Packer post-mortem: Silver lining in defeat

As most Saints fans do their shizo ballet and again scream the sky is falling, I would like to offer a balanced analysis of the Packer loss this past Thursday night. Going in, I figured this game could very likely be a loss. There were so many factors for Saints to overcome: unfurling of Super Bowl banner, opening night bright lights.. and oh yeah, a QB named Rodgers who was lighting up defenses in last season's playoffs like some Madden 2011 robot on steroids. Even with all the hype of Saints off-season, if you cut through it all, the Saints were figuratively tied up, on the conveyor belt headed toward a Packer buzzsaw. And for one quarter, the Packers literally were cutting up the Saints' D like a hot knife through butter (and didn't it look like Saints defenders had butter on their hands, arms and on their cleats as they wiffed all night long?). Rodgers had 3 TD passes in the first quarter. All we Saints fan could do shake our head and say, "The Packers and Rodgers can't play this perfect all game." Unfortunately, we were wrong. The Packers played an almost perfect game. But ironically, the Packer perfection is the silver lining for the Saints' team and for their fans. (No, I'm not drinking the Buddy D funny juice...) Let me do some splainin'. The Saints' D got no pressure on Rodgers. Rodgers threw some incrediblly accurate passes to covered receivers. Saints' defensive line got stonewalled the entire game. Our cornerbacks thought playing 10 yards off of quick slant receivers was a good idea. Our entire secondary missed tackle after tackle after tackle. We got zero turnovers, and lost this battle at minus 1 compliments of a still-struggling Colston. We got behind by 14 before any of us could finish our first cold one, and the margin of Packer lead was double-digits throughout most of contest, which squashed any hope of sticking to the running game. Whew, my fingers are tired typing all the mishaps! And this too: for almost the entire game, the Packers, with a double-digit lead, knew the Saints had to throw the ball, and Brees still had an incredible passing day, eclipsing 400 yards. But despite the Keystone Kop defense of last night, here we were: no time on clock in regulation, the Saints lined up at 2-yard line with a chance to push this fiasco to overtime, and maybe win! Alas, the slipper didn't fit this time, and one dubious play call later (yeah, let's run straight at BJ Raji, who's blown up every run plan tonight....) our Black and Gold bit the cheese. Moral of this tale, you ask. The Packers played almost flawlessly, the Saints' played sloppy, poor football and yet the Saints came within 72 inches of tying the game. But reality is as Ricky Bobby said, "If you aint first, then you're last." No doubt, there has to be concerns over the defense's inability to stop anything the Packers did last night. An old axiom: effort is hard to correct, while execution can be. Against the Pack, the effort was there all night by all Saints. The execution? Not so much. So, rest easy, Saints' nation, execution can be corrected - and Payton and Williams are a great execution duo. From this loss, I predict this: if the Saints play this exact game against the remainder of their schedule, they will end up 11-5 or 12-4.