Jackson Free Press

It was not a good night for the New Orleans Saints or the replacement officials calling the game tonight. The Saints defense struggled against second year quarterback Blaine Gabbert and the Jacksonville Jaguars first string offense.

Jacksonville won the coin toss and elected to receive. The Jaguars opened the game with a nine-play drive that lasted over five minutes and end with a Blaine Gabbert touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Justin Blackmon.

Gabbert was a perfect three-of-three for 38 yards on the drive but the bulk of the load was carried by running back Rashad Jennings, who rushed for 42 yards on six carries. Jacksonville had a quick 7-0 lead on a drive where the Saints defense struggle to cover in the passing game and missed tackles on nearly every play.

New Orleans took their first possession from their own 20-yard line. Saints quarterback Drew Brees lead his offense down the field, but the drive stalled at the Jaguars 18-yard line.

Garrett Harley kicked a 37-yard field goal to cap off a nine-play drive that took a little over three minutes to cut the Jaguars lead to 7-3. Brees was 3-for-6 on the drive for 53 yards and running back Mark Ingram ran the ball twice for nine yards.

Jacksonville punted on their next drive, but the Saints could do nothing with the ball, punting it back to the Jaguars after failing to gain a first down on three plays. Gabbert took possession on his third drive of the night from his own 34-yard line with just over two minutes left in the first quarter.

The Jaguars would then go on a 14-play drive that took over eight minutes over 66 yards to take a 14-3 lead. Gabbert got Jacksonville into the end zone for the second time on the night on a 15-yard touchdown pass to Colin Cloherty. On the drive Gabbert was a perfect six-for-six.

New Orleans would only have the ball for one play after the Jacksonville score. Dropping back to pass, Brees was sacked by Jaguars defensive end Jeremy Mincey, who forced Brees to fumble. The fumble was recovered by Jacksonville’s Terrance Knighton at the New Orleans 15-yard line.

The Jaguars weren't able to convert a first down off the fumble. Jacksonville took a 36-yard field goal by Jose Scobee to take a 17-3 lead.

New Orleans would start their next drive from their own 15-yard line and Brees went to work. He lead the Saints on a nine-play, 85-yard drive that took four and half minutes.

On his final drive of the night, Brees was six-of-six passing for 66 yards. The drive was capped off by an eight-yard touchdown pass to Devery Henderson to cut the Jacksonville lead to 17-10.

Brees' night was over after the scoring drive and he finished 10-of-13 for 133 yards with a touchdown and lost fumble. In his final drive of the night, Brees finally looked like the quarterback who lit up …

Ouch. After GOP vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan cited Rage Against the Machine as on eof his favoriate bands, Rage's guitarist Tom Morello responded in an op-ed on the Rolling Stone webiste.. Morello started with the money quote: "Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."

Here's more:

Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.

Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage.

I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "Fuck the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!

Seriously, Ryan. This reminds me of when the Reagan campaign tried to misappropriate Springsteen's "Born in the USA," helped along with a naive George Will. Message to politicians: listen to the lyrics, fools.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_U.S.A._(song)

Tonight, WUFX (local station known as “My 35”) will carry the New Orleans Saints against the Jacksonville Jaguars with a pregame show starting a 6:30 p.m. and kickoff at 7 p.m. The Saints come into the game with a 1-1 record in the preseason.

New Orleans defeated the Arizona Cardinals 17-10 in the Hall of Fame game. In their second preseason game, the Saints fell to the New England Patriots 7-6.

This is the third of five preseason games for the Saints (they play an extra game because they played in the HOF game) and with two games played there are some trends. No, you shouldn’t take everything in preseason at face value.

But remember last preseason, I mentioned the pass coverage and tackling by the Saints defense? While New Orleans was not terrible in either area every game of 2011, it did plague them throughout the regular season.

I have made a quick list of things to watch tonight. Again, just trends to watch in the preseason to see if they carry over into the regular season.

Saints running game

Everyone, including me, loves to gush over the stable of running backs the Saints have on their roster. It feels like New Orleans should dominate teams with their running backs and the ability to send waves of running backs with different abilities and strengths at opposing defenses.

So, far the running game has not done much, only averaging 87 yards in two preseason games. To be fair, Mark Ingram played sparingly in the HOF game and not at all against the Patriots.

Also, the Saints haven’t used Darren Sproles very much this preseason either. Still, the other backs on this roster need to pick up the pace and work load.

It is not like New Orleans is not trying to run the ball. The Saints have averaged 28.5 rushing attempts per game.

I would like to see the running backs do more with the carries they are allotted. This group has only made 10 first downs rushing in two games (5 first downs in both games).

That type of production in the regular season will not help the Saints close out games with a lead. A strong running game will help New Orleans chew clock and play keep away with opposing teams.

I need to see harder running and breaking tackles from this group. The motto should be “no one goes down easy”.

Saints passing game and scoring offense

I am not extremely worried about this right now because Drew Brees is not playing very long, but through two preseason games the Saints are only averaging 11.5 points per game.

A couple of things to remember: The replacement officials are allowing defenses to be more aggressive in pass defense (I love this) and none of the Saints backups are Drew Brees. Still, I would like to see more from Chase Daniel when he is leading the offense.

It would also …