Miller was one of Drew Brees' favorite targets last year (AP)
The Saints almost had a successful preseason.
They fell short not because they lost to the Miami Dolphins in a sleep-inducing battle of backups on Thursday night, depriving them of their first perfect exhibition season in their 43-year history. Nothing is more irrelevant to regular-season results than preseason performance. Last year’s Detroit Lions, who won all four of their exhibition games and lost all 16 regular-season contests, are the poster boys for that point.
The Saints fell short because they lost tight end Billy Miller for the year with a torn Achilles tendon. Avoiding long-term injuries is the No. 1 priority of the preseason, and they came oh-so-close.
After three games of good fortune, Miller went down in the second quarter against the Dolphins. The seriousness of his injury was evident in his teammates’ reaction while he sat on a cart on the sideline. Quarterback Drew Brees walked over to console him as trainers looked at his right leg. Fellow tight end Jeremy Shockey patted him on the back repeatedly. When Miller was wheeled to the locker room, he put a towel over his face to cover up the pain of all his hard work going down the drain.
The Saints have enough options on offense to overcome the loss of their backup tight end, but Miller was a valuable target for Brees last season. He caught 45 passes for 579 yards (fourth best on the team) and one touchdown, outperforming Shockey, who finished with 50 catches for 483 yards and zero scores.
Shockey never was totally healthy, missing three games in September after undergoing sports hernia surgery and sitting out the finale against the Carolina Panthers. He has looked much sharper this preseason, but without Miller as a safety valve, Shockley absolutely, positively has to stay healthy. Buck Ortega, next on the depth chart, caught one pass last year.
Gleaning anything else from New Orleans’ exhibition performance is difficult. The Saints played very well in the first three games and did not try to win the fourth, with Brees watching from the sideline and the rest of the starters on both sides of the ball joining him after one series.
Some teams build on preseason success. Others don’t, and it is impossible to figure out which ones will or won’t.
A couple of conclusions:
1) Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter are the best cornerback tandem in coach Sean Payton’s four years. If new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams can dial up a decent pass rush, opposing receivers won’t be running free every week as they did in the past.
Porter has picked up where he left off before a broken wrist ended his rookie season last October. Greer, who played with the Buffalo Bills the last five years, is fundamentally sound.
2) Rookie punter Thomas Morstead is ready for the job.
Morstead averaged 47.6 yards on seven punts against Miami, and a few of his boomers would have crashed into the scoreboard over the Dallas Cowboys’ new field if the Saints had been playing there. The Dolphins did not return any of them.
“He punted the ball extremely well,” Payton said. “He looked outstanding. That was one of the biggest pluses coming out of the evening.”
Payton did not say it, but the biggest plus of all was preseason ending. The Saints just wish it had finished three quarters earlier, before they lost a key contributor.
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