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Sean Payton on Ryan Ramczyk's performance against J.J. Watt: 'I didn't hear a lot of Watt's name'

When Houston traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks for a pauper’s bounty, many wondered if the Texans could remain dominant up front without him. It was only one game, but on Monday it was pretty clear they won’t be the same.

In particular, star defensive end J.J. Watt was unbelievably unproductive. In fact, Watt didn’t register a single stat. Not one tackle. Not one quarterback hit. Not one pass defended. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Watt is too good to struggle like this all season. But perhaps he benefited from Clowney more than anyone realized. We’ll soon find out.

(The above is from msn’s take on last night. Notice no mention of who caused JJ Watt’s lack of statistics in the game)

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt carries a well-earned reputation as a game wrecker.

He’s a quarterback smasher. He’s a dominant player. He’s elite. He’s a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

On Monday night, though, Watt was virtually invisible. His name doesn’t appear anywhere in the box score as the Saints came back to secure a thrilling 30-28 win.

“I didn’t hear a lot of Watt’s name,” coach Sean Payton said.

Turns out the Saints had a game plan to take away Watt, who totaled five tackles, two sacks and eight quarterback hits the last time New Orleans faced the star pass rusher in 2015.

“We just knew he’s a key to that defense,” right guard Larry Warford said. “He’s very disruptive and does a lot of stuff that messes up the flow of a game, and we knew we had to control that. We had a great game plan going in.”

The large part of the plan, however, was faith in right tackle Ryan Ramczyk to handle Watt in a lot of one-on-one situations.

Saints QB Drew Brees now the 1st QB to reach 75K yards (or 42.6 miles) passing

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees dropped back to pass just like he'd done thousands of times before.

But his 19-yard completion to tight end Dan Arnold just inside the two-minute warning in the first half was special.

Because that pass put Brees over the 75,000 mark. Brees, who broke the passing yards record last season, became the first NFL quarterback to throw for 75,000 yards.

Just how long is that? A straight up conversion is 42.61 miles.

Brees threw for his first yard against Kansas City on Nov. 4, 2001 back when he was with the San Diego Chargers.

He hit the 20,000 mark in 2007 against Atlanta, the 30,000 mark against Atlanta in 2009, the 40,000 mark in Minnesota in 2011 and the 50,000 mark against Carolina in 2013.

Brees surpassed 60,000 yards on Dec. 21, 2015, against Detroit when he found Brandin Cooks on a 27-yard touchdown, and the 70,000-yard mark came in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in 2017 against Atlanta when he had a 12-yard completion to Mark Ingram.

Saints punter Thomas Morstead named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month (Finally!)

For the first time in his excellent 11-year career, New Orleans Saints punter Thomas Morstead has been named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month.

Morstead enjoyed a near flawless start to the season at a time when the Saints needed his ability to flip field position most with quarterback Drew Brees indefinitely on the shelf with a thumb injury.

Eleven of Morstead's 17 punts in September were downed inside the 20-yard line. The Saints punter ranks No. 3 in the NFL in average yardage per punt (48.8) and No. 5 in net average (44.3).

Despite the high number of kicks downed near the opponent goal line, not a single one of Morstead's kicks sailed into the end zone for a touchback.

Black & Gold Friday before NFC Championship

Frustrated Cam Jordan on referee mistakes vs. Rams: 'Any Foot Locker — I mean, referee...'

Cameron Jordan couldn't hold back his frustration.

For the third consecutive game, his New Orleans Saints fielded questions regarding controversial officiating decisions.

And this time, the play in question revolved Jordan, a nine-year NFL veteran who nearly had his first career fumble recovery touchdown.

"I'm trying my best not to see red," Jordan said, with his trademarked grin nowhere to be found.

It was a second-quarter play with the Saints defense lined up in their NASCAR package.

On third-and-7, the Saints brought three defensive ends — Trey Hendrickson on the left side, Marcus Davenport on the right and Jordan lined up just off the line of scrimmage behind the one down tackle in David Onyemata — to try to pressure Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff.

Hendrickson wriggled free past the Rams' right tackle, stretching his left arm out to hit the ball as Goff prepared to throw.

Jordan, who was double-teamed by the Rams' center and left guard, pulled up from the rush and darted toward the loose ball.

Jordan knew immediately it was a fumble, pouncing on the football at the 13-yard line.

He ran 87 yards back to the end zone, celebrating by jumping up and touchdown the crossbar.

But the officials had blown the play dead, initially ruling it an incomplete pass. Saints coach Sean Payton wasted no time pulling his red challenge flag out of his back right pocket and throwing it onto the field.

"When we get poor officiating, and we get an awful call like that, we can't control that," Payton said.

After a review, the ruling on the field was reversed, but because of the whistle, the Saints offense started its drive at the 13-yard line instead of getting those six points on the board.

Jordan said in a post-game interview that he ran 80-plus yards for nothing.

"I didn't even hear the whistle," Jordan said. "I grabbed the ball, 15, 20 yards down the field. Allegedly a whistle was blown — clearly, I mean, a whistle was blown. Normally you let the play happen. Any Foot Locker — I mean, referee — usually tells you, you let the play happen, then you go back and review the play."

Jordan later tweeted, "No disrespect to Foot Locker."

NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron told a pool reporter that the league tells its officials "when in doubt, to let it play out."