Saints lock up NFC #1 seed in dramatic 31-28 win
The good, bad and ugly of the Saints win over the Steelers
Dec 23, 2018, 7:02 pm
Michael Thomas was clutch. Michael C Hevert, Saints website
The Saints came into this game needing one win in their last two games to lock up home field advantage in the NFC playoffs. They pulled it off in dramatic fashion 31-28 over the Steelers. Here's how I saw things:
The Good
-Michael Thomas caught 11 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. He now owns the team record with 120 catches in a season. Drew Brees found him in the end zone on a back shoulder throw that was supposed to be a fade, but Thomas stumbled. He's firmly established himself as a top five receiver in the league.
- Mark Ingram got his 50th career rushing touchdown in the first quarter, which is a team record. He brings the thunder while Alvin Kamara is the lightning. Kamara has 22 so far in just his second season.
-Saints special teams stopped the Steelers on a fake punt run up the middle that led to their game winning touchdown and the defense came up with a game-saving fumble recovery on the Steelers' last standing drive. Those two phases of the game are critically important and they came up big in the clutch today.
The Bad
-Taysom Hill threw an interception on a deep ball to Tedd Ginn Jr. He let the ball hang in the air too long and it was just about fair caught. Josh Hill was flagged for a horse collar tackle on the return. Not the ideal way you want to start your first offensive possession.
-Eli Apple was called for pass interference that placed the ball at the two yard line. Then two miscommunications in man coverage led to a Steelers touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game at 14 under a minute left before halftime. This capped a 16-play 97 yard drive.
-Brees took back to back sacks late in the third quarter after the Steelers cut the lead to 24-21. Saints punted and it gave the Steelers the momentum they needed to take a 28-24 lead on the ensuing drive.
The Ugly
-The pass interference call on Joe Haden against Kamara on the 4th down play was ridiculous. I understand Haden extended his arms, but he did nothing to prevent Kamara from catching the ball. Refs continue to make calls that swing the momentum.
-Terron Armstead injured his pectoral muscle again. It's apparent that the five games he missed due to the injury and the brace he's wearing means he's playing hurt. His health is clearly linked to the offense's ability to run at full strength. Securing the first round bye and home field would mean a lot to his health and overall performance of this offense.
-Steelers may have exposed a weakness even more so in the Saints defense. When they went five wide, the Saints had trouble stopping the pass attack. Ben Roethlisberger tore the defense up whether it was short, medium, or long passes out of that formation.
This was a fun game to watch. Seeing two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks duel in their primes always makes for good football. But it was the defenses that made it exciting and special teams that came up big. Oh. And Brees had yet another 300+ yard game. Now they won't have to leave New Orleans in the playoffs unless they make it to Atlanta.
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There was a conversation Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell had during training camp, the topic being all the teams that were generating the most preseason buzz in the Eastern Conference. Boston was coming off an NBA championship. New York got Karl-Anthony Towns. Philadelphia added Paul George.
The Cavs? Not a big topic in early October. And Mitchell fully understood why.
“What have we done?” Mitchell asked. “They don't talk about us. That's fine. We'll just hold ourselves to our standard.”
That approach seems to be working.
For the first time in 36 seasons — yes, even before the LeBron James eras in Cleveland — the Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game mark. They're 21-4, having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0 start but still better than anyone in the league at this point.
“We've kept our standards pretty high,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And we keep it going.”
The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando — the only team still unbeaten at home — is off to its best start in 16 years at 17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston, Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league's best record.
Cleveland was a playoff team a year ago, as was Orlando. And the Rockets planted seeds for improvement last year as well; an 11-game winning streak late in the season fueled a push where they finished 41-41 in a major step forward after a few years of rebuilding.
“We kind of set that foundation last year to compete with everybody,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, we had some ups and downs with winning and losing streaks at times, but to finish the season the way we did, getting to .500, 11-game winning streak and some close losses against high-level playoff teams, I think we kind of proved that to ourselves last year that that's who we're going to be.”
A sign of the respect the Rockets are getting: Oddsmakers at BetMGM Scorebook have made them a favorite in 17 of 24 games so far this season, after favoring them only 30 times in 82 games last season.
“Based on coaches, players, GMs, people that we all know what they're saying, it seems like everybody else is taking notice as well,” Udoka said.
They're taking notice of Orlando as well. The Magic lost their best player and haven't skipped a beat.
Banchero's injury after five games figured to doom Orlando for a while, and the Magic went 0-4 immediately after he tore his oblique. Entering Tuesday, they're 14-3 since — and now have to regroup yet again. Franz Wagner stepped into the best-player-on-team role when Banchero got hurt, and now Wagner is going to miss several weeks with the exact same injury.
Ask Magic coach Jamahl Mosley how the team has persevered, and he'll quickly credit everyone but himself. Around the league, it's Mosley getting a ton of the credit — and rightly so — for what Orlando is doing.
“I think that has to do a lot with Mose. ... I have known him a long time,” Phoenix guard Bradley Beal said. “A huge fan of his and what he is doing. It is a testament to him and the way they’ve built this team.”
The Magic know better than most how good Cleveland is, and vice versa. The teams went seven games in an Eastern Conference first-round series last spring, the Cavs winning the finale at home to advance to Round 2.
Atkinson was brought in by Cleveland to try and turn good into great. The job isn't anywhere near finished — nobody is raising any banners for “best record after 25 games” — but Atkinson realized fairly early that this Cavs team has serious potential.
“We’re so caught up in like the process of improve, improve, improve each game, improve each practice," Atkinson said. “That’s kind of my philosophy. But then you hit 10-0, and obviously the media starts talking and all that, and you’re like, ‘Man, this could be something special brewing here.’”