Michael C. Hebert, Saints website
The Saints and Cowboys had another classic game. It came down to the wire, but the Saints pulled out a 12-10 victory. Here are my observations from game two and a half of the Brees-less era:
The Good
-Two turnovers (fumble recoveries) in the first half turned things in favor of the Saints. They took a 9-3 lead going into halftime. AJ Klein and Vonn Bell caused them, but it was Bell who recovered both on back to back Cowboy drives. This defense has been, at times, woefully bad, but they deserve their props here for keeping the team in the game.
-Speaking of the defense, what a job they did with Ezekiel Elliott and Amari Cooper. Those guys are two of the best at their respective positions and the Saints defense managed to hold them to a combined 113 yards was impressive. Dennis Allen, take a bow sir. He's been maligned as the Saints defensive coordinator. This performance should quiet the haters for a while. Allen put together a great gameplan and his guys executed.
-If Michael Thomas isn't in your top five receivers in the league, you're crazy. Thomas consistently gets open and makes difficult catches seem routine. He caught all nine targets thrown to him for 95 yards. Guys like Thomas are a quarterback's best friend and a coach's saving grace.
The Bad
-Midway through the 1st quarter, Teddy Bridgewater scrambled out the pocket and found Ted Ginn Jr. Ginn bobbled the ball and it was picked off. While Bridgewater will get an interception to his credit and Ginn will have a drop on his, it'll look worse on Bridgewater than Ginn. Ginn has had his hands questioned in the past. Here's another example of why a real number two WR opposite of Thomas is a priority in the offseason.
-The offensive line, and Bridgewater, gave up five sacks. Sure the Cowboys pass rush has been strengthened with the addition of Robert Quinn opposite Demarcus Lawrence, but something has to give. Terron Armstead gave up a crucial one midway through the fourth quarter when Quinn came free after Armstead appeared not to react to the snap as if he didn't know the snap count. Could've gotten Bridegwater hurt there. The worst was yet to come...
-Never has a Sean Payton Saints team gone a whole home game wiythout scoring a touchdown. They were in position a few times to score one, but failed to produce. Winning ugly is a necessity for great teams, but so is scoring and taking advantage of every scoring opportunity.
The Ugly
-The Saints are addicted to penalties like Pookie from New Jack City. "It just keep calling me!" And the refs keep throwing flags to feed their addiction. Six for 60 yards in the 1st half, and 9 for 80 yards for the entire game. My buddy Jeff on Twitter saw the same thing. It's become downright infuriating.
-Dak Prescott looked a little too good for my liking despite losing the game. He went 22/32 for 223 yards, only sacked once, and didn't get intercepted until the final play of the game. Sure he didn't throw for 300+ yards or have a touchdown, but giving up a 66.7% completion rate isn't ideal. The Saints have to do better if they expect to contend for a title this year.
-With less than two minutes left in the game, ball on the Cowboy 31 yard line in field goal range, and nursing a 12-10 lead, Bridgewater got sacked on 3rd & 8 forcing a 4th & 24 punt. Plays like this can cost a team a game. Fortunately, it didn't. Pocket awareness is critical at the quarterback position. Bridgewater needs to regain his form from his 2015 Pro Bowl form.
These two teams are both expected to be in the NFC playoff picture. With only one touchdown being scored in the game, it was ugly. One would think the Saints would lose a game in which the opposing team scores the only touchdown, but that wasn't the case. Handing the Cowboys their first defeat in this fashion was impressive. Perhaps when Brees gets back, this team will be in great shape. If they keep winning, Brees will come back to a contender instead of a failure.
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As of 9:42 Central Daylight Saving Time Friday night, the Astros (and all other baseball players) are officially the Boys of Summer, officially so far as the season is concerned anyway. When the summer solstice arrived last year the Astros were nine games off the lead in the American League West. So in addressing the rhetorical axiom “what a difference a year makes,” the difference in the Astros’ case is a whopping 14 games as they start the weekend atop their division by five games. At this point in the season last year the Astros’ record in one-run games was a brutal 5-14. In 2025 they are 13-7 in games decided by the narrowest of margins.
That the Astros are just 4-5 in road games against the two worst teams in the American League is no big deal, other than that every game counts in the standings. Still, just as was losing two out of three at the pathetic White Sox earlier this season, it is no doubt disappointing to the Astros to have only gotten a split of their four-game set with the Athletics. The A’s had gone 9-28 in their last 37 games before the Astros arrived in West Sacramento. The former-Oaklanders took the first game and the finale, as the Astros’ offense played bi-polar ball over the four nights. Two stat-padding explosion games that totaled 24 runs and 35 hits were bookended by a puny one-run output Monday and Thursday’s 5-4 10-inning loss. Baseball happens. Nevertheless, as the Astros open their weekend set versus the Angels, they have gone 17-7 over their last 24 games to forge their five-game division lead.
The New York Yankees’ offense has been by a healthy margin the best attack in the American League so far this season. The reigning AL champions snapped a six-game losing streak Thursday. The Yankees mustered a total of six runs over those six losses, including being shutout in three consecutive games. The baseball season is the defining “it’s a marathon not a sprint” sport. With 162 games on the schedule, combined with the fact that the gap in winning percentage between the best teams and the worst teams is smaller than in any other sport, making much about a series, or week or two of games is misguided, apart from all the results mattering.
The future is now
Without context, statistics can tell very misleading stories. Cam Smith is having a fine rookie season and has the looks of a guy who can blossom into a bonafide star and be an Astro mainstay into the 2030s. But it’s silliness that has anyone talking about the big month of June he’s having. Superficially, sure, going into Thursday’s game Smith’s stat line for the month read a .321 batting average and .874 OPS. Alas, that was mostly about Smith’s two monster games in the consecutive routs of the Athletics. Over those two games Cam went seven for nine with two home runs and two doubles. Over the other 14 games he’s played this month Smith is batting .213 with an OPS below .540.
Cam Smith is a long-term contender for best acquisition of Dana Brown’s tenure as General Manager. If his career was a single game Smith is still in the first inning, but if his career was a stock it’s a buy and hold. If the Astros were for some reason forced to part with all but two players in the organization, I think the two they would hold on to are Smith and Hunter Brown. Jeremy Pena would be another strong candidate, but he turns 28 in September and is two seasons from free agency (unless the rules change in the next collective bargaining agreement). Smith is 22 and under Astros’ control for another five seasons, he’s not even presently eligible for salary arbitration until the 2028 season. Brown turns 27 in August and is currently ineligible for free agency until after the 2028 season.
Angels in the outfield
Hunter Brown pitches opposite Yusei Kikuchi Friday night. Kikuchi was Dana Brown’s big in-season move last season, and Kikuchi was excellent with the Astros which set up to get the three-year 63 million dollar deal he landed with the Halos. After a slow start to his season Kikuchi has been outstanding the past month and a half, with a 2.28 earned run average over his last nine starts. Brown’s 1.88 season ERA is second-best in the big leagues among pitchers with the innings pitched to qualify in the category. Only Pirates’ stud Paul Skenes has a better mark, barely so at 1.85.
Kikuchi was a stellar rental who helped the Astros stretch their consecutive postseasons streak to eight. There was an absurd amount of vitriol over what Dana Brown gave up for him. Joey Loperfido is 26 years old and having a middling season at AAA. Will Wagner is 26 years old and back in the minors after batting .186 with the Blue Jays. Jake Bloss is the one guy who maaaaaybe some day the Astros wish they still had. Bloss is out into 2026 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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