Quick Takes: Patriots outclass Saints in home opener

NEW ORLEANS – You hate to admit it but it was predictable.

What else would you expect from the five-time Super Bowl champions coming off of a bad loss and having lots of extra time to prepare against a very poor defense coming off a very poor performance and a short week?

The Patriots’ defense bent but did not break. The Saints’ defense is simply broken but what else is new? The Saints offense is not clicking the way it has previously and must for this team to have any chance of ending its losing ways.

On the first play from scrimmage of the season, the defense inexplicably had 10 men on the field. In the third quarter, rookie Marcus Williams made a big play with an interception, returning it to the five-yard line but New Orleans had 12 men on the field. Amazingly, two plays later, Kenny Vaccaro, linked to trade rumors this week, intercepted Brady but it was negated as he clearly held Rob Gronkowski.

The second half was an afterthought. The Patriots continued to make plays to stall the Saints offense on drives.

Given the inequity of time to prepare, the result was predictable. New England is miles better than New Orleans. The Saints have miles to go to be a winner again, which has not been the case since 2013.

It is clearly an open question to ask now—what is the future of this football team and this regime? In fairness, the Saints lost two games they were favored to lose. Can they find a way to win to win as an underdog at Carolina next week before heading to London, where they will likely be underdogs against Miami?

Watching Tom Brady play is like vintage wine. He is a master. It does not seem to matter who his receivers are. No Julien Edelman, no Danny Amendola, no problem. The Saints are much the same with Brees but the difference is clear—New England is competent to good on defense while New Orleans is incompetent and no good on defense.

**Zebra’s Randy Jackson of New Orleans fame hit it out the park with his rendition of the national anthem.

**The Saints won the toss and deferred. That was an interesting decision, given the state of the Saints defense over the past few seasons, not to mention last week.

**Marcus Lattimore broke up a pass from Tom Brady for Brandin Cooks on the first series of the game.

**Cooks then rushed 13 yards for a first down on a speed sweep to the New Orleans 29-yard line.

**Sterling Moore played early and often at corner for the Saints after not playing in Minnesota.

**Brady then dropped a perfect throw in to Rex Burkhead in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. Burkhead beat Alex Anzalone on the play. The Patriots drove 75 yards in 10 plays, taking 4:29 off the clock. Stephen Gostkowski missed the extra point, a break for the Saints.

**Brady was 6-for-7 for 59 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive.

**The Saints opened with Andrus Peat at left tackle, Senio Kelemete at left guard and Ryan Ramczyk at right tackle with Max Unger at center and Larry Warford at right guard.

**After watching Adrian Peterson start against the Vikings, Mark Ingram returned to his starting role and carried twice for seven yards on the opening drive for the Saints.

**New Orleans answered with a seven play, 34-yard drive which stalled and Wil Lutz nailed a 46-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 7:38 to play in the opening quarter. The big play on the drive was a 13-yard completion from Drew Brees to Tommylee Lewis.

**Brady knew where to go on third down on the next series, again attacking Anzalone , who was beaten badly by Rob Gronkowksi for a 53-yard touchdown to make it 13-3 with 5:29 to play in the first quarter. Brady had pressure on the play but remained calm, stood tall and performed like the GOAT that he is. It capped a five play, 75-yard drive to make it 13-3 with 5:29 to play in the first quarter.

**Ramczyk was guilty of holding on the Saints next possession, killing any chance of a drive. Larry Warford was also guilty of holding but the Patriots declined it on a loss of two on a screen pass from Brees to Mark Ingram.

**Craig Robertson replaced Anzalone on the third defensive series of the game for New Orleans.

**Trey Hendrickson was healthy and playing on the first series of the game for the Saints. On the third series, he went down injured and was helped off the field, limping noticeably.

**New England moved down the field with ease again, going 67 yards in nine plays with Brady hitting Chris Hogan on a 15-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-3 with 16 seconds left in the first quarter. Hogan was wide open on a rub play that worked perfectly. Lattimore was picked off and Hogan was wide open. Originally, there was a flag for offensive interference but it was waved off.

**Mercifully, the first quarter ended 21-3 Patriots on top. Brady was 11-of-15 for 177 yards and three touchdowns. New England was 3-for-3 on third down and had 11 first downs to go with 217 total yards in the quarter.

**New Orleans came back with a nine play, 80-yard drive, taking 3:24 off the clock with Brees hitting Brandon Coleman on a 17-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-10 with 11:52 to play in the half. The big play on the drive was a 38-yard completion from Brees to Alvin Kamara, who had dropped a screen pass earlier on the drive. This is why the Saints traded up to get Kamara, to create mismatches in the passing game, which he did.

**Hau’oli Kikaha then came up with a big play, sacking Brady on third down to force the first punt of the game by the Patriots.

**The Saints then drove to the Patriots 16-yard line, thanks to a Brees completion of 42 yards to Brandon Coleman but once again, the Saints could not finish the drive and to settle for a Lutz field goal of 35 yards to make it 21-13 with 8:13 to play in the half.

**While the Saints were kicking field goals, the Patriots continued to score touchdowns. Mike Gillislie scored on a two-yard run to cap a six play, 75 yards. On the drive Brady hit a wide open Chris Hogan for 27 yards and then hit an even more wide open Cooks for 22 yards to the two-yard line. Cooks easily beat Devante Harris, whose struggles continue.  Had the ball been thrown better, it would have been an easy touchdown.

**The Patriots did not waver, driving nine plays, 65 yards in 2:23 with Gostkowski kicking a 28-yard field goal on the final play of the half to make it 30-13. It was a stop, of sorts.

**Brady finished the first half 19-of-25 for 294 yards and three touchdowns with a fourth one dropped. The Patriots pillaged the Saints for 354 yards in the half to go with their 30 points.

**Michael Thomas could not hold on to a pass early in the third quarter and left the field limping. He was able to return to the game on the next series.

**The Saints took the second half kickoff and Brees hit Coby Fleener for 20 yards but the drive stalled when Andrus Peat got beat by Deatrich Wise for a sack, forcing a punt.

**Then came the aborted interceptions by Marcus Williams and Vaccaro. Still, the Saints were able to force a rare New England punt.

**Gronkowski went over the 100 yard receiving mark for the 24th time in his brilliant career, tying Kellen Winslow for the second most 100-yard receiving games in NFL history, trailing only Tony Gonzalez, who posted 31 such games.

**New England expanded the lead to 33-13 with 40 seconds left in the third  quarter on a 24-yard field goal by Gostkowski. The drive was nine plays, 55 yards.

**Peat was flagged for illegal hands to the face to stop a third quarter possession.

**Lattimore left the field and went with a trainer to the locker room in the fourth quarter for concussion protocol.

**Anzalone did get a sack in the fourth quarter, though it was clearly a coverage sack. That led to a Gostkowski 27-yard field goal to make it 36-13 with 8:49 to play in the game.

**Brees finished a drive, hitting Coby Fleener on a four-yard touchdown pass with 5:04 remaining to make it 36-20, capping a 10 play, 75-yard drive. The big play on the drive was a 26-yard completion to Coleman, who had a good game.

**Defensive lineman Mitchell Loewen went down with an apparent left leg injury late in the game. He was helped off the field.

**Brees played just fine, completing 27-of-45 passes for 356 yards and two touchdowns but Brady was better, going 30-of-39 for 447 yards and three touchdowns. Of course, Brady was facing the Saints defense while Brees was up against the New England defense.

As the game was coming to an end, there were very loud, audible chants of “Brady, Brady” from the many Patriots fans on hand. Nothing like being embarrassed in your own house.

Look at the bright side–the Saints only yielded six points in the second half.

Where does leave the 2017 Saints? In the same place as the 2014-16 Saints—up against it. New Orleans has now lost nine straight games in September and they are 1-11 in September over the last four seasons. That spells doom. In the highly competitive NFL, you simply recover from such slow starts, as we have seen.

It is on to Carolina to face a division foe in Charlotte, another tough assignment. Then, it is across the pond to London. Then comes a bye. The possibility of being 0-4 is real. Then again, if the Saints could win in Charlotte, they could be 2-2. There is always hope but it is hard to see a silver lining from these guys in black and gold.