Bear Down Baffa

If this was a game of “Clue,” I’d have to say the Butler did it in the Superdome with a candlestick.

The first 3 games our season (ATL, NO, GB) rate us as having the toughest starting schedule in the NFC.  No one would have been surprised if we started 0-3, so 1-1 wouldn’t seem all that bad – if we weren’t certain to be 1-2 after next week’s blowout at the hands of Green Bay.  We’ve supposedly got the 4th easiest schedule the rest of the way.  But the way we played Sunday, that’s like saying Michelle Bachman has a chance to win the Republican nomination because there’s no clear leader yet.

Cutler Trying to Separate his Helmet from the Turf

Things started off pretty solid.  On our second possession, we put together a 2-penalty-aided, 11-play, 86-yard TD drive during which Cutler was 4-6 for 45 yards, giving us a 7-0 lead.  We snuck in a FG at the end of the half on a 9-play, 56-yard drive with the Butler going 4-8 for 49 yards and scrambling 12 yards for a first down.  And on our first second-half possession, we cut their lead to 3 when he went 2-5 for 46 yards on a 5-play, 46-yard FG drive.

Sanzenbacher Scores 1st Career TD – Our Lone Highlight 

But other than those 3 drives, Cutler was a terrible 9 of 26 (35%) for 104 yards (4 yards/attempt), was sacked 6 times (for 58 yards), committed an Intentional Grounding penalty and fumbled on our 30-yard line (which led to an easy NO TD).  Following the fumble, Joe Buck said, “Cutler was slammed from behind.”  Troy Aikman added, “They put a tight end over there to try to widen the distance for (them) to get to Cutler’s back side.”  Buck later added, “Cutler had someone up his back, and now he can’t get up.”

Subliminal homoerotic messages aside, the Saints made the Bulter feel about as welcome as Barack Obama at Tea Party rally.  But instead of wearing rifles and shouting hateful epithets, they beat him like a Bud Selig piñata at an anger management meeting for baseball players.  And their predominantly black defense treated him like Republicans have treated the president – opposing every (legislative) pass attempt with stubborn, racist vigor.

Saints D Celebrates with “Kill Whitey” Dance 

But even though New Orleans was all up in Cutler’s business most of the game, and he was kicked in the throat on his first play of the second half, that doesn’t explain him completing 7 of his final 21 passes (33%) for 94 yards.  Nor does it justify his ghastly finish.  On our last 15 offensive plays, he went 3-10 (30%) for 31 yards (3.1/attempt), was sacked 5 times for 51 yards (including 3 plays in a row), and we committed 4 penalties, giving us a whopping -21 yards in the final 11 minutes.

Kreutz: “I Miss Having Your Hands Under My Satchel” 

One thing you can say is that the Butler was consistent.  Consistently shitty, but consistent nonetheless.  He finished 19-45 (42%), 244 yards (5.4/attempt), 1 TD, (stunningly) 0 picks and a 67.3 QBR – giving him an 84.1 after 2 games.  Those are “Bad” Rex numbers.  Speaking of Rex, he (90.6 QBR) and Orton (85.4 QBR) are both 2-0 this season.  But despite the Rodney King-like beating, the Butler showed some cojones by finishing the game.

Cutler Asking “What the Fuck Just Happened?!”

Read Between the Lines (by That I Mean “Between My Fingers”)
Cutler threw 8 more passes than Brees but completed 7 fewer, as Brees finished 26-37 (70%) for 270, 3 TD,  0 INT and a 118.1 QBR.  Forte had a 42-yard run on his second carry, but he only had 7 yards on 8 carries the rest of the game, as we punted the ball almost as many times (8) as we ran it (12).

Surprisingly, we had 18 first downs to their 16 (though 2 of ours came on penalties).  But they were 8-17 on 3rd down, while we were only 2-12 (including 1 of our last 10, and 0 of our last 6).  And though both teams had 1 turnover and roughly the same number of plays, New Orleans led time of possession by more than 50%.

Defensively, we had only 1 sack (Idonije).  On the very next play, however, we gave up a 79-yard TD pass that went about 55 yards in the air on a 3rd and 12 that gave New Orleans the lead for good.  Briggs led us in tackles (10), but got smoked on a TD pass when he covered someone who was already accounted for and left his man open.  Urlacher said, “Give all the credit to them.  We didn’t make any plays ‘cause they’re good.”

Briggs: “I Don’t Care If We Lose, Long as I Get PAID Muthafucka” 

The Good News
The SAX won for the first time since the Bears’ season started, snapping a 7-game losing streak while ironically snapping KC’s 7-game winning streak.

Superdome, Super Saints!

© 2011

This entry was posted on Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 3:08 pm and is filed under j) 2011 Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.