Tag: streak

National reactions: Saints’ shutout by 49ers draws plenty of criticism

National reactions: Saints’ shutout by 49ers draws plenty of criticism

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Here are the latest national media reactions to the New Orleans Saints’ 13-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12, ending the longest active streak of games played without being shut out:

The Saints snapped Davante Adams’ streak of 81 games with multiple catches

The Saints snapped Davante Adams’ streak of 81 games with multiple catches:

Talk about an uncharacteristic stat line. Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams only caught one pass to gain 3 yards in his team’s loss to the  New Orleans Saints, having been targeted five times. Per CBS Sports researching, this ended an impressive streak of 81 games in which Adams caught multiple passes.

Per charting from Pro Football Focus, Adams was thrown to three times while guarded by rookie cornerback Alontae Taylor — failing to catch any of those passes, dropping one of them. Second-year corner Paulson Adebo also broke up a pass sent Adams’ way, and his lone reception came with Chris Harris Jr. covering him. And Adams didn’t gain enough yards on that play to convert a first down.

It was about as impressive a day as you’ll see from a secondary, to say nothing of the Saints playing without their best cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Taylor, Adebo, and their teammates deserve a lot of credit for taking care of business against one of the best receivers in the NFL. Now let’s see if they can sustain it.

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SERIES HISTORY: The 15-year win streak Alabama has over Tennessee

All-time series history between Alabama and the Tennessee Volunteers

The third Saturday of October is here, and all Alabama Crimson Tide fans know what that means. The Tide will take on their bitter rivals, the Tennessee Volunteers, in a top-10 matchup for all the cigars, literally.

Alabama enters the match-up on a 15-game winning streak against the Volunteers that lasts the entirety of Nick Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa. The Tide leads the all-time series 58-38-7, but this may be one of the better teams Tennessee has had as they have a Heisman hopeful at quarterback in Hendon Hooker as well as being ranked as one of the best teams in the country and they remain undefeated.

The toughest part of the match-up for the Tide is the fact that this game will be in Knoxville. Alabama opened up as a 7.5-point favorite and the expectation is that Bryce Young will be close to 100% and play. Even if the Volunteers find a way to win on Saturday, they have a lot of work to do to close the gap in the all-time series history. Here are the results of the last 15 match-ups.

Anglers land 95-pound catfish to keep ‘amazing’ streak alive

Michael Robinson and Terry Raymer teamed to catch and release a 95-pound blue catfish on the Ohio River, keeping alive a remarkable streak.

March 15, apparently, is an outstanding day to try to land a giant blue catfish on the Ohio River in Kentucky.

On Tuesday, Michael Robinson and Terry Raymer teamed to catch and release a blue catfish that weighed 97 pounds while still in the net. (Robinson is pictured atop this post.)

Kentucky Afield, on Facebook, placed the weight of the “monstrous” catfish at 95 pounds, while Catfish NOW called it a 94-pounder and welcomed both anglers to the “90-pound club.”

But perhaps more impressive is that this marked the fourth consecutive March 15 that Raymer had been involved in the catch of a truly enormous blue catfish on the Ohio River.

Kentucky Afield explained, “Although a fish of this size is something anglers often only see in their dreams, Terry and his fishing buddies are no strangers to them. On March 15th the past four years in a row they have put a fish over 80 lb in the boat… Amazing!”

That’s mostly accurate.

Raymer provided the accompanying photo showing of all four March 15 catfish – from the 95-pounder caught Tuesday (top left) to the smallest, a 75-pounder caught by Raymer (bottom right). The others weighed 82 and 80 pounds.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Florida captain caught with more than 2,000 pompano over the limit

The fish were hooked at two of Raymer’s favorite spots near Louisville. “I think I might go fishing on the 15th again next year,” he joked.

Raymer told FTW Outdoors that the 95-pound catfish struck a piece of skipjack tuna, with Robinson at the rod.

“The fish swam straight to the boat like it didn’t know it was hooked, then got under the boat and peeled,” Raymer said. “It was about as hard a fight for five minutes at the boat as a blue can give, which was surprising considering the water was 45 degrees.”

The massive catfish was weighed, eventually, and released back into the river.

Said Raymer: “I was pretty excited to be part of Mike’s catch and I take a lot of satisfaction being able to put my friends on some trophies. They appreciate all the time I’ve put on the river and they soak it in like sponges.”

Blue catfish, native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basin systems (and introduced elsewhere in the U.S.), can be much heavier, although the absolute giants are rarely caught.

The world record, listed at 143 pounds, was set at Kerr Lake in Virginia in 2011.

Trey Hendrickson extends NFL-leading sacks streak to 8 games

Former Saints pass rusher Trey Hendrickson extends NFL-leading sacks streak to 8 games with Bengals

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The New Orleans Saints aren’t missing many players they lost this offseason more than Trey Hendrickson. The veteran pass rusher has been sensational with the Cincinnati Bengals, bagging at least one sack in each of his last eight games — a franchise record for Cincinnati and the longest active streak in the NFL. Hendrickson is now up to 11.5 sacks on the season, a year removed from his 13.5-sack campaign with the Saints in 2020.

It was easy to write off Hendrickson as a one-year wonder in free agency. He had created just 6.5 sacks in his first three years with the Saints put together, and benefited from the heavy attention opponents gave to slowing down Cameron Jordan on the other side of New Orleans’ defensive line. But credit where it’s due: Hendrickson is playing the best football of his career right now. He’s put in a lot of work and now he’s reaping the benefits while running point for Cincinnati.

Brandon Thorn is one of the best evaluators of line play around, publishing regular updates to his charting of every sack by every player each week, year over year. Last season Hendrickson finished with a middling sacks score, crediting most of his sacks to time bought by the coverage, cleanup of pressure created by a teammate, or otherwise low quality reps by the offense. Midway through this season, Hendrickson cracked Thorn’s top five defensive linemen across the league with nearly as many high quality sacks as low quality takedowns, with little help from the secondary or his teammates up front.

Good for him. It’s a shame that the Saints weren’t able to re-sign Hendrickson to a contract extension, but that’s going to happen when the salary cap is $28 million beneath where it was supposed to be. Financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic led the league to depress this year’s cap, stunting the growth that the Saints and other teams had been planning to take advantage of in recent years. That meant they couldn’t sign everyone, and good players like Hendrickson walked away.

But he’ll be back soon. The Bengals are scheduled to visit New Orleans in 2022 for a game at the Caesars Superdome, and the Saints will need to be ready for him and other familiar faces on that roster like Vonn Bell and Eli Apple, and a couple of guys who found success in college up the road at LSU in Joe Burow and Ja’Marr Chase.

Before that game is even scheduled, though, the Saints are projected to receive a fourth-round compensatory pick in the 2022 NFL draft for losing Hendrickson in free agency earlier this year. Hopefully his sky-high level of play helps bump that up to a more-valuable third rounder, but we won’t get an answer on that front for a few more months. For now, let’s just cheer on Hendrickson from afar.

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Notre Dame-USC: Weather Forecast

Does it get more perfect?

When Notre Dame hosts USC on Saturday night in South Bend it looks to be a pleasant October evening with little wind and no precipitation.

The latest forecast calls for nearly perfect tailgating conditions as the afternoon high will reach the high-50s while temperature at kickoff will likely be in the high-40s.

Notre Dame will be looking for their fourth-straight win in the rivalry, which would make it the longest streak in the series for the Irish since winning 11 in a row from 1983-1993.

Related:

Notre Dame-USC: fun facts about epic rivalry

Notre Dame injury update ahead of USC game

Notre Dame releases depth chart for USC game

The USC star that Notre Dame must slow down Saturday

LOOK: Fans, media, athletes reacts to Alabama’s monster win over LSU

Nate Oats is doing wonders in his second season as the head coach of the Alabama men’s basketball team. The team’s undefeated record in the SEC extends as they take down LSU on the road with a final score of 105-75, and also broke their own …

Nate Oats is doing wonders in his second season as the head coach of the Alabama men’s basketball team.

The team’s undefeated record in the SEC extends as they take down LSU on the road with a final score of 105-75, and also broke their own conference record of most threes made in a single contest

The Crimson Tide, ranked No. 18 in the nation, is starting to make headlines across the country.

With success across the board for the team, it is hard to ignore what’s taking place in Tuscaloosa.

Fans, media members and even athletes are taking to Twitter to share their toughts on the team’s win over LSU.

Here’s what they had to say:

Saints extend October winning streak to 14 consecutive games, back to 2016

The New Orleans Saints have been wildly successful in the month of October, after Sean Payton and his coaching staff have had time to adjust

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One of the more underrated (and telling) stats of the Sean Payton era is how successful the New Orleans Saints are in October. Historically slow starters, they usually slump through the opening weeks in September before course-correcting and going on a run in the next month. New Orleans is 40-13 in October games, going back to Payton’s first year on the job in 2006.

They’ve won 14 consecutive games in this month after dispatching the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night. You have to go back to 2016 to find their last October loss — that was a close 27-21 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs, and even then the Saints went 3-1 over the course of the month.

It’s not that the Saints magically flip a switch and find competency in October. Payton’s staff has done a great job in the past of identifying their strengths and vulnerabilities, and adjusting. They clearly still have room to improve. New Orleans has allowed a league-leading 15 touchdown passes (tying with the 0-5 Atlanta Falcons, who just cleaned house) and their offense stalled in too many critical moments against L.A.

But a win is a win. And getting the reigning Offensive Player of the Year back in the lineup should cure a lot of what’s ailing the Saints offense, so long as Michael Thomas can keep his temper from getting the better of him in practice and avoid sucker-punching any teammates. Things are trending up in New Orleans after their back-to-back wins, and the bye week has arrived at the right time to keep that momentum going.

Up next: Payton’s former proteges Teddy Bridgewater and Joe Brady, the quarterback and play-caller for the new-look Carolina Panthers, on Oct. 25.

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Stingy Saints run defense approaching historic NFL territory

The Saints defense takes pride in their ability to stop opposing running backs in their tracks, and that was no different on Sunday.

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To their credit, the Detroit Lions didn’t stop trying to run on the New Orleans Saints. they kept up the pressure with 22 carries (against 31 pass attempts), and that stubbornness helped accomplish their own downfall by running out the clock late in the game. The Saints won 35-29 with too little time left for Detroit to try a comeback.

That’s according to plan. The Saints defense takes pride in their ability to stop opposing running backs in their tracks, and that was no different on Sunday. The Lions’ leading rusher was Adrian Peterson, who gained just 36 yards on the ground. As a team, Detroit ran for 90 yards, and their longest play was a 12-yard scramble by quarterback Matthew Stafford.

It extends the Saints’ streak of games played without allowing a 100-yard rusher to 47 games. And that’s approaching an NFL record, held by the Philadelphia Eagles from 1989 to 1992. Led by the legendary Reggie White, those Eagles teams played 53 consecutive games without allowing an opposing runner to reach the 100-yard threshold.

And that broke an even older record set by Deacon Jones and the Los Angeles Rams, who went 51 games from 1965 to 1968 without allowing a 100-yard rusher. Third place belonged to Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens, who didn’t give up 100 yards to a single rusher in 46 games from 1998 to 2001.

Well, third place used to belong to Baltimore. Now it’s been claimed by Demario Davis and the Saints, who surpassed the Ravens with their 47th game. They need to keep it up through the next seven games to break the NFL’s record. Here’s how many yards each of their upcoming opponents’ leading rusher has averaged through the first three weeks of 2020 (but keep in mind that many of them are dealing with injuries):

  • Los Angeles Chargers: Austin Ekeler, 78.7
  • Carolina Panthers: Christian McCaffrey, 78.0
  • Chicago Bears: David Montgomery, 63.7
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Ronald Jones, 47.3
  • San Francisco 49ers: Raheem Mostert, 74.0
  • Atlanta Falcons: Todd Gurley, 65.7
  • Denver Broncos: Melvin Gordon, 70.3

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Vikings RB Dalvin Cook is ‘ready to go’ vs. Saints in wild-card round

Minnesota Vikings RB’s Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison returned to practice before their wild-card round game with the New Orleans Saints

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The New Orleans Saints will be facing a better version of the Minnesota Vikings than has taken the field in recent weeks, because star running back Davlin Cook is returning to the lineup. Cook missed the final two regular season games with a chest injury, but he’ll be rested and ready for the Saints during Sunday’s wild-card round game.

“It’s a long season. You go through a lot, your body takes a lot,” Cook told Lindsey Young of Vikings.com. “I got some rest, and I’m ready to go.”

Cook gained a team-leading 1,135 rushing yards and scored 13 touchdown runs in 14 games, a rate of 81.1 yards per game on the ground. He also ranked second-most in both receptions (53, on 63 targets) and receiving yards (519) for Minnesota, chipping in 37.1 yards per game through the air. He’s a dynamic weapon who should seriously threaten the Saints defense’s streak of 42 games without allowing a 100-yard rusher.

Additionally, Minnesota could be welcoming the return of backup running back Alexander Mattison, a rookie the Saints scouted during his career at Boise State. Mattison missed the last three games with an ankle issue, but he and Cook were each spotted at Wednesday’s Vikings practice in helmets, going through drills in their usual first- and second-string rotation. The Vikings offensive line remains vulnerable, but both of these runners are capable of creating something out of nothing, and that should keep the Saints defense wary.

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