The Kansas City Chiefs put a crimp in the Saints desire to have home field advantage through out the play offs and in the process defeated the Saints 32-29. The game was not as close as the score would indicate. The Chiefs offense and defense lived up to its record as the current World Champions and exposed the Saints weakness on both sides of the football.
The sports media failed to grasp the fact that the Saints have beaten only one team with a winning record this season and both of their next two opponents also have losing records. The media's rating of the Saint's defense was never objective because their analysis was based on the Saint's performance against some very bad teams. The Chiefs, a very good team, exposed that weakness, gained 179 yards rushing and 232 yards passing. And in the third and fourth quarter when it counted, the Saint's defense could not stop the Chief's third down conversions.
The sports media still don't understand the sub-par game Brees had against the Chiefs, blaming it on Brees being rusty. But the fact is the Chief's defense played the Saint's receivers tight, some thing all those losing teams to the Saints never did because they do not play good defense. The Chiefs knew a good defense never leave the receivers run loose and therefore easy targets for the quarterback to complete the pass. (Its noticeable the Saints receivers do not like being covered tight by the defense.)
As of this writing, only 14of the 32 teams in the NFL have a winning record. It is nothing unusual but it does tell the story that overall, the NFL has too many poor teams year in and year out. And playing those poor teams and making a judgement with objectivity just how good a team really is (like the Saints) needs to be taken into consideration. The East Division of the National Conference will not have one single team with a winning record this year, yet the division champion will make the playoffs. What a shame on competitive sports or what use to be considered competitive.
The bottom line is the Saint's offense and defense is over rated by the sports media and when they play the teams that are well coached and know how to play offense and defense, the Saints do not live up to the sports media's ratings.
Note: The Saints will make the playoffs so they still have a chance to prove how good they really are. And that is what counts.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
