoya cleans up to get Palko for a big loss. Payton stupidly tries a draw to Stecker on third-and-a-mile, and it's stuffed by Highsmith. Saints settle for a 40ish-yd FG from Gramatica to take a 17-10 lead, 1:46 left in the third.
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Arrington finds a crease this time and returns the kickoff out to the 30. St. Pierre hits Patrick near midfield but then gets sacked by blitzing LB William Kershaw - lousy blitz pickup by Hightower - to end the third quarter.
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Good coverage by Jason Craft on a deep sideline route by Rector, and a forced dumpoff to Hightower, force the Dead to punt from midfield, and the Saints take over after the touchback. I like what the Saint DBs are doing tonight.
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Ugh-possession for the Saints to start the 4th. Palko nearly gets picked off, Skyler Green blows the catch on a deep corner route, wild pitch on third down. Antrell Rolle muffs the punt but gets it to the Arizona 28.
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So, here's a chance to tie the game, Big Dead. Incomplete, 1-yard run, 2-yard pass. First boos of the season at the Pink Taco. Viva preseason! Back-to-back 123-kicks.
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While Drew Brees is on screen describing his grandfather's World War II experiences, Meachem makes like Patton and rolls over the woeful Big Dead secondary for a 60-yard TD. It's a blitz read, just a little pass over the middle, but Oliver Celestin blows the coverage, Traverous Bain badly blows the tackle that lets Meachem loose to run free across the middle, three other Big Dead blow tackles or just fall down, Meachem turns up the sideline and slides off a horrible Travis Fisher-like dive tackle attempt by Michael Adams to finish off the TD. 24-10, Saints. That was some classic Big Dead tackling right there.
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Big Dead start from their 32 after another bad kickoff by Taylor Melhaff, who is definitely no challenge to Gramatica at this point. New Arizona backfield: Anthony Morelli at QB, Steve Baylark at RB. Baylark lets a pass go through his hands and Morelli gets swamped by a blitz for a sack. 2nd straight 3-and-out on Arizona. Nice return by Skyler Green + another Arizona personal foul will start the Saints out at the Arizona 40 next drive.
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The Saints get inside the 20 behind the running of Lynell Hamilton before a holding penalty sets them back, and what looks like a bad snap by Robert Hunt causes a fumble that Arizona recovers around their own 37 yard line. 6:30 left.
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Big Dead are quickly forced into a 4th-and-2 but get away with a pitchout to Baylark to convert the first down and get across midfield. Morelli, who at this early stage of his career is holding on to the ball way too long gets sacked by Robert Pittman on 2nd down and clipped by David Roach while throwing on third down to force a punt back to the Saints. He holds the ball forever and really winds up to throw, inviting the sack and the hit he took on that drive.
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Saints ball at their 20 with about 3:30 left. Palko drills one to Skyler Green over the middle on third down to get the Saints to midfield at the 2:00 warning. On 3rd-and-8, after stuffing two runs and using their final two, the Big Dead inexplicably blitz and Palko beats them with a screen to Hamilton for a first down. Victory formation and victory for the Saints, 24-10.
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Not much happened in the second half to change my opinion of these teams after the first half. If I'm a Saints fan, I'm really happy with the team's pass coverage, excited that Robert Meachem is emerging as a legitimate weapon, and excited with Campbell's success at TE, since that'll be Jeremy Shockey during the regular season. They'll need to run better than they did tonight, but the possibilities in their passing game are tantalizing. Though they really didn't stretch the field at all, from the Big Dead's side I like what I saw from Leinart, and Breaston looks like a good bet to fill the #3 WR role there. Campbell, Highsmith and Holloway made some clutch plays for them on 4th downs, or this game would have been a major blowout. It'll be interesting to follow the progress of those three players. Their secondary, though, was generally terrible, with Francisco looking constantly overmatched, and they really looked like a joke on Meachem's long TD. Their running game, though Highsmith shows promise, was also underwhelming. This team does not look very scary right now, but they didn't have Anquan Boldin tonight, and there's a long, long way to go.
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Game 3 in about 45 minutes on NFL Network: Chiefs at Bears. Plenty of time to get showered and back in front of the keyboard. And miss 45 minutes of excessive BFF coverage.