New Orleans Saints: Will the Real Drew Brees Show Up vs.the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Week 6 was supposed to represent the monkey coming off the backs of the New Orleans Saints when they clobbered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

In that game both the Saints’ offense and defense played in sync as if they had something to prove.  To the delight of fans in the Big Easy, it was the Super Bowl champs serving notice to the rest of the NFL that they are still the boss of the gridiron and the team to beat.

That euphorically filled moment was very short lived unfortunately for Saints fans, whom have been treated to a roller coaster, heart testing season by their beloved champions.

That was last week.

In Week 7 this past Sunday, who could have envisioned the Saints pathetic performance against the lowly Cleveland Browns in their own backyard?  The Browns have improved their record to 2-5, courtesy of the Saints, now 4-3.  It was a 17-30 blowout loss to the heavily under-dogged Browns at the Superdome.

The Saints looked fat and sluggish across the board as if they had been gorging all week on deep fried spicy Cajun alligator ribs, so what exactly happened?

While the Saints were pathetic all around, no one can take more credit for this loss than quarterback Drew Brees, whom was uncharacteristically the games’ rotten fish.  Brees was 37-for-56 and 356 yards passing while factoring in four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns as well as one of two Saints’ fumbles.

Brees again spread the ball around connecting with eight different receivers that had double digit yardage gains.  In addition, the Saints time of possession was 35 minutes, eclipsing the Browns control of the ball by 10 minutes, which would normally reflect statistics exhibited by the winning team. 

That’s the good news.  The bad news is that Brees’ four interceptions and one fumble killed the game for the Saints. 

In order for the Saints to have an effective overall offensive performance, they have shown that they need to balance their passing and rushing attacks.  The Saints rushed only 18 times all game with running back Chris Ivory gaining a respectable 48 yards on 15 carries.  Not exactly the superstar performance he exhibited last week against the Bucs, but not bad by any means. 

As you can see however, the Saints’ rushing game far out lagged their passing game which was not a recipe for success for the home team.

The Saints defense were a placid bunch and were equally putrid especially on both punt return and kickoff return situations.  Also considering the Saints dominated control of the ball compared with that of the Browns possessions, the defense allowed 16 points on the minute amount of time they were on the field.

The Browns were not exactly the personification of a formidable force gaining only 210 yards of total combined offense, including only 85 yards passing and 12 first downs compared to the Saints’ 25.

Make no mistake…the Browns did not beat the Saints so much as the Saints beat themselves. 

The question now is not when will the real Drew Brees show up, but will the real Drew Brees show up on a consistent basis? 

The New Orleans Saints as a team also lack a certain pedigree that made them the force to be reckoned with last season.  In fact the Saints’ have become the NFL’s ultimate quandary.

Last week I said that the only way the Browns could beat the Saints was in their dreams.  I clearly didn’t factor in the Saints beating themselves when making that analysis.  The New Orleans Saints have become such an esoteric subject that most sports analysts would be content to leave it to the philosophers.  The same philosophers that are talking about the Madden Curse.

Next week’s previously much anticipated matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers will mark the Saints' first encounter this season against a solid Super Bowl contender that plays well on both sides of the ball. 

That game has most exasperated Saints fans covering their collective eyes.