NFL Preseason 2010: New Orleans Saints' Special Teams Not So Special

It's just before midnight and Drew Brees posts to Facebook:

"Long flight home now after the Pats preseason game. We have a lot to improve upon. Excited about our players. One day at a time."

And it truly will be one day at a time for a New Orleans Saints special teams that looked downright offensive in a 27-24 loss to New England on Thursday night in Foxborough. A special teams unit that ranked 32nd in the league in punt returns and 29th in kickoff returns one year ago.

Poor tackling. Bad angles. A team lacking a playmaker on special teams like those Saints teams of old had with a Bennie Thompson or a Fred McAfee or a Steve Gleason.

The Patriots racked up 137 total kickoff return yards with Devin McCourty leading the way with 111 yards on three returns. Julian Edelman returned a punt for 41 yards as well, leading to a Stephen Gostkowski field goal.

One of the few bright spots for the Saints' special teams came on a Larry Beavers 97-yard kick return for a touchdown that pulled the Saints to within 24-14 in the third quarter.

However, all in all, the Patriots looked more like the defending Super Bowl champions, as their first-string clearly bested the Saints' starters. Tom Brady came out gunning, and Randy Moss nearly faked CB Tracy Porter out of his socks. Then, Brady had the tenacity to burn CB Jabari Greer on the other side.

The Saints' offense started sluggishly, as it failed to get a first down on its first two drives before before putting together a 20-play, 86-yard touchdown drive capped by a Reggie Bush TD run early in the second quarter.

Brees told the Boston Globe,"We would have liked to start off a little crisper than we did. To have two three-and-outs to start, it’s a little thing here and there. To focus on the positive, we [got] into that third drive and converted a couple of third downs with a great mix of run and pass and ended up getting a touchdown out of it.’’

Sean Payton said, "Too many sloppy things that we've got to get corrected. I know it's the first week of pre-season. Yet, there's still a number of things that are disturbing. So, we'll get back to work when we fly back. I thought we gave up too many returns in the kicking game. We got in some third down situations offensively early on we struggled with and defensively, early on, we had trouble getting off the field.

"There are a few bright spots but when you lose a game, regardless of whether it's pre-season or not there is a number of things we got to get corrected," said Payton.

The Saints did have some outstanding individual performances.

Linebacker Jonathan Casillas, subbing at weakside linebacker for the injured Scott Shanle, had 10 solo tackles and one sack.

Casillas told WWL Radio, "Numbers-wise I think it was a pretty decent performance. I think I had a couple mental errors and a couple of missed tackles that I've got to improve on. I think I did a pretty decent job stepping in for Shanle, but Shanle doesn't make many mistakes. So, I've got to do that without making many mistakes like he does."

Saints WR Adrian Arrington impressed with four receptions for 87 yards.

"I thought I did fairly good. I made some mistakes out there, and that's always going to happen. It's your first game. You're going to make a few mental mistakes, but I thought I played fairly well, Arrington told WWL Radio.

"There's good chemistry going with the young quarterbacks (Patrick Ramsey and Chase Daniel). That's who I usually go practice with. We've been building a lot of chemistry in training camp, and it showed in this game."

Ramsey, the former Tulane star, hasn't exactly shined in camp, but he was impressive against the Patriots' reserves, completing seven out of 11 for 111 yards and leading the Saints back in the second half.

Payton said of Ramsey's performance, "I thought (he) looked decent. I thought our temp in the huddle we can pickup a little bit, but I thought he made some got throws for us."

After a quality week of practice against New England, the Saints' game performance was nothing to write home about, and Payton's body language and terse press conference replies suggested the Saints will have another grueling week ahead during these dog days of summer.