Sorting the Sunday Pile: Saints struggle again

Sean Payton's Saints struggled again Sunday. (USATSI)

dThe brutal fake punt from Sean Payton and the Saints is New Orleans season in a nutshell. Down 31-17 with momentum swinging their way and Dallas starting to look like they wanted to give away the game on Sunday night, Payton pulled Drew Brees off the field and let Thomas Morstead try and convert on 4th and 9.

It was not a pretty sight.

Payton's a brilliant playcaller. No one questions that. But why would you do this? The Cowboys weren't remotely close to biting on the fake (it's also possible Morstead audibled to it when Dallas lined up with just nine men near the line of scrimmage?)

'Certainly in that situation you're doing that. You're always prepared for something like that. They're trying to steal a possession,' Jason Garrett said. 'Certainly you have to have your ears up when you go out on that field for something funny.'

And -- not breaking news here -- Morstead, with his zero career passing attempts, is a worse passer than Brees, a future Hall of Famer.

The Saints were more of the same old team we've seen the first few weeks of the season. Dangerous on offense but unable to click for a full 60 minutes; they were shut out in the first half and looked largely discombobulated.

No question the biggest decision for this shocking 1-3 team is the defense. Rob Ryan's unit got shredded once again, with the Cowboys lobbing up 24 points in the first behind an impressive outing from Tony Romo and more DeMarco Murray domination.

And, um, you've got to thank Jerry Jones for the strong offense early on. He's spent three first-round picks the last three four on the offensive line, nabbing Tyron Smith in 2011, Travis Frederick in 2013 and Zach Martin in 2014. It's the Cowboys strength and how they've pushed their record to a stunning 3-1 during a difficult stretch of their schedule.

Dallas is a contender at the moment and clearly the first- or second-best team in the NFC East, for as long as Tony Romo can stay healhty.

The Saints are lucky to be in the NFC South. As bad as they've been, they're not out of the hunt at all, although at 1-3 any notion of locking down homefield advantage (which they clearly need) is far, far back in the rearview mirror behind 'just winning games' right now.

New Orleans doesn't have any balance right now. They don't look sharp on offense. Sloppy even. Until they correct those two issues, it's going to be a struggle for them.

Niners Throwback Game

So the 49ers were supposed to be falling apart and struggling to gel with reports of Jim Harbaugh's inability to keep veterans on board with his plan swirling. A tough home game against the high-flying Eagles offense would mean disaster for them ... and then they put together an impressive game and win their first effort at the new stadium.

It was a really weird game too: the Eagles scored three touchdowns on special teams and defense to jump out to a big lead. But Philly couldn't do anything on offense: LeSean McCoy rushed for just 17 yards and Nick Foles didn't look like the confident, tough passer who exploded last week against the Redskins.

Credit Harbaugh's defense: they made life impossible for Chip Kelly, who said his high-powered offense got 'whooped up front.' He's right too.

San Francisco ran the ball particularly well, with Frank Gore cruising past 100 yards and scoring on a receiving touchdown too.

That catch was everything about Colin Kaepernick's day (and career?) -- a bananas-level athletic play, a potentially dangerous throw and a combination of struggles and success.

By the by, there were a pair of RIDIC catches in this game from Stevie Johnson ...

... and Jeremy Maclin:

R-E-L-A-X-E-D

Life is stressful on the ledge. Unless you're Aaron Rodgers. The Packers were 1-2 coming into Sunday and facing serious criticism after a seven-point outing against the Lions last week. Rodgers felt like it was unfounded, instructed everyone to 'R-E-L-A-X' and showed why they can simmer on the concern Sunday.

He looked like he was sipping a mai tai in a beach chair and dealt with about as much pressure from a Jared Allen-less Bears defense. Rodgers was sacked once but per the official NFL Gamebook, was never 'hit' by the Bears, who were credited with zero quarterback hits.

Green Bay got away from doing what they did best during the first three weeks of the season, trying to be a power run team and not letting Rodgers work with his weapons. The Bears were perfect prescription for Rodgers fever: he came into Week 3 sporting a 100.9 passer rating in his career against Chicago and it only went up after Rodgers tossed four touchdown passes and completed 22 of 28 passes for 302 yards.

Even his passes that didn't count were amazing.

The Packers have an uber-talented running back in Eddie Lacy. He's a physical, bruising runner. But he -- or any running back -- should never dominate the gameplan at the expense of Aaron Rodgers. When you've got Rodgers, Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, there's no reason not to open things up and wing the ball around.

If the benefit is a lead and Lacy getting to grind out the game that's fine. But this offense needs to pass to score and then run to win, not the other way around.

At least everyone can chill for a week.

NFC South Mess

Football is unpredictable but the most bizarre thing to come out of Week 4 has to be the Buccaneers. 10 days ago they had a 50-burger hung on them by the Falcons on Thursday Night Football. They headed to Pittsburgh with backup quarterback Mike Glennon starting for an injured Josh McCown, stunned the Steelers with a last-second win and are suddenly a game out of first place in their division.

P.S. Vincent Jackson, hold onto the ball.

This is not a good division right now either -- the Panthers were destroyed by the Ravens and Falcons were stunned by Teddy Bridgewater and the Vikings -- and they're the two teams tied at the top.

Does anyone fancy the Bucs as a playoff contender? Nah, not really. But there's a difference between being a 'contender' and being a 'team fortunate enough to play in a bad division.'

I do think they'll thrive more now that Glennon's under center; he should've begun the year as the starter, if only because he fits their scheme and personnel better.

Run the ball, run it some more and then take deep shots to Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans. Glennon's got a bigger arm than McCown and can stretch the field easier and more accurately.

Without Glennon's last second toss to Jackson we're not talking about this. But it's not like anyone else in this division looks really capable of pulling away right now; Tampa has to play the Saints in New Orleans and then gets a pretty nice little stretch of winnable games where they could keep themselves in the NFC South hunt.

Blood and Guts, Everywhere

Steve Smith told everyone to get their googles ready for the Panthers visit to the Ravens. (And you have to think playing the Panthers was half the appeal of going to Baltimore.) He did not disappoint Sunday, catching seven passes for 139 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

His first score was lucky -- and came on a terrible pass from Joe Flacco -- but he still flashed some serious awareness and impressive speed for his age.

Smith's second score was worthy of keeping the football and a little bottle-popping celebration.

Everyone knew Smith was going to light up Carolina. He doesn't run his mouth and not back it up. This is a trend though: Smith's statistics for 2014 have him currently on pace for what would be the best season of his career.

Smith set career highs in each of those categories in 2005, nearly a decade ago. He'll likely slow down as the season moves along but a quarter of the way into the season he's on pace for the best season of his career.

Hell hath no fury like a Smitty scorned.

Raiders Debacle

It's hard to imagine how Dennis Allen survives the Raiders Week 5 bye week. Everyone knew his hold on his job was 'tenuous' heading into Oakland's trip to London against the Dolphins. Miami was reeling with the confusion Joe Philbin caused with Ryan Tannehill maybe starting or maybe not, the game was in London and maybe the Raiders could steal something.

Nope. They got sandblasted by Tannehill and the Fins, who had their with the Raiders on both sides of the ball. Lamar Miller scored two rushing touchdowns and fumbled on the goal line; things could've been worse.

Tannehill looked like one of the 15 best quarterbacks in the NFL against Oakland, not some dude who was a bad game away from being benched for Matt Moore because his coach is getting desperate.

It helps when you play a brand of defense that can only be described as offensive.

As for the offense, well, this photoshop that popped on Twitter sums it up nicely.

Rumors of Allen's demise percolated briefly on Sunday night. Whether it's official or not is largely irrelevant -- Allen is going to wind up getting fired.

The Raiders are an embarrassment on an international level at this point and a change is coming. It's not a matter of if but when.

Turn Down for Watt

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The athleticism involved in making this play is really, really impressive. But what really floors me is how quickly he transitions into heading towards the end zone.

And there's the whole 'no one is even remotely close to catching him even though they're all smaller, faster offensive players in theory' thing. Watt is a special, special athlete and he's in rare company now.

Geno's Potty Mouth

Geno Smith and the Jets are frustrated. Understandably. They're losing games they shouldn't lose, the offense looks like hot garbage and Geno, the future of the franchise at quarterback, is turning the ball over a lot in the red zone.

But no excuses for his outburst at a fan on Sunday afternoon following the Jets loss to the Lions. Geno, walking out of the game, yelled 'F--- you!' at a fan in the stands and got caught on tape.

I get that having Michael Vick breathing down your neck is tough. And Geno later apologized for the , but you can't be doing this sort of thing as a quarterback in a major market in this day and age. Someone's going to see or hear it.

Glove Slap, Baby, Glove Slap

So simple, so spiteful and so enjoyable.

Potent Quotables

S. Richardson on #NYJ fans chanting for Vick: 'Shut up. If that's the case, produce a child to come make it to NFL & we'll see what he got'

- Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) September 29, 2014

4th and 2 isn't automatic, but neither are 41 yard field goals.

- NYT 4th Down Bot (@NYT4thDownBot) September 29, 2014

Whisenhunt said he is frustrated, angry and embarrassed

- Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) September 28, 2014

Cam Newton on Steve Smith: 'He's got a lot of tread on his tires. And his tires are a big Tonka truck.'

- Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) September 28, 2014

Bucs QB Mike Glennon: 'We obviously didn't win a whole lot of games last year, but I can't think of one that feels as good as this one.'