Never leave early.
My dad once told me a story from the early days of my parents’ marriage, while they were still living in New Orleans, of attending a Saints game at Tulane Stadium in 1970. The Detroit Lions scored to go up 17-16 with under a minute left, and with a long way for the Saints to go and not much time (and for the fact that they were 1-5-1 going into the game), they decided it was unlikely the Saints would find a comeback, and they left early to beat the traffic.
Once they got into their car and hit the road, they put on the radio, just in time to hear:
DEMPSEY KICKED A FIELD GOAL! Dempsey kicked a field goal! The Saints win!
It was the game where Tom Dempsey, the Saints kicker born without any toes on his right (kicking) foot, hit a 63-yard field goal through the uprights as time expired, giving the Saints a 19-17 win and smashing the previous NFL record for field goal length by seven full yards. (He also gave the team arguably its only highlight of the year; they wouldn’t win again and finished 2-11-1.)
He didn’t say it in so many words, but I took the right lesson. Never leave early. What’s a little extra time in traffic compared to being present for a historical moment?
If you watched the Saints game on Sunday, you probably know where this is going already. I watched the game from section 605 of the Superdome, with an old friend who drove with me from Houston to the game. When Washington scored with 5:58 left in the game to take a 31-16 lead on the Saints (on New Orleans’ third blown coverage leaving a receiver wide open in or on the way to the end zone), a lot of people in our section left. (Though not, it should be noted, a young man in a Kirk Cousins jersey who became increasingly cocky over the course of the fourth quarter to this point.) We talked about what to do.
“You wanna leave?”
“Eh, not just yet. Let’s see if the offense can make something happen.”
What happened next is that, with nothing but their last sliver of hope to cling on to, Brees finally delivered in the way we’d been waiting for him to all game, going 7-for-7 on passes, including a couple of nice downfield shots to Coby Fleener (whom I’d recently written off altogether after seeing where he ended up in the snap counts). That drive was capped with a touchdown and extra point to make the score 31-23. (I thought they should have gone for two here, to find out if they’d need a touchdown or two scores. More on that later.)
I decided to go to the restroom at the break. I told my friend, “Tell me if they recover the onside.”
When I came out, he was standing nearby watching on a TV at one of the food stands. “They didn’t even onside! They went deep!” With only two timeouts and the two-minute warning ahead, the Saints couldn’t give up a single first down, or the game would be over. A precarious situation for a defense that, missing three starters, had not played today nearly up to its typical level during the seven-game winning streak.
We were both pretty disgusted with the decision to kick deep, but we decided “Eh, well, if Washington gets one first down the game is over. Let’s just watch from here to see if they do.” When it came up to third-and-inches, I mentally got myself ready to leave. They’d been getting run over all day; were they going to really get a stop here?
But the Saints stuffed Samaje Perine in the backfield, and the two-minute warning came, with Washington preparing to punt. We decided to go back to our seats.
Never leave early.
***
On the first play, Drew Brees winds up to go deep, and delivers the ball directly to Kendall Fuller, covering Ted Ginn. So much for that comeback– but look. There’s a flag on the field. Fuller is called for an Illegal Use of Hands penalty, giving the Saints five yards, a first down, and another chance. 1:40 on the clock.
You know what happens from there. On the next four plays, Brees moves the ball effortlessly. Washington’s defense suddenly seems gassed and out of sorts. Brees throws to four different receivers; none gain less than 17 yards. Alvin Kamara takes a route out of the backfield, and juggles the ball while nearly being hit by two defenders, but somehow slips through them and secures it, evading even more tackles on his way to the end zone.
It’s 31-29, and the Saints of course have to go for two. On a misdirection play, the Saints fake a run up the middle and pitch to Kamara left. Even though he’s deep behind the line of scrimmage, he gets the blocks and has the speed to make it all the way to the edge and take the ball in. The game is tied, and only 35 seconds have passed. 31-31, clock reading 1:05. Our section is going absolutely nuts. (The young man in the Kirk Cousins jersey, who’d been celebrating quite a bit not long ago, has had the wind knocked out of his sails.)
I worry that they’ve left Washington too much time, given how the defense is playing. And I might be right. Washington doesn’t take much time to march to the Saints’ 34 yard line, with about 30 seconds left. This would be a long, but not impossible, field goal for the win.
But on first down, Kirk Cousins has a miscommunication and throws a ball to nobody at all. He’s whistled for intentional grounding– 10 yards and 10 seconds off the clock. The team is now out of field goal range, and will have to get back to it– and then either get out of bounds or get a spike in to stop the clock before it runs out; they have only 18 seconds left.
None of that happens. The Saints send Vonn Bell on a blind-side blitz after Cousins, who never sees it coming. He fumbles on the sack. Washington offensive tackle Morgan Moses recovers the fumble, but it will be impossible for the team to run another play. We’re going to overtime.
Debates about whether momentum is real aside, the Saints certainly seemed to have all of it going into the extra frame. Washington won the coin toss, but Cameron Jordan sacked Cousins on second down– his eighth sack of the year in a season that deserves All-Pro consideration– and Washington had to punt. (Curiously, for a team that had been running the ball with some success, they seemed to panic, calling for three passes in a row.)
Washington’s defense had nothing left. It only took two plays to set up a chip-shot field goal, as Mark Ingram ran the ball first for 20 and then for 31 yards. Wil Lutz was good from 28, and the comeback was complete. Now the Superdome was rocking. We were high-fiving strangers, taking videos of a thunderous crowd that reached over 100 dB noise level.
In a season that seems more serendipitous than ever– remember the last time the Saints completed a comeback against Washington that they shouldn’t have been able to?— the decision to see this particular game in person, of the eight Saints’ home games, certainly seems like one touched by fate.
The last bit of fortune? Spotting fans wearing player jerseys outside of the stadium, always a favorite activity of mine to see both which old players are popular enough to have warranted jersey purchases, and seeing how odd or obscure the choices might be. After seeing Washington fans sporting such classics as LaRon Landry, Sean Taylor, and Art Monk, I told my friend, “It would really make my day if I saw someone in a John Riggins jersey.” About ten seconds later, he pointed out a guy probably in his sixties in a white RIGGINS 44 jersey.
I then said “It would really make my day if I found five hundred dollars on the sidewalk,” but I guess you can only push the power of divine intervention so far.
Here’s what we learned from the game Sunday:
Marshon Lattimore is really important to this defense (and A.J. Klein might be, too).
Lattimore hurt his ankle breaking up a pass in the end zone on the first Washington drive. He missed the rest of the first half; he came out for one play in the second half, but had to leave again and would not return.
Perhaps the best sign of Lattimore’s importance to this defense wasn’t measured in his own statistics, or evaluations from sites like Pro Football Focus, but in how the defense looked this game with him absent. With increased snap counts for P.J. Williams and De’Vante Harris– and compounded by the fact that Kenny Vaccaro was already inactive for the game– Washington passed the ball seemingly at will. The Saints gave up three touchdowns on entirely blown coverages, plays where no one was even close to the receiver in question. Kirk Cousins was 1-for-3 on the first drive, the only one Lattimore played, where his only completion came on a Josh Doctson catch-and-run where Lattimore was picked in coverage and nobody else could get to Doctson until he’d made his way downfield for 21 yards. Absent that drive, Cousins was 21/29 for 301 yards and three touchdowns, the best performance by any opposing quarterback against the Saints since Sam Bradford and Tom Brady lit them up in consecutive weeks during that 0-2 start. (Matthew Stafford is the only QB in between this stretch to even surpass 200 yards passing against the Saints, let alone 300, and that was in a bizarre game where Stafford piled up yards in what was (apparently at the time) garbage time and the Saints defense scored three touchdowns.)
With Delvin Breaux and Vaccaro injured, the secondary doesn’t have enough depth. If Lattimore, its best player, misses any significant time, this team might quickly turn back into the 2014-16 Saints for stretches.
Klein had been the Saints’ leader in total tackles going into the game (he’s now tied for fourth), and while he hadn’t graded as well for the season on sites like PFF, his tackling was good enough that he could get consistent stops before players broke past him into the third level. Without him around, the frequency of missed tackles became much more apparent. Hopefully Klein returns soon; with Alex Anzalone already injured, the Saints can’t afford to be missing both of their projected every-down linebackers.
And on top of that, Alex Okafor tore his Achilles late in the game. He’d been a surprising bright spot as a starting defensive end, not a top-tier pass rusher like Jordan but a consistent force as a secondary rusher and a frequent run-stopper and playmaker behind the line of scrimmage. He’ll be missed. Presumably, Trey Hendrickson will take his spot in the starting lineup; he has the athletic talent to be a player in the league for years to come, but we’ll see if his development is where it needs to be.
The Saints have built a great defense this season, but they can’t afford to lose too many players to keep performing at that level– and they absolutely cannot afford to lose Cameron Jordan or Marshon Lattimore.
The whispers of Drew Brees’ decline were highly exaggerated.
Though the offense has become much more running back-heavy this season, and Brees is on pace for his lowest statistical output since arriving in New Orleans, he proved he can still deliver the goods when it matters. On the final two drives of regulation, Brees was an astounding 11-for-11 for 164 yards, throwing both of his touchdown passes on the day. Even if Washington was playing soft coverage for that first touchdown drive, there’s no reason they should have been carved up so easily and quickly on the second. Everything was clicking: The playcalling, the receivers getting open, and Brees delivering passes that allowed them to gain significant yards after the catch. The offense didn’t switch to a focus on running backs because of any decline in Brees, as has been reported lately. It’s because the best Brees/Payton-era Saints teams always funneled a high percentage of their offense through running backs, whether it was Reggie Bush catching passes while Deuce McAllister and then Pierre Thomas ran the ball; Darren Sproles catching out of the backfield while Mark Ingram ran; or now, with Ingram and Alvin Kamara splitting duties.
The Saints can win despite a number of boneheaded conservative decisions.
I was appalled when Sean Payton punted on 4th and 3 from their own 43 while down 24-13 in the fourth quarter. I mentioned my disgust at not attempting an onside kick above. With the way the defense had been performing after Lattimore exited the game, I thought “trusting the defense” to get the stop the team needed was a mistake. Mathematically, I’m sure it was; I haven’t run any of these decisions by a fourth-down or win probability calculator, but years of studying the topic have, I think, given me the right instincts on when to go for it and when to kick the ball away.
But it all worked out in the end. The Saints got every stop they needed, playing the last three drives of regulation, and all of overtime, to perfection. I just wish Payton had made some decisions so that they didn’t have to be perfect to win.
GOING FORWARD
The Saints have a serious test next week; even though the Rams lost to Minnesota, they’re still 7-3 and playing excellent all-around football. Sean McVay has completely turned the team around (and exposed what a joke NFL hiring practices are, given that Jeff Fisher was an NFL head coach for twenty years) and the early line has the Rams as 2.5 point favorites. If Lattimore is back, though, and Trey Hendrickson can provide a reasonable replacement for Alex Okafor’s production, the Saints could win this, which would be huge for their future playoff seeding. Philadelphia isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, but Minnesota’s upcoming schedule is tough, and the Vikings already have the tiebreaker on the Saints. A Saints win Sunday would not only give them a tiebreaker over the Rams, but would also prevent them from losing any ground to the Eagles and Vikings.
The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here.
Yesterday, LaToya Cantrell became the very first woman elected mayor of New Orleans, and, as a result, for the first time in American history, a state’s three largest cities will all be led by African-American women, a fact made even more remarkable considering that Louisiana has never elected an African-American to a statewide office.
To be sure, history would have been made regardless of whether Cantrell won or lost; her opponent, former judge Desiree Charbonnet, is also an African-American woman. But Cantrell’s landslide victory- she won by more than 20 points (60.4% to Charbonnet’s 39.6%)- was still an extraordinary feat. Her victory also demands a reevaluation of the long-standing assumptions about the relevance and effectiveness of the traditional “machine politics” model that has, in various iterations, dominated Orleans Parish for decades.
As in any election, there are numerous reasons the winner won and loser lost, but the simplest and most accurate explanation is that LaToya Cantrell ran a significantly better and smarter campaign. For the majority of the campaign season, LaToya Cantrell was vastly out-raised and outspent by Charbonnet, who positioned herself as the presumptive frontrunner before placing a distant second in the primary. Cantrell likely preferred her status as an underdog, however. In her first election to the New Orleans City Council, she was outspent 4-to-1 by her opponent; no one opposed her when she ran for a second term.
****
Seven months before she declared her candidacy, Desiree Charbonnet quietly began constructing the scaffolding of a campaign. At the time, despite the fact that she had already won previous citywide elections, Charbonnet’s name didn’t appear on anyone’s shortlist for potential candidates. But her ability to build a stealthy and robust campaign operation was impressive and almost immediately catapulted her to the top of the polls. As the election season progressed, however, her campaign became unwieldy and frequently off-message.
In July, she announced a crime prevention plan that, among other things, called for eliminating money spent to ensure compliance with the federal consent decree and redirecting funding for housing programs in order to pay for 100 more police officers. According to several polls, crime was easily the most important issue in the election, but, to many, Charbonnet’s plan seemed workshopped specifically to appeal to a small base of white conservatives. It was not a holistic approach, and the aggressively pro-enforcement components seemed to betray her campaign’s most compelling selling point: Charbonnet’s experience and leadership as a judge in creating diversion programs for non-violent offenders.
Last month, during a forum hosted by the AARP, Charbonnet awkwardly attempted to distance herself from her campaign’s decision to criticize Cantrell for reimbursing nearly $9,000 in city credit card expenses. “Don’t accuse me of writing (the opposition research file). I didn’t touch your documents at all,” Charbonnet told Cantrell. “I didn’t send them to the media. The campaign did that.” To many observers, fairly or not, her attempt to plausibly deny her involvement with the actions of her own campaign reinforced the notion that she was somehow being controlled and scripted by others.
But perhaps the most baffling decision by Charbonnet- and the one most responsible for her campaign’s eventual failure- was to aggressively recruit and promote support from conservative Republicans and from embattled Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. Republicans comprise only 10.8% of the electorate in Orleans Parish, and in the waning weeks of the campaign, Charbonnet invested a small fortune in courting those voters.
It backfired, severely. Quixotically, Charbonnet spent more than $406,000- more than a quarter of her entire campaign fortune- with the firm of her communications consultant, Kevin Stuart, a white Christian conservative who founded the Austin Institute, a right-wing think tank that, among other things, has promoted anti-LGBT “scholarship.” She also blanketed the city with mailers touting the support of the Louisiana Republican Party and Congressman Steve Scalise, and she refused to distance herself from a white supremacist who paid for online ads promoting her candidacy.
There’s an easy explanation for Charbonnet’s miscalculation: Her campaign consultants treated the election as if was a statewide contest, where an endorsement of a Democratic candidate by someone like Rep. Scalise would be a game-changer, and they failed to appreciate the mood or acknowledge the make-up of the electorate in Orleans Parish. In fairness, their model has been successful in previous citywide elections: Consolidating support from the wealthy, white conservative donor class while simultaneously compensating various civic and neighborhood organizations for their endorsements and support.
It may seem to be an unholy alliance (and it is certainly fraught with tension), but in the past, it has been effective. Indeed, on Election Day in 2015, the same core team of campaign advisors in the Charbonnet campaign littered the neutral ground in New Orleans with yard signs promoting both John Bel Edwards for Governor and “Democrats for Jeff Landry,” the leading Republican candidate for Attorney General. Landry went on to win statewide, and although he did not carry Orleans Parish, he came closer than anyone would have expected.
Yesterday’s election, however, proves that this model- this unholy alliance template- has huge limitations. Cantrell outperformed her own internal polling by more than seven points, and exit polling data revealed she enjoyed majority approval on every key issue.
It also proves that you cannot artificially manufacture goodwill and support. Yard signs may help a candidate gain name recognition, but, as the adage goes, yard signs don’t vote, a truism that any supporter of City Council candidate Seth Bloom, whose signs were ubiquitous throughout the entire city, must now confront.
LaToya Cantrell won because she had worked for the job interview for more than five years, and because, unlike her worthy and admirable opponent, she took nothing for granted. She won because she listened to her community more than to political consultants.
Charbonnet may have had more money, but Cantrell had more enthusiasm and more volunteers, proving again that it’s better to out-organize your opponent than it is to simply outspend them and that sweat equity always pays higher dividends.
The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here.
Cross-posted, with permission, from Commissioner Steven Jackson’s campaign website.
The Caddo Parish Commission formally filed its motion in response to the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDofC) in federal court this morning. The motions filed in the US Western District Court of Louisiana ask the judge to dismiss individual Commissioner named in the lawsuit due to immunity granted under state and federal law. Commissioners names are: President Steven Jackson, Lyndon Johnson, Louis Johnson, Jerald Bowman, Matthew Linn, Stormy Gage-Watts, and Lynn Cawthorne who voted in favor of removal of the monument from courthouse grounds.
In addition to dismissing Commissioner in the personal capacity, the motion ask a federal judge to deny a preliminary injunction due to the UDofC failure to adequately prove: (1) – ownership of plat for which the monument sits on, (2) – no violation of the UDofC’s free speech, (3)-no violation of Due Process, and (4)-failure to demonstrate irreparable harm.
The brief filed by Parishs’ internal legal staff Donna Frazier (Parish Attorney) and Henry Bernstein (Assistant Parish Attorney) cites the 1903 minutes that deliberately “reserved the plat” for the purpose of erecting the monument and not the original motion “to give the plat” to the UDofC. The Parish also asserts any attempt for the Police Jury to give/donate public property for a non public purpose was expressly prohibited under the 1898 La Constitution, Art 58. Thus, “the plaintiffs (UDofC) are not entitled to rely on any actions other than what the state law clearly requires.”
“The bedrock of our judicial system is in the 14th Amendment, which guarantees ALL Americans the right to due process and equal protection under the law. The Confederacy for whom the monument is dedicated to strongly opposed the initial ratification of the 14th Amendment and many other post-Civil War/Reconstruction era amendments,” Caddo Parish Commissioner Steven Jackson states. “While, none of us can turn the clock of history back to 1903 when the Caddo Parish Police Jury allowed the monument to be erected we must consider the issue before us in the light of its current ‘sitz in leben’ (setting in life). The United States Supreme Court is the only court mentioned in the United States Constitution. When you visit the court, you find no monuments or statues dedicated to anyone or thing other than justice being blind and equal.”
The Caddo Parish Commission voted October 18, 2017 to remove the Confederate monument from courthouse grounds where it has stood since 1906. The vote marks an official turning point for the controversial monument that sits in front of the 1st Judicial Courthouse at 501 Texas St. “Block 23” also known as the Courthouse Square since 1857 has been under the dominion and operation of the Caddo Parish Police Jury (now Caddo Commission) for approximately 124 for a courthouse and previously parish jail.
“In short, the UDofC are claiming ownership to the piece of property the monument sits without proof of a recorded deed and nothing that explicitly transferred ownership of that plat,” Jackson states. “It would set quite an interesting legal precedent throughout the country for a court to rule that a private citizens and organizations may claim ownership to property without any proof of true ownership”
A hearing on this matter has been set for a court hearing on December 11, 2017. The Honorable Robert James is assigned the case.
A recent citywide survey indicates current Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is widely unpopular with the New Orleans electorate. The Bayou Brief was exclusively provided with the findings, on the condition that the pollster’s name be redacted.
Among 495 surveyed New Orleanians likely to vote in the recent municipal election, Cannizzaro’s unfavorables outpaced his favorables by thirteen points.
Recent accusations regarding the DA’s abuse of his office – including the fake subpoenas scandal and the jailing of rape and domestic violence victims, in addition to Cannizzaro’s awkward attempt to tip the scales in the ongoing Mayor’s race through “anonymous” criminal complaints – seems to be profoundly damaging Cannizzaro’s credibility with the electorate.
Across nearly all sub-groups, Cannizzaro is held in low esteem by voters. Women and whites overall are especially displeased with the District Attorney, though African-Americans also rate Cannizzaro unfavorably.
Methodology statement:495 likely New Orleans’ voters were surveyed November 8th, 2017 by interactive voter response technology. The survey was weighted by race to the most recent New Orleans elections. This survey segment carries a margin of error of +/-4.4%.The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here.
Will Bradshaw is the president and co-founder of Green Coast Enterprises, which recently renovated the historic Pythian Building. Bradshaw holds a Ph.D. from MIT in urban planning and sustainable communities; teaches in Tulane’s master’s program in sustainable real estate development; and has experience in working with affordable housing.
New Orleans is an easy place to love, but too often New Orleans doesn’t love us back. To become a community of choice, a place that rises to meet its challenges and grows, attracts, and retains the next generation of young families, we have to change that, and this mayoral race, the first one that is truly post-Katrina in its concerns, is monumental for that reason. And there is only one candidate in the race who has a record of community-building that has successfully grown, attracted, and retained young families to our City. That candidate is LaToya Cantrell.
To understand how this is true, one should start by looking at the Broadmoor neighborhood, one of the most popular areas for young families choosing to settle in our City over the last 10 years. It was destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina. Not a single house untouched, every resident evacuated, and the now infamous green dot plan designated Broadmoor and other areas as parkland to be razed to provide water storage across the City. Broadmoor, like scores of other neighborhoods, had to prove its viability, plan a recovery, and rebuild itself soup to nuts. What was different in Broadmoor speaks directly to Ms. Cantrell’s leadership.
My company, Green Coast Enterprises, cut its teeth supporting neighborhood recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans. We were directly involved in the development or redevelopment of over 1,100 housing units in the years immediately following the storm, and we worked in neighborhoods from Gentilly to the Lower Nine to Uptown. The Broadmoor recovery strategy had two basic tenets that were unique in neighborhoods we dealt with across New Orleans.
First, they focused immediately on activating and augmenting their existing communications to invite every resident back home and share information about the recovery. Second, they focused energy and investment on community infrastructure, which would support everyone’s efforts to come home rather than starting with rebuilding homes, which mostly supports the people living in those particular homes.
Rebuilding after a disaster of this magnitude is by its nature a collective effort. To make a good decision about whether you come back and try to rebuild, you must understand what’s going on around you. Are your neighbors coming back as well? What resources will be available for you when you arrive? What will life be like when you are here? From this context, utilizing an existing communications process to get information to everyone in your neighborhood is hugely valuable. And augmenting that so the information is fresh, reliable, and cumulative (i.e. the neighborhood remembers what its members have already done) is paramount. No one did this better than Broadmoor.
In the blockbusting era of the 1960s and 70s, Broadmoor successfully maintained its diversity in the face of pressure to sell and move to homogenous suburbs. One of strategies that helped Broadmoor resist blockbusting was a system of block captains that were responsible for reaching out and communicating with the other people on their block. That block captain system had been dormant for years, but Cantrell revived it to face the challenge of recovery, recruiting a neighborhood full of leaders whose job was to find every member of the community and invite them back home.
In addition, they created a partnership with the software developers behind Salesforce who built the neighborhood a database that could track the recovery progress of every structure in Broadmoor. As a result, if you lived in Broadmoor, you had a contact point who reached out to invite you home, and every 3-6 months you got up-to-date information about what everyone in the neighborhood was doing with respect to rebuilding. This level of communication and outreach made a huge difference that laid the groundwork for Broadmoor to outcompete every other significantly damaged neighborhood in the City.
There are two hallmarks of this process that are emblematic of Ms. Cantrell’s leadership. First, she employed existing resources (the block captain system and the energy of her neighbors), to get the job done, and she made those resources better by attracting specialized talent to a particular problem (the Salesforce developers). We need that thinking in New Orleans now.
The immediate instinct post-Katrina was to help people rebuild their homes, which necessarily sets up a system of winners and losers. The winners have their houses rebuilt first. The losers are somewhere further down the line. This is how almost every neighborhood managed its recovery. They tried to martial resources that would support home rebuilding. And it’s not that Broadmoor didn’t do this, but it wasn’t their focus.
From very early on, their recovery strategy focused on community infrastructure, which would help individuals make the choice to come back and rebuild themselves. Broadmoor wanted to rebuild their school, their library and community center (which remains unique across the City’s library system), to create a wellness trail, to build a community medical clinic, and ultimately to create the fine arts and wellness center. These things provided for residents’ basic needs, and helped create a neighborhood of choice that people would want to come back to. As the recovery process matured, they did turn to housing, but did it in a targeted way. They focused on a community-wide strategy to redevelop their most troubled properties and blocks. They knew where these places were in part because of the community database mentioned before, and they knew what people’s intentions were with them because they had been in touch with people several times a year since the storm through their block captains.
The last thing to point out about this strategy is that it was built on partnerships. Broadmoor tried to find the best people in the world to do a particular thing and invite them in to support that aspect of their rebuilding. They recruited planning support from Harvard’s Design School and the Kennedy School, which led to a partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative. They recruited development support from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, which led to long-standing collaborations around recovery, and the creation of my company, Green Coast Enterprises. This again is emblematic of the way Ms. Cantrell works.
You can see this same spirit since she became the councilmember for District B. In the face of extraordinary opposition (and lukewarm initial support from the current mayor because the issue looked like a loser) she built a coalition to pass the smoking ban to help protect the health of hospitality workers. She did this because it was right, but her skill as an organizer and advocate made it popular. And after she had won that fight, she was playfully lampooned by Muses in Mardi Gras the following year. Among their throws that carnival season were enormous cigars with “Smoke this Latoya” emblazoned across the side. After the parade, I never saw more of those cigars in one place than I did in the Councilmember’s Office.
You can also see it in her work on affordable housing, an issue which she understands deeply and for which she has been a fierce advocate. It has been funny to me to watch some of the discussion of this issue in the mayoral race, because Ms. Cantrell has been hammered at times on her vote on the short-term rental ordinance. And this is taken as a sign that she’s unconcerned about housing affordability. Nothing could be further from the truth. She championed the city’s first density bonus rules, which provide a framework by which developers can create new affordable housing units without public subsidy. She has been leading the charge on the discussion of the Smart Housing Mix to figure out how our development process can spur further housing affordability through inclusionary housing efforts that require some affordability in every project. She is the only candidate who has any sense of the limits and opportunities inherent in our legislative process to build more affordable units, and she has worked through that process for years to achieve results for her constituents.
At this juncture, New Orleans sits at a crossroads. The energy and international interest that fueled the post-Katrina renaissance has mostly waned. People interested in supporting the rebuilding of a great American city can go to Houston, Miami, San Juan, New York, or any number of other places that have suffered major disasters in the last twelve years.
Now, we have to compete on the national stage for talent and investment.
We have a lot going for us. We have an incomparable culture – with a rich history in architecture, food, music, and celebrations. In many ways, the quality of life in New Orleans is off the charts. It’s a fascinating city with a rambling sense of mystery about it. We throw the best parties in the world. The weather is good, as long as you like it hot and a little steamy, and since the advent of inexpensive air conditioning, hot seems to be exactly how Americans like it.
There has been an enormous migration in the last 60-70 years from population centers in the Northeast and Midwest to cities and towns in the Southeast and Southwest, some (like Houston and Phoenix) built up in that time frame from next to nothing to become thriving engines of economic activity. We could capitalize on this continuing trend.
But we also have a lot to overcome. We are besieged by water. Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the Mississippi River winding through us, the Gulf of Mexico to the south and east, and our pumping infrastructure fails us annually, largely because the agency charged with managing drainage has proven time and again not to be up to that task.
Our school system, despite significant strides in twelve years, does not serve many of the children in our City. Education reform has widened the base of people willing to send their children to public school, but it has also created a forgotten class of students, roughly 12,000 the last time I looked, who can’t meet grade level requirements. We kill each other at alarming rates, and our housing prices are rising much faster than our relatively stagnant wages. Our state incarcerates more people per capita than any other place in the world, many of them non-violent offenders who pose no significant threat to our neighborhoods. And we continue to be deeply divided over issues of race and equity, which have plagued us since our improbable founding nearly 300 years ago.
Our next mayor will need to marshal resources to address all these things at once. She will need the skills to be part consensus builder, part policy wonk, part compass for the City. She will need to know when and how to bring in talented outsiders to help us address our challenges, and when we can build the best solutions from within. As so many others have already noticed, no one is better prepared to do these things than Latoya Cantrell.
But what about the credit cards?
First, all of the documented expenditures that I have seen were easily in the bounds of City business and followed the rules as they existed on City Council at the time, something that her colleagues on Council have collectively echoed.
Second, the idea that there is anything criminal here has been fanned by two people who have much to gain or lose in the next election, our District Attorney and the State Attorney General. Neither of them are friendly to policies that Ms. Cantrell supports with respect to criminal justice reform, the treatment of immigrants in our community, and more. I would be more worried about the behind the scenes dealings that led to this “story” popping up, and the way it has played out between the Charbonnet campaign, Cannizzaro’s office, and Landry’s office.
Third, remember that the only reason you heard about this at all was because, in an abundance of caution, she personally decided to pay the expenses back. Long before this was news, and long before anyone noticed. These are not the actions of a crooked politician.
Finally and most importantly, in the eleven years I’ve known the councilmember, I’ve seen her in multiple situations where she had the opportunity to stop pursuing an issue for personal gain, and she never has. I’ve also seen her fight for what was right even when that fight reduced her support in ways that could threaten her own advancement. In working with her in Broadmoor, Green Coast, and District B, I have witnessed the strength of her moral character. She is the person we need to lead us forward.
I hope you will join me in voting for Latoya Cantrell to be our next Mayor, and lead us towards a New Orleans that loves us all back.
Publisher’s Note: We continue to welcome submissions from supporters of Desiree Charbonnet at submissions@bayoubrief.com
The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here.
The first inkling I had that this Saints team might be special was when left tackle Terron Armstead injured his labrum in the offseason.
I should explain by way of one of my favorite proverbs, one that’s referenced in both Taoist and Buddhist writing, and one that, if you saw last week’s episode of The Last Man on Earth, you’re familiar with already.
It has a few names, but it is mostly known as the parable of the Chinese Farmer.
A Chinese farmer owned a horse, which one day ran away. The neighbors said, “That’s too bad.” The farmer replied, “Good thing, bad thing, who can say?”
When the horse returned, it brought several wild horses with him. The neighbors said, “What good fortune!” The farmer replied, “Good thing, bad thing, who can say?”
While trying to train one of the horses, the farmer’s son was thrown riding it, and broke his leg. The neighbors sad, “What bad luck!” The farmer replied, “Good thing, bad thing, who can say?”
While the farmer’s son was recuperating, the emperor came to the village to conscript all the young men for the upcoming war. The farmer’s son, not being of able body, was spared. The neighbors said, “What a blessing!”
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
This April, when the Saints were on deck with the #32 pick of the draft, Seattle was on the clock. Expecting Seattle wouldn’t take a linebacker, the Saints called Alabama’s Reuben Foster– the draft’s top middle linebacker prospect, a position long considered a key need for New Orleans– to let him know they would be selecting him. The Saints were correct; the Seahawks had no intention of taking Foster.
Seattle instead traded down, sending the pick to San Francisco for #34 and other picks, and the 49ers selected Foster, whom GM John Lynch later said had their third-highest grade of any prospect in the entire draft. (Presumably, #1 pick Myles Garrett, and the 49ers first pick at #3, Solomon Thomas, were #1 and #2.)
The Saints, subsequently, selected Wisconsin tackle Ryan Ramczyk, a player who had been unable to work out at any point in the pre-draft process due to a shoulder injury, and who would be projected to back up Armstead and right tackle Zach Strief.
When the story of the Saints calling Foster came out, fans of other teams and some media members got a chuckle at the Saints getting egg on their face. The resulting Ramczyk pick left many of the Saints’ own fans perplexed, if not incredulous: This is why we traded Brandin Cooks? For a luxury player who probably won’t see the field year one? Who we don’t even know is healthy enough to play?Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
Armstead’s June injury required surgery and placed him on the Physically Unable to Perform list to start the season. Ramczyk, without even much preseason experience, had to step in and play NFL left tackle from day 1. Astoundingly, he did quite well, rarely allowing pressure in his time there despite the position’s rather steep learning curve.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
Eventually Armstead returned, but then Strief went down with a knee injury. Strief was a longtime mainstay and the final tie to New Orleans’ 2006 draft class, the one that eventually helped them win the Super Bowl.* It was something of a symbolic goodbye to that era; Drew Brees and Thomas Morstead were the only players on that Super Bowl roster who have remained with the team to this day.** Of course. As soon as we get to full strength, the other one gets hurt.
*Appropriate, then, that he be replaced by a member of the 2017 class, which is shaping up to be similarly great.
** Backup quarterback Chase Daniel has also returned after stints in Kansas City and Philadelphia.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
Since then, Ramczyk has started at right tackle, the team’s intended long-term position for him, and currently rates as Pro Football Focus’ #12 tackle on the season (both right and left), while being among the league leaders in snaps at the position. (He has graded far higher than the two tackles selected similarly high, with an 80.1 grade to Garett Bolles 65.5 and Cam Robinson’s 38.3.)
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
The team signed defensive tackle Nick Fairley to a four-year, $28 million contract after he played well on a one-year deal last season, only to see doctors discover a previously undiagnosed heart condition which caused him to miss the season (and may demand his retirement). Same old Saints. Overpaying free agents and getting nothing for it.Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
In his absence, second-year player David Onyemata has stepped up as an interior penetrator on the defensive line, among the league leaders in total tackles behind the line of scrimmage (counting both run plays and sacks), despite only playing about half of the defensive snaps on the year.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
Marshon Lattimore missed week 3 against Carolina with an injury. The fans held their breath: This is why we’re 0-2. We spend high draft picks on injured players. We act like we’re always one player away, when we’re not.Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
In Lattimore’s absence, Ken Crawley stepped into the starting lineup, and played outstanding football, notching two passes defensed as well as leading the team in tackles. Crawley started next week in London against Miami after P.J. Williams was benched for a violation of team rules, and his end-zone interception on the Dolphins’ first drive killed their best chance of scoring in a 20-0 shutout. After those two performances, Crawley took a permanent spot in the starting lineup, forcing the oft-burned De’Vante Harris and the actually-pretty-good Williams to the bench.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
It seems like so many of the breaks a team needs have gone the Saints’ way so far. Injuries are inevitable; having a good player behind the starter isn’t. Discovering a good player because of an injury is rarer still. The Saints have been getting lucky with opponent selection, too, as quarterbacks seem to incur injuries just before they play New Orleans. But you always need breaks to win the Super Bowl, as I mentioned previously.
That said: Any doubts about the quality of some of the Saints’ wins– a Packers team without Aaron Rodgers; a Bucs team that had to play Ryan Fitzpatrick for a half; the Bears, in general– were erased this week. While research indicates that the results of one-score games are often random, and winning a lot of them isn’t an indicator of quality, winning blowouts, even against bad teams, definitely is. (As a side note, New Orleans has not been involved in a single one-score game, defined as “games where the margin of victory is seven points or fewer,” all season.)
The simple fact is, winning a road game 47-10, against any other team in the National Football League, is extremely difficult– let alone winning one against a 5-3 team. For comparison, the 0-9 Cleveland Browns’ worst home loss this season is by 31-7 to Cincinnati in week 4. That’s 24 points; the Saints just beat the Bills by 37 points. The previous worst home loss this year was the New York Giants’ 51-17 drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams in week 9. The Giants are now 1-8 and just lost to a certain previously 0-8 team that now employs Reuben Foster. Again, the Bills still have a winning record after the loss to the Saints. Dominated isn’t even the right word: Like a mad scientist whose ransom demands aren’t met, the Saints fired their Doomsday Laser at Orchard Park on Sunday, leaving only a smoking, scarred crater of an opposing football team and its fans’ dreams.
Eagles: 8-1 overall Their opponents (removing games vs. Eagles): 22-35, .386 Vs. winning teams: 1-1 (Panthers, Chiefs)
Saints: 7-2 overall Their opponents (removing games vs. Saints): 42-28, .600 Vs. winning teams: 4-2 (Lions, Packers, Bills, Vikings, Patriots)
The Saints have turned a corner. This defense, as befits a young unit, may be getting better each week, with experience, the confidence provided by continued success, and the way both in turn engender a positive cycle. The offense had its top five linemen healthy again (sans Strief, who is on injured reserve) and dominated up front, resulting in– minus four kneeldowns– 44 carries for 302 yards, including six touchdowns by four different players. Dynamic duo Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, the starters, ripped off yards at will, totaling 237 yards on 33 carries between them. (As you can see from the GIF earlier in the article, Armstead is healthy again and obliterated a defender on Drew Brees’ touchdown run. Even rarely-used rookie backup Trey Edmunds broke free for a long touchdown in garbage time.)
With that working in the running game– as well as Kamara catching all five of his targets for 32 yards– the Saints didn’t need much in the passing game. When they did, Michael Thomas was open; he caught nine of his ten targets for 117 of the Saints’ 184 passing yards, including two difficult grabs downfield that showed off his body control, awareness, and sure hands, and converted important first downs.
(h/t to Derrik Klassen for allowing us to use his GIF.)
Until a last minute drive in garbage time led by rookie backup Nathan Peterman with the Saints already leading 47-3, New Orleans held Buffalo to an astonishing 3.15 yards per play and five first downs, compared to the Saints’ own 6.9 yards per play (excluding kneeldowns) and 32 first downs.
The Saints completely dominated this game defensively, one early LeSean McCoy run and one early Tyrod Taylor run aside. Receivers were never open. New Orleans forced the Bills into long down-and-distance situations and forced Taylor to settle for checkdowns on third-and-long. Though the Saints only sacked Taylor twice, they frequently pressured him into running or scrambling until he could force a low-percentage throw or a throwaway. The defensive line tipped three passes, and Sheldon Rankins nearly scored a touchdown when he dropped into coverage and intercepted a pass.
Sheldon Rankins leaps to make an interception off a tipped pass. Rankins would nearly return the pick for a touchdown.
Several weeks ago I thought this team could make a serious playoff run if their defense was even average. I’m starting to believe the defense can be special. The offense won’t always have its way this easily– 47 points with Drew Brees throwing for 184 yards and no touchdowns?– but this game was confirmation that what I’ve seen these previous weeks was not a mirage. This Saints team has a chance to legitimately be the best team in the NFL, with top-five units on both sides of the ball. A week 12 game against the currently 7-2 Los Angeles Rams will be a huge test, and could very well determine which team gets a bye and which team has to play on Wild Card Weekend. (Expect that game to be flexed to the Sunday Night Football slot, with both teams playing as well as they are.)
When the Saints started the season 0-2, I believed we’d be in for more of the same. Another round of gutting the offense to try to patch the defense. Another round of failing to do so and just ending up with one mediocre unit and one bad one. Another round of players being misused by the coaches. Another round of 7-9.
Instead, the adjustments the team has made since then have them humming along at peak efficiency. The best players are getting on the field. The team is largely putting them in position to succeed. (We still got one classic “too clever by half” Sean Payton result this week: A designed unblocked screen for backup tight end Josh Hill, who fumbled after the catch at the Bills’ 9.) And the best players are good enough to win football games. The team has won seven in a row since starting 0-2, a feat only matched by the 1993 Dallas Cowboys, who went on to win the Super Bowl.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here.
Until the Saints beat Tampa Bay 30-10 on Sunday, only two previous teams in NFL history had won six games in a row after losing their first two. Those two teams are the 1993 Dallas Cowboys and 2007 New York Giants.
Do you know what else those two teams had in common? They won the Super Bowl.
It might be a little too soon to start thinking about those possibilities for the Saints, but after I suggested after the Lions win that the Saints could well be 6-2 at this point, it’s hard not to think about a potential Super Bowl run.
The game itself wasn’t particularly interesting– the Saints went in as a sizable favorite against a Buccaneers team many suspect has quit on the season; with Jameis Winston playing through a shoulder injury before giving way to Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tampa Bay never stood much of a chance. The Saints’ defense held Tampa to 200 total yards, while gaining 407. And despite losing the turnover battle once more, the Saints dominated; a punt block and TD from special-teams ace and preseason standout Justin Hardee tipped the scales even more in the Saints’ favor, and the team kept a 30-3 lead until a garbage-time TD drive with under 7 minutes left.
Justin Hardee (34) tracks the ball in the air after he blocks Bryan Anger’s punt. Hardee would recover and score a touchdown on the play.
Perhaps the most encouraging note from the game isn’t even one of the big offensive performances, like Alvin Kamara’s 152 total yards from scrimmage and two TDs. It’s that Marshon Lattimore stepped up once again, holding one of the league’s premier receivers in Mike Evans (who has five inches of height on him to boot) to just one catch for 13 yards– and then frustrating him so much that Evans hit him after a play with a blindside shove in the back, earning a one-game suspension. Lattimore has not only been the league’s top rookie (despite what national analysts who don’t pay much attention to the Saints would tell you), he’s already become one of the top players at his position– and according to Pro Football Focus’ grades, he’s been the third-best player in the league, period, at any position, behind only defensive tackle Aaron Donald and linebacker Bobby Wagner.
And after a decade of frustrating drafts, after years of big free-agent contracts that didn’t work, it’s remarkable how much of an impact has been made by the 2017 free-agent class and the 2017 draft class, which is already looking like it’ll compete with 2006 as an all-timer. Lattimore speaks for himself. Ryan Ramczyk and Alvin Kamara have been invaluable offensive additions. Marcus Williams adds range and coverage to a free safety position that was too often burned in the past. Alex Anzalone had been a positive starter at linebacker before re-injuring his shoulder and going to IR. Trey Hendrickson has moved into the rotation as the third defensive end and already made an impact.
Though the Adrian Peterson signing didn’t work out (and predictably so– he hasn’t been great in Arizona, but he actually fits the offense there), Ted Ginn, Larry Warford, Alex Okafor, and A.J. Klein have all been positive players, and even Manti Te’o has been solid when he’s on the field. It’s a big change from throwing money at players who end up doing next to nothing, like Jairus Byrd, or handing large contract extensions to players who are then cut or traded, costing huge chunks of dead cap (Jimmy Graham, Junior Galette). Even Coby Fleener last year could fall into this category– he’s been completely invisible this year, and has apparently fallen to third on the tight end depth chart, as Josh Hill and Michael Hoomanawanui have received more snaps than him in each of the last four games.
Since the Saints are now eight games through the season, let’s hand out some midseason awards to the team’s best performers.
Offensive MVP
Drew Brees – Okay, this one was pretty obvious. For everything the new guys have brought to the table, Brees is still the engine that makes the offense go. The talent around him has made it easier, but it’s still up to him to deliver accurate passes and make the right decisions, and despite the occasional missed deep ball or inexplicable throw directly into the hands of A’Shawn Robinson, he’s still the reason this top-three offense is humming along. (It’s not clear who the runner-up is; Michael Thomas is the second-best player, but he hasn’t been as heavily featured as one might have expected after the Brandin Cooks trade.)
Defensive MVPCameron Jordan – Again, obvious; he’s the one true All-Pro talent the team added in the barren drafting years between 2009-2015. Now surrounded by other talented players, he’s been unleashed, with seven sacks through eight games, five tipped passes, two forced fumbles, and that game-sealing interception for a touchdown against Detroit. (Truthfully, though, Lattimore is making an impressive push to be included in the conversation given his rookie status and Jordan’s pedigree.)
Offensive Rookie of the YearRyan Ramczyk – This one might be controversial, as Alvin Kamara’s spectacular play certainly makes more highlight reels than Ramczyk. But it all starts up front: If you can’t block anyone, you won’t go anywhere. Ramczyk wasn’t expected to play as a rookie, but injuries first to Terron Armstead and then to Zach Strief forced him into the lineup, and his combination of talent and outstanding pass-blocking technique have allowed him to perform very well at a crucial position with a difficult learning curve for rookies. (The great irony is, the Saints expected to draft linebacker Reuben Foster #32 but were leapfrogged by the 49ers. At the time, missing out on a position of need looked like a disaster; now, it’s difficult to imagine how the line would look if Ramczyk hadn’t been there to shore up the tackle positions.) Kamara is a close second, on pace for 1,300 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns.
Marshon Lattimore breaks up a deep ball to Mike Evans, part of a terrific day where he held the Bucs star receiver to 1 catch for 13 yards– and drew a penalty that led to Evans’ suspension for week 10.Defensive Rookie of the YearMarshon Lattimore – At this point, my praise of Lattimore has gotten so hyperbolic I needn’t go further. I’ll just add that he’s a very young rookie, having only turned 21 in May, and if he’s already playing this well, the sky’s the limit for him. (Marcus Williams finishes second; though he hasn’t had many highlight plays, he’s been above average and played all but five snaps on defense this season.)
Best Free Agent SigningAlex Okafor – This one was genuinely difficult. A.J. Klein has played every single snap on defense this year and done well. Larry Warford was critical for patching a hole on the offensive line. Ted Ginn is using his speed to get open regularly and is on his way to a career year. In the end, though, I consider pass rush the most important part of a defense, and the way Okafor has offered a credible second rusher opposite Jordan has elevated the rest of the defense, allowing the team to get more pressure, leading to more sacks and big plays. (Any one of these four would be a credible pick; Okafor and Klein are most notable for being backups in their last destinations who are now thriving in bigger roles.)
Best Second Year LeapKen Crawley – This one was fairly easy. (Note: This is for the player who made the biggest leap in performance from his rookie to sophomore season, not the best second-year player.) Crawley was an undrafted free agent last year, and began this season so far down the depth chart he was inactive for the first two games. But injuries gave him an opportunity to enter the lineup against Carolina in week three, and he never left. Now solidly entrenched as the starter opposite Lattimore, his 81.3 PFF grade puts him in the same range of such players as Patrick Peterson, Joe Haden, and Desmond Trufant. (Runner-up: David Onyemata, drafted last year as an athletic project out of the University of Manitoba; he’s only played about half the snaps on defense, but ranks among the league leaders in tackles for loss.)
Week 10
The second half of the season starts Sunday at noon in Buffalo, where the Saints opened as a two-point favorite (currently 2.5 or 3 points by most books). They’ll be missing Kenny Vaccaro due to a groin injury, but are looking at the possibility of having both Terron Armstead and Larry Warford back in the lineup. The Bills expected to rebuild this season, but find themselves at a surprising 5-3 thanks to a defense that’s performing terrifically despite losing several big-name talents. It’s one of three road games the Saints have remaining against solid teams. Clearing that hurdle would put the team in great shape to chase down a first-round bye.
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Due to technical issues, this commentary was not published until a few days after it had been scheduled.
I’ve spent most of the fall saying that the 2017 mayoral campaign is a snooze fest. What a difference a week makes. Team Charbonnet has given the proceedings a jolt equivalent to a double espresso without any froth, foam, or icky sweeteners. Who needs sugar when you’ve drawn blood? I should apologize for the mixed metaphor, but I like it, so I won’t.
I wish I could say the jolt of energy is due to policy or endorsements but it’s down to good old-fashioned mudslinging, which is a staple of New Orleans politics. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Desiree Charbonnet’s minions did some digging and came up with oppo gold. City Councilmembers receive city credit cards and are not required to document their spending. A bad idea made worse by the fact that LaToya Cantrell is fond of using hers, racking up a total of $40,000 in charges during her tenure on the council. She has reimbursed some $8950 to the city including $4400 before the 2017 filing deadline for the mayoral contest.
Cantrell, of course, maintains that her card usage is proper but Charbonnet loudly hints at illegality. Thus far, Cantrell’s defense is murky, full of talk of gray areas and lawyerly technicalities. The reason this attack has struck gold is that Cantrell has been sloppy with her own money in the past and people are worried that she’ll treat public money as cavalierly. It is also disturbing because the median income in New Orleans is $36, 952 and council members make $90,461. Some undecided voters of my acquaintance have asked why she doesn’t use her own money instead of borrowing from taxpayers. It’s a valid point that might swing some votes Charbonnet’s way.
The controversy exploded when Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro (hereinafter Canny) got involved. Canny is a staunch Charbonnet supporter who employs the candidate’s brother Bernard aka Bunny as a civil contact lawyer. A spokesman for the DA made the uncanny claim that the office received “an anonymous complaint” about Cantrell’s spendthrift ways. Canny’s office then tossed this political hot potato into the lap of state Attorney General and ardent teabagger, Jeff Landry.
Canny’s support is one reason that Charbonnet has been dubbed the establishment candidate. His endorsement is of dubious value in many quarters. He’s a notoriously hardline, tough on crime District Attorney with the demeanor of an irritable undertaker and the strange uncharm of a grim Dickensian authority figure such as Mr. Murdstone. I had dealings with Canny when he was a criminal court judge and I was lawyering. He was arrogant, biased, rude, and dismissive. His success in electoral politics has always been a mystery to me but some people confuse assholery with strength. The Current Occupant of the White House is the best example I can think of. At least Canny has better hair.
Canny’s office has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late. They stand accused of coercing witnesses to testify and issuing fake subpoenas to enforce their will. Canny has an authoritarian personality and is absolutely convinced of his own rectitude. In some ways, he reminds me of former FBI Director James Comey who intervened decisively in the 2016 Presidential election. But Canny lacks Comey’s folksy charm and any semblance of a personality. He would have made a helluva hangman. He was a hanging judge back in the day, after all.
While Canny’s referral of the Cantrell matter was encouraged by Team Charbonnet, he’s not their errand boy. Canny issues orders, he doesn’t take them. He’s convinced himself that, as in all other things, that he’s not only right but morally superior to his adversaries. He even hired legal ethics maven, Gray Sexton, to support his referral but cannily did not ask Sexton to comment on the propriety of the public revelation thereof. Canny can be crafty too.
It’s unclear how this uncanny mess will play out in the court of public opinion. Team Cantrell is firing back with accusations of improper spending by Charbonnet when she was a minor judge on a minor court. It strikes me as blowing smoke since Charbonnet had to completely refurnish an office that was flooded in 2005. There’s another, potentially more troublesome charge that Charbonnet misused her Homestead Exemption. This hot potato has also landed in Canny’s lap via “anonymous complaint.” It’s uncertain if this potato is fully baked.
I have some unsolicited advice for LaToya Cantrell. It would be better if she would show some humility and admit to making mistakes. She should resume her legislative role and propose changes to the way the council handles city credit cards. Documentation should always be required when spending public money. I would also like to know how other council members use their city credit cards, especially District E’s James Gray. Gray was Dollar Bill Jefferson’s law partner back in the day, and more importantly, was suspended by the Louisiana Bar Association for misusing client funds. I hope Cyndi Nguyen’s people do some oppo of their own. They could strike gray gold.
The response of supporters of both candidates to this uncanny mess is depressing. It replicates the polarized nature of our national politics. There are some Charbonnet people on my social media feeds who compare Cantrell supporters to Trumpers who turn a blind eye to his malefactions. It’s specious and repulsive BUT both sides believe they’re morally superior to the other. Canny’s heavy-handed intervention has confirmed Cantrell supporters’ opinion that Charbonnet is a terrible person who is guilty, if of nothing else, of being a machine politician. I think that Charbonnet’s attempt to woo white conservative voters is doomed to fail. The Charbonnet brand means “corruption” to people in Lakeview and the Garden District. They didn’t support her in the primary and they’re unlikely to do so in the run-off. The key is the response of younger voters and transplants. They don’t care that the Charbonnets are linked to Sidney Bathelemy and other bete noirs of Lakeview voters.
My hunch is that the uncanny mess caused by Canny’s enhanced profile in the campaign is going to be a push, unless, that is, Jeff Landry’s office acts on the Cantrell referral. I don’t think there’s enough time for that and Landry might like having a New Orleans mayor who owes him a favor. There’s a price for everything in Louisiana politics. More importantly, Cantrell’s free-spending ways may be sleazy but do not appear to be illegal, which means charges are unlikely. Cantrell’s counterattack on Canny was an ethics complaint but that’s also unlikely to turn into anything major. Canny knows how to cover his ass. Besides, he looks in the mirror and sees the most ethical man in New Orleans politics. Admittedly, the competition isn’t stiff.
The most likely result of the LaToya-Desiree mud bath is an apathetic electorate that dislikes both candidates. That’s a minor triumph for Charbonnet since she finished 9 points behind Cantrell in the primary. Anything that slows Cantrell’s momentum is good for Charbonnet. I’m just not sure if it will be enough absent further developments.
As to myself, I’m supporting neither candidate. I have issues with both. I’m not a fan of the baggage Charbonnet would bring to the Mayor’s office: a friend of mine calls her “Sidney in a skirt” because of her ties to former Mayor Barthelemy. Cantrell is more like a less polished Marc Morial, which is meant as a compliment. She is one tough cookie. One might even call her a cookie laced with Tabasco. I plan to affix a close-pin to my nose and vote for Cantrell. I suspect the turn-out will be dismal, which benefits the candidate with the best GOTV operation. My money is on Team Cantrell and its digitally based Obama-style operation.
I suppose I should thank Canny for making the race more interesting. I hope his campaign for a third term in 2020 is equally interesting and features a rematch with one of his 2008 primary foes, Councilman-at-large Jason Williams. Jason was a bit wet behind the ears in ’08 but is now a proven vote-getter. Run, Jason, run.
The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here.
By Andrew Wilkie
If you’re interested in submitting a cartoon for publication, contact us at submissions@bayoubrief.com
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What happened next is that, with nothing but their last sliver of hope to cling on to, Brees finally delivered in the way we’d been waiting for him to all game, going 7-for-7 on passes, including a couple of nice downfield shots to Coby Fleener (whom I’d recently written off altogether after seeing where he ended up in the snap counts). That drive was capped with a touchdown and extra point to make the score 31-23. (I thought they should have gone for two here, to find out if they’d need a touchdown or two scores. More on that later.)
I decided to go to the restroom at the break. I told my friend, “Tell me if they recover the onside.”
When I came out, he was standing nearby watching on a TV at one of the food stands. “They didn’t even onside! They went deep!” With only two timeouts and the two-minute warning ahead, the Saints couldn’t give up a single first down, or the game would be over. A precarious situation for a defense that, missing three starters, had not played today nearly up to its typical level during the seven-game winning streak.
We were both pretty disgusted with the decision to kick deep, but we decided “Eh, well, if Washington gets one first down the game is over. Let’s just watch from here to see if they do.” When it came up to third-and-inches, I mentally got myself ready to leave. They’d been getting run over all day; were they going to really get a stop here?
But the Saints stuffed Samaje Perine in the backfield, and the two-minute warning came, with Washington preparing to punt. We decided to go back to our seats.
Never leave early.
***
On the first play, Drew Brees winds up to go deep, and delivers the ball directly to Kendall Fuller, covering Ted Ginn. So much for that comeback– but look. There’s a flag on the field. Fuller is called for an Illegal Use of Hands penalty, giving the Saints five yards, a first down, and another chance. 1:40 on the clock.
You know what happens from there. On the next four plays, Brees moves the ball effortlessly. Washington’s defense suddenly seems gassed and out of sorts. Brees throws to four different receivers; none gain less than 17 yards. Alvin Kamara takes a route out of the backfield, and juggles the ball while nearly being hit by two defenders, but somehow slips through them and secures it, evading even more tackles on his way to the end zone.
It’s 31-29, and the Saints of course have to go for two. On a misdirection play, the Saints fake a run up the middle and pitch to Kamara left. Even though he’s deep behind the line of scrimmage, he gets the blocks and has the speed to make it all the way to the edge and take the ball in. The game is tied, and only 35 seconds have passed. 31-31, clock reading 1:05. Our section is going absolutely nuts. (The young man in the Kirk Cousins jersey, who’d been celebrating quite a bit not long ago, has had the wind knocked out of his sails.)
I worry that they’ve left Washington too much time, given how the defense is playing. And I might be right. Washington doesn’t take much time to march to the Saints’ 34 yard line, with about 30 seconds left. This would be a long, but not impossible, field goal for the win.
But on first down, Kirk Cousins has a miscommunication and throws a ball to nobody at all. He’s whistled for intentional grounding– 10 yards and 10 seconds off the clock. The team is now out of field goal range, and will have to get back to it– and then either get out of bounds or get a spike in to stop the clock before it runs out; they have only 18 seconds left.
None of that happens. The Saints send Vonn Bell on a blind-side blitz after Cousins, who never sees it coming. He fumbles on the sack. Washington offensive tackle Morgan Moses recovers the fumble, but it will be impossible for the team to run another play. We’re going to overtime.
Debates about whether momentum is real aside, the Saints certainly seemed to have all of it going into the extra frame. Washington won the coin toss, but Cameron Jordan sacked Cousins on second down– his eighth sack of the year in a season that deserves All-Pro consideration– and Washington had to punt. (Curiously, for a team that had been running the ball with some success, they seemed to panic, calling for three passes in a row.)
Washington’s defense had nothing left. It only took two plays to set up a chip-shot field goal, as Mark Ingram ran the ball first for 20 and then for 31 yards. Wil Lutz was good from 28, and the comeback was complete. Now the Superdome was rocking. We were high-fiving strangers, taking videos of a thunderous crowd that reached over 100 dB noise level.
In a season that seems more serendipitous than ever– remember the last time the Saints completed a comeback against Washington that they shouldn’t have been able to?— the decision to see this particular game in person, of the eight Saints’ home games, certainly seems like one touched by fate.
The last bit of fortune? Spotting fans wearing player jerseys outside of the stadium, always a favorite activity of mine to see both which old players are popular enough to have warranted jersey purchases, and seeing how odd or obscure the choices might be. After seeing Washington fans sporting such classics as LaRon Landry, Sean Taylor, and Art Monk, I told my friend, “It would really make my day if I saw someone in a John Riggins jersey.” About ten seconds later, he pointed out a guy probably in his sixties in a white RIGGINS 44 jersey.
I then said “It would really make my day if I found five hundred dollars on the sidewalk,” but I guess you can only push the power of divine intervention so far.
Here’s what we learned from the game Sunday:
Marshon Lattimore is really important to this defense (and A.J. Klein might be, too).
Lattimore hurt his ankle breaking up a pass in the end zone on the first Washington drive. He missed the rest of the first half; he came out for one play in the second half, but had to leave again and would not return.
Perhaps the best sign of Lattimore’s importance to this defense wasn’t measured in his own statistics, or evaluations from sites like Pro Football Focus, but in how the defense looked this game with him absent. With increased snap counts for P.J. Williams and De’Vante Harris– and compounded by the fact that Kenny Vaccaro was already inactive for the game– Washington passed the ball seemingly at will. The Saints gave up three touchdowns on entirely blown coverages, plays where no one was even close to the receiver in question. Kirk Cousins was 1-for-3 on the first drive, the only one Lattimore played, where his only completion came on a Josh Doctson catch-and-run where Lattimore was picked in coverage and nobody else could get to Doctson until he’d made his way downfield for 21 yards. Absent that drive, Cousins was 21/29 for 301 yards and three touchdowns, the best performance by any opposing quarterback against the Saints since Sam Bradford and Tom Brady lit them up in consecutive weeks during that 0-2 start. (Matthew Stafford is the only QB in between this stretch to even surpass 200 yards passing against the Saints, let alone 300, and that was in a bizarre game where Stafford piled up yards in what was (apparently at the time) garbage time and the Saints defense scored three touchdowns.)
With Delvin Breaux and Vaccaro injured, the secondary doesn’t have enough depth. If Lattimore, its best player, misses any significant time, this team might quickly turn back into the 2014-16 Saints for stretches.
Klein had been the Saints’ leader in total tackles going into the game (he’s now tied for fourth), and while he hadn’t graded as well for the season on sites like PFF, his tackling was good enough that he could get consistent stops before players broke past him into the third level. Without him around, the frequency of missed tackles became much more apparent. Hopefully Klein returns soon; with Alex Anzalone already injured, the Saints can’t afford to be missing both of their projected every-down linebackers.
And on top of that, Alex Okafor tore his Achilles late in the game. He’d been a surprising bright spot as a starting defensive end, not a top-tier pass rusher like Jordan but a consistent force as a secondary rusher and a frequent run-stopper and playmaker behind the line of scrimmage. He’ll be missed. Presumably, Trey Hendrickson will take his spot in the starting lineup; he has the athletic talent to be a player in the league for years to come, but we’ll see if his development is where it needs to be.
The Saints have built a great defense this season, but they can’t afford to lose too many players to keep performing at that level– and they absolutely cannot afford to lose Cameron Jordan or Marshon Lattimore.
The whispers of Drew Brees’ decline were highly exaggerated.
Though the offense has become much more running back-heavy this season, and Brees is on pace for his lowest statistical output since arriving in New Orleans, he proved he can still deliver the goods when it matters. On the final two drives of regulation, Brees was an astounding 11-for-11 for 164 yards, throwing both of his touchdown passes on the day. Even if Washington was playing soft coverage for that first touchdown drive, there’s no reason they should have been carved up so easily and quickly on the second. Everything was clicking: The playcalling, the receivers getting open, and Brees delivering passes that allowed them to gain significant yards after the catch. The offense didn’t switch to a focus on running backs because of any decline in Brees, as has been reported lately. It’s because the best Brees/Payton-era Saints teams always funneled a high percentage of their offense through running backs, whether it was Reggie Bush catching passes while Deuce McAllister and then Pierre Thomas ran the ball; Darren Sproles catching out of the backfield while Mark Ingram ran; or now, with Ingram and Alvin Kamara splitting duties.
The Saints can win despite a number of boneheaded conservative decisions.
I was appalled when Sean Payton punted on 4th and 3 from their own 43 while down 24-13 in the fourth quarter. I mentioned my disgust at not attempting an onside kick above. With the way the defense had been performing after Lattimore exited the game, I thought “trusting the defense” to get the stop the team needed was a mistake. Mathematically, I’m sure it was; I haven’t run any of these decisions by a fourth-down or win probability calculator, but years of studying the topic have, I think, given me the right instincts on when to go for it and when to kick the ball away.
But it all worked out in the end. The Saints got every stop they needed, playing the last three drives of regulation, and all of overtime, to perfection. I just wish Payton had made some decisions so that they didn’t have to be perfect to win.
GOING FORWARD
The Saints have a serious test next week; even though the Rams lost to Minnesota, they’re still 7-3 and playing excellent all-around football. Sean McVay has completely turned the team around (and exposed what a joke NFL hiring practices are, given that Jeff Fisher was an NFL head coach for twenty years) and the early line has the Rams as 2.5 point favorites. If Lattimore is back, though, and Trey Hendrickson can provide a reasonable replacement for Alex Okafor’s production, the Saints could win this, which would be huge for their future playoff seeding. Philadelphia isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, but Minnesota’s upcoming schedule is tough, and the Vikings already have the tiebreaker on the Saints. A Saints win Sunday would not only give them a tiebreaker over the Rams, but would also prevent them from losing any ground to the Eagles and Vikings.
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What happened next is that, with nothing but their last sliver of hope to cling on to, Brees finally delivered in the way we’d been waiting for him to all game, going 7-for-7 on passes, including a couple of nice downfield shots to Coby Fleener (whom I’d recently written off altogether after seeing where he ended up in the snap counts). That drive was capped with a touchdown and extra point to make the score 31-23. (I thought they should have gone for two here, to find out if they’d need a touchdown or two scores. More on that later.)
I decided to go to the restroom at the break. I told my friend, “Tell me if they recover the onside.”
When I came out, he was standing nearby watching on a TV at one of the food stands. “They didn’t even onside! They went deep!” With only two timeouts and the two-minute warning ahead, the Saints couldn’t give up a single first down, or the game would be over. A precarious situation for a defense that, missing three starters, had not played today nearly up to its typical level during the seven-game winning streak.
We were both pretty disgusted with the decision to kick deep, but we decided “Eh, well, if Washington gets one first down the game is over. Let’s just watch from here to see if they do.” When it came up to third-and-inches, I mentally got myself ready to leave. They’d been getting run over all day; were they going to really get a stop here?
But the Saints stuffed Samaje Perine in the backfield, and the two-minute warning came, with Washington preparing to punt. We decided to go back to our seats.
Never leave early.
***
On the first play, Drew Brees winds up to go deep, and delivers the ball directly to Kendall Fuller, covering Ted Ginn. So much for that comeback– but look. There’s a flag on the field. Fuller is called for an Illegal Use of Hands penalty, giving the Saints five yards, a first down, and another chance. 1:40 on the clock.
You know what happens from there. On the next four plays, Brees moves the ball effortlessly. Washington’s defense suddenly seems gassed and out of sorts. Brees throws to four different receivers; none gain less than 17 yards. Alvin Kamara takes a route out of the backfield, and juggles the ball while nearly being hit by two defenders, but somehow slips through them and secures it, evading even more tackles on his way to the end zone.
Here’s what we learned from the game Sunday:
Marshon Lattimore is really important to this defense (and A.J. Klein might be, too).
Lattimore hurt his ankle breaking up a pass in the end zone on the first Washington drive. He missed the rest of the first half; he came out for one play in the second half, but had to leave again and would not return.
Perhaps the best sign of Lattimore’s importance to this defense wasn’t measured in his own statistics, or evaluations from sites like Pro Football Focus, but in how the defense looked this game with him absent. With increased snap counts for P.J. Williams and De’Vante Harris– and compounded by the fact that Kenny Vaccaro was already inactive for the game– Washington passed the ball seemingly at will. The Saints gave up three touchdowns on entirely blown coverages, plays where no one was even close to the receiver in question. Kirk Cousins was 1-for-3 on the first drive, the only one Lattimore played, where his only completion came on a Josh Doctson catch-and-run where Lattimore was picked in coverage and nobody else could get to Doctson until he’d made his way downfield for 21 yards. Absent that drive, Cousins was 21/29 for 301 yards and three touchdowns, the best performance by any opposing quarterback against the Saints since Sam Bradford and Tom Brady lit them up in consecutive weeks during that 0-2 start. (Matthew Stafford is the only QB in between this stretch to even surpass 200 yards passing against the Saints, let alone 300, and that was in a bizarre game where Stafford piled up yards in what was (apparently at the time) garbage time and the Saints defense scored three touchdowns.)
With Delvin Breaux and Vaccaro injured, the secondary doesn’t have enough depth. If Lattimore, its best player, misses any significant time, this team might quickly turn back into the 2014-16 Saints for stretches.
Klein had been the Saints’ leader in total tackles going into the game (he’s now tied for fourth), and while he hadn’t graded as well for the season on sites like PFF, his tackling was good enough that he could get consistent stops before players broke past him into the third level. Without him around, the frequency of missed tackles became much more apparent. Hopefully Klein returns soon; with Alex Anzalone already injured, the Saints can’t afford to be missing both of their projected every-down linebackers.
And on top of that, Alex Okafor tore his Achilles late in the game. He’d been a surprising bright spot as a starting defensive end, not a top-tier pass rusher like Jordan but a consistent force as a secondary rusher and a frequent run-stopper and playmaker behind the line of scrimmage. He’ll be missed. Presumably, Trey Hendrickson will take his spot in the starting lineup; he has the athletic talent to be a player in the league for years to come, but we’ll see if his development is where it needs to be.
The Saints have built a great defense this season, but they can’t afford to lose too many players to keep performing at that level– and they absolutely cannot afford to lose Cameron Jordan or Marshon Lattimore.
The whispers of Drew Brees’ decline were highly exaggerated.
Though the offense has become much more running back-heavy this season, and Brees is on pace for his lowest statistical output since arriving in New Orleans, he proved he can still deliver the goods when it matters. On the final two drives of regulation, Brees was an astounding 11-for-11 for 164 yards, throwing both of his touchdown passes on the day. Even if Washington was playing soft coverage for that first touchdown drive, there’s no reason they should have been carved up so easily and quickly on the second. Everything was clicking: The playcalling, the receivers getting open, and Brees delivering passes that allowed them to gain significant yards after the catch. The offense didn’t switch to a focus on running backs because of any decline in Brees, as has been reported lately. It’s because the best Brees/Payton-era Saints teams always funneled a high percentage of their offense through running backs, whether it was Reggie Bush catching passes while Deuce McAllister and then Pierre Thomas ran the ball; Darren Sproles catching out of the backfield while Mark Ingram ran; or now, with Ingram and Alvin Kamara splitting duties.
The Saints can win despite a number of boneheaded conservative decisions.
I was appalled when Sean Payton punted on 4th and 3 from their own 43 while down 24-13 in the fourth quarter. I mentioned my disgust at not attempting an onside kick above. With the way the defense had been performing after Lattimore exited the game, I thought “trusting the defense” to get the stop the team needed was a mistake. Mathematically, I’m sure it was; I haven’t run any of these decisions by a fourth-down or win probability calculator, but years of studying the topic have, I think, given me the right instincts on when to go for it and when to kick the ball away.
But it all worked out in the end. The Saints got every stop they needed, playing the last three drives of regulation, and all of overtime, to perfection. I just wish Payton had made some decisions so that they didn’t have to be perfect to win.
GOING FORWARD
The Saints have a serious test next week; even though the Rams lost to Minnesota, they’re still 7-3 and playing excellent all-around football. Sean McVay has completely turned the team around (and exposed what a joke NFL hiring practices are, given that Jeff Fisher was an NFL head coach for twenty years) and the early line has the Rams as 2.5 point favorites. If Lattimore is back, though, and Trey Hendrickson can provide a reasonable replacement for Alex Okafor’s production, the Saints could win this, which would be huge for their future playoff seeding. Philadelphia isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, but Minnesota’s upcoming schedule is tough, and the Vikings already have the tiebreaker on the Saints. A Saints win Sunday would not only give them a tiebreaker over the Rams, but would also prevent them from losing any ground to the Eagles and Vikings.
The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here. 
The Bayou Brief is a non-profit news publication that relies 100% on donations from our readers. Help support independent journalism about the stories of Louisiana through a monthly or one-time donation by clicking here. 
Eventually Armstead returned, but then Strief went down with a knee injury. Strief was a longtime mainstay and the final tie to New Orleans’ 2006 draft class, the one that eventually helped them win the Super Bowl.* It was something of a symbolic goodbye to that era; Drew Brees and Thomas Morstead were the only players on that Super Bowl roster who have remained with the team to this day.** Of course. As soon as we get to full strength, the other one gets hurt.
*Appropriate, then, that he be replaced by a member of the 2017 class, which is shaping up to be similarly great.
** Backup quarterback Chase Daniel has also returned after stints in Kansas City and Philadelphia.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
Since then, Ramczyk has started at right tackle, the team’s intended long-term position for him, and currently rates as Pro Football Focus’ #12 tackle on the season (both right and left), while being among the league leaders in snaps at the position. (He has graded far higher than the two tackles selected similarly high, with an 80.1 grade to Garett Bolles 65.5 and Cam Robinson’s 38.3.)
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
The team signed defensive tackle Nick Fairley to a four-year, $28 million contract after he played well on a one-year deal last season, only to see doctors discover a previously undiagnosed heart condition which caused him to miss the season (and may demand his retirement). Same old Saints. Overpaying free agents and getting nothing for it.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
In his absence, second-year player David Onyemata has stepped up as an interior penetrator on the defensive line, among the league leaders in total tackles behind the line of scrimmage (counting both run plays and sacks), despite only playing about half of the defensive snaps on the year.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
Marshon Lattimore missed week 3 against Carolina with an injury. The fans held their breath: This is why we’re 0-2. We spend high draft picks on injured players. We act like we’re always one player away, when we’re not.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
In Lattimore’s absence, Ken Crawley stepped into the starting lineup, and played outstanding football, notching two passes defensed as well as leading the team in tackles. Crawley started next week in London against Miami after P.J. Williams was benched for a violation of team rules, and his end-zone interception on the Dolphins’ first drive killed their best chance of scoring in a 20-0 shutout. After those two performances, Crawley took a permanent spot in the starting lineup, forcing the oft-burned De’Vante Harris and the actually-pretty-good Williams to the bench.
Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?
It seems like so many of the breaks a team needs have gone the Saints’ way so far. Injuries are inevitable; having a good player behind the starter isn’t. Discovering a good player because of an injury is rarer still. The Saints have been getting lucky with opponent selection, too, as quarterbacks seem to incur injuries just before they play New Orleans. But you always need breaks to win the Super Bowl, as I mentioned previously.
That said: Any doubts about the quality of some of the Saints’ wins– a Packers team without Aaron Rodgers; a Bucs team that had to play Ryan Fitzpatrick for a half; the Bears, in general– were erased this week. While research indicates that the results of one-score games are often random, and winning a lot of them isn’t an indicator of quality, winning blowouts, even against bad teams, definitely is. (As a side note, New Orleans has not been involved in a single one-score game, defined as “games where the margin of victory is seven points or fewer,” all season.)
The simple fact is, winning a road game 47-10, against any other team in the National Football League, is extremely difficult– let alone winning one against a 5-3 team. For comparison, the 0-9 Cleveland Browns’ worst home loss this season is by 31-7 to Cincinnati in week 4. That’s 24 points; the Saints just beat the Bills by 37 points. The previous worst home loss this year was the New York Giants’ 51-17 drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams in week 9. The Giants are now 1-8 and just lost to a certain previously 0-8 team that now employs Reuben Foster. Again, the Bills still have a winning record after the loss to the Saints. Dominated isn’t even the right word: Like a mad scientist whose ransom demands aren’t met, the Saints fired their Doomsday Laser at Orchard Park on Sunday, leaving only a smoking, scarred crater of an opposing football team and its fans’ dreams.
(h/t to Derrik Klassen for allowing us to use his GIF.)
Until a last minute drive in garbage time led by rookie backup Nathan Peterman with the Saints already leading 47-3, New Orleans held Buffalo to an astonishing 3.15 yards per play and five first downs, compared to the Saints’ own 6.9 yards per play (excluding kneeldowns) and 32 first downs.
The Saints completely dominated this game defensively, one early LeSean McCoy run and one early Tyrod Taylor run aside. Receivers were never open. New Orleans forced the Bills into long down-and-distance situations and forced Taylor to settle for checkdowns on third-and-long. Though the Saints only sacked Taylor twice, they frequently pressured him into running or scrambling until he could force a low-percentage throw or a throwaway. The defensive line tipped three passes, and Sheldon Rankins nearly scored a touchdown when he dropped into coverage and intercepted a pass.
