The New Orleans Saints were dominated in their last game against the Carolina Panthers. It wasn’t pretty. We have now seen two completely different Saints teams in the first two weeks of the year, and who knows which of them we will get to see in Week 3. The Saints get the New England Patriots this week and once again they are on the road.
New Orleans can’t make any excuses for the way that they played against the Panthers. Their protection schemes were awful and frankly, their defense didn’t look ready. They were definitely shorthanded across their roster though, as a few key starters missed this game due to injury. On top of that, eight coaches on the staff weren’t able to be on the sideline this week after a COVID-19 outbreak happened. I love Jameis Winston and believe that he will be a fantastic quarterback for the Saints in the future. However, he fell back into old habits last week due to poor protection, which can’t happen consistently. He was pressured on 65 percent of drop backs last weekend, resulting in only 80 yards passing on the day and two interceptions. Luckily, their run game was equally as atrocious, so it didn’t look like it was all on him. They took 17 carries for a measly 48 yards on the ground.
Mac Jones has been really great for the Patriots this season and I think this will cause New Orleans some issues. His pass protection hasn’t really been good, which is why he hasn’t sat back and delivered deeper passes more often this year. Although, he has a phenomenal group of running backs to ease some of that pressure and allow him more open passing lanes. The Saints have been great at stopping the run this year, allowing just 2.8 yards per carry to opposing running backs. But players out of the backfield have torched them all year, and I don’t know how they could handle James White every play in a similar position. That’s not even mentioning New England’s athletic defense. They forced four interceptions on Zach Wilson and were in his face the entire contest, causing pressure on 80 percent of drop backs. With the Saints still missing their starting center, Erik McCoy, and their horrible performance last week in terms of protection, this could be another rough day for Winston and company.
I always believe that the Saints stand a chance no matter who their opponent is. Especially after we got to see them wallop the Green Bay Packers in the season opener. This game just feels different though. The Patriots and Saints both seem wildly unpredictable with new signal callers leading them into this matchup. Bill Belichick and Sean Payton are also two of the most creative minds in all of football, which is going to make for another excellent battle on the sidelines. I feel like this will be a close game, but one that the Patriots will probably squeak away with due to their defense.
I also want to briefly mention the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They have to win in order to keep up with the surprising Carolina Panthers and have their steepest test yet, the Los Angeles Rams. I think that is going to be a wildly exciting game that could genuinely go either way. I feel like the Rams are a little bit better as a team right now but as I’ve stated in the past, you should never doubt Tom Brady.