The Saints offense finally ignited, not perfect by any means but it's an essential first step, as up to this point apart from some deep shots to Olave and Shaheed, the offense has been anemic. The defense was of course pretty much perfect (you’d expect that when you pitch a shutout) I will say though the Patriots offense is absolutely, unequivocally abysmal and it makes me question my own player evaluation regarding Mac Jones. Anyway, enough of me confessing my sins let's talk Saints after a much-needed win.

Team Stats

(Saints/Patriots)

Final Score: 34-0

First downs: 17-8

3rd down efficiency: 5/15-1/14

Total yards: 304-156

RedZone Efficiency: 3/4 - 0/0

Penalties: 12 for 86 yards-5 for 30 yards 

Turnovers- 0-3

Time of possession- 39:34-20:26

Takeaways

Offense

        The Saints offense finally scored a touchdown and like a good old English bus you wait for one and multiple come all at once. The Saints finished with 3 offensive touchdowns crucially for this team all three came in the red zone and 2 were passes from Carr. The offense has looked completely inept in the red zone so far (a tail of Carr’s career) so it was important to see some improvements there. 

        Especially the shovel pass straight out of the Chiefs playbook book to TE Foster Moreau, that's exactly the type of creativity in the red zone we need to see. Was also great for Moreau to get in the endzone too given it is the NFL’s Cancer Awareness month very fitting after his off-season battle. It was also good to see the Saints feeding Ak in the red zone, he was once one of the premier players in this part of the field, but his usage had dipped inexplicably over the last couple of seasons. This also meant that Kamara was able to break the Saints all-time TD record with 73 total touchdowns, it feels like we’ve been waiting an eternity for AK to break this after sitting tied for so long.

        It's only fair that I give Pete Carmichael some love here. He improved his play-calling today. Per Neworleans.Football the Saints offense used motion on 17 of their 70 offensive plays (around 25%) which is a big uptick in usage and the Saints had success on those plays. He used play-action far more which we all screamed for, and he got the ball to Kamara and Miller well in the passing game and overall the team looked much better in the red zone.

        I also thought his usage of Taysom today was good, yes, he only carried the ball 3 times but Taysom was on the field more than that, they ran some zone-read plays where Taysom handed the ball to AK, but not all those plays were successful but what it does do is break some tendencies, so teams now have to prepare for Taysom handing it off, rather than knowing he's always going to run in certain looks.

        Now, I can't be too nice to Pete or the offense just yet, there were still spacing issues with the WRs. On an early Mike Thomas incompletion, he and Olave were very close together, which meant Olave’s underneath route that should have drawn the CB away didn't, and he was able to peel off and make a play on the throw to Mike with better spacing; this is probably a big gain. The Saints offense still really struggled on third down (5/15) partly due to the penalties that made the yards to gain longer but this is still an area that Pete and the offense need to be better in. 

        Finally, Derek Carr, overall, a better game for him and his protection up front, AK was really good in pass protection too. Carr had plenty of time to make plays and I thought he did a good job, especially on throws to Mike Thomas. Thomas was great today, made some tough catches, and really showed why he’s so important to this team. 

        There are still a couple of areas of Carr's game that concern me. First is his intermediate accuracy; he missed Olave on an easy throw early on where his pass came out high. He missed Jimmy Graham when he threw behind him on what would have been a third-down conversion and then missed Mike Thomas badly; it was high and wide later in the game, and that pass was almost picked off. 

        Since the shoulder injury, we have seen some of Carr’s passes come out high and hopefully, this will improve as his shoulder heals. For this offense to be as good as it should be Carr has to be better on these types of passes going forward. My second concern and maybe this could still be a play-calling issue, but he’s holding the ball way too long at times, maybe nobody is open but there are times when he is just not pulling the trigger.

Defense

        Now for the defense, of course, they were great in this game, played stifling coverage, stopped the run well (2.5 YPC on 18 runs), and pressured the Pats QBs, at one point I think it might have been early in the 4th quarter, per next gen stats the Saints had pressured the Pats QBs on 45.8% of their drop backs, which is elite. My only concern here is that more of those pressures didn’t turn into sacks. In fairness though the pressure was forcing turnovers. Tyrann Mathieu’s pick 6 came because Carl Granderson hit Mac Jones as he threw.

        People will point out rightly so, that this Patriots offense is atrocious but pitching a shutout in the NFL is still a crazy achievement especially as the Saints sat most of their defensive starters with about 5 minutes to go in the 4th. Dennis Allen is proving to be one of the best defensive minds in the NFL year in and year out. 

        The secondary play was great. I especially thought the safeties were really good in this game, rookie Jordan Howden continues to impress me. Even with Marcus Maye coming back from suspension this week I think the Saints need to make sure Howden is still getting snaps as I think he is part of the future at the safety spot. Demario Davis and Pete Werner were also excellent, Davis had an unbelievable tackle of 4th down where he looked like he had been fired out of a cannon to stuff Ezekiel Elliott dead on a 4th and 1 run. Pete Werner had his first pick as a Saint and was again his usually dependable self in the run game.

        Hear me out here, I know DA has gotten a lot of hate and I've been right there in agreement with most of it, but when you have a HC who can coach up one side of the ball to this level year in and year out that is an invaluable asset to have. Not every defensive HC can do it either, look at Brandon Staley with the Chargers for example. 

        If DA can get an OC to be what he was for Sean when Allen was the DC, then I think DA can be a good HC. Even Sean Payton’s Saints struggled to be good year in and year out consistently whilst he cycled through DC after DC. Payton’s most consistent run with the team was when he had DA at the helm for multiple years in a row being essentially the head coach of the defense, If DA can find that probably in the off-season (unless it all goes to sh*t between now and then and he gets fired) then I think with how elite of a defense mind he is this team could have some sustained success with DA at the helm.

Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody)
Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down:

Stock Up

Carl Granderson

Kendre Miller

Blake Grupe

        After two quiet weeks, which honestly started to concern me, granted last week he went against one of the best tackles in the NFL (Wirfs) but he also struggled against a backup line against the Packers, he was a monster today. 1 sack, 2 QB hits, and 3 TFLs this is the type of play we need to see going forward, especially after the Saints gave him an extension.

        I was happy to see Kendre Miller finally get some touches, when he gets the ball in space he really looks like AK (not saying he is AK just yet) but just his running style, the tape strips down his arms also sways me here I'm sure. Miller ran with great burst, made people miss, and was good after the catch. He showed why Saints media were so high on him in camp, Miller had 16 touches today (12 rushing and 4 receiving) it maybe won't be that high each week but I see no reason this can't be the plan, especially whilst Williams is still out.

        My final up, is Blake Grupe, after a 34-0 win people might think this is silly but Grupe was money in this game and I think that's important. In an outdoor stadium with wind swirling Grupe was perfect 4/4 on extra points and 2/2 on field goals both were over 50-yard kicks (54 and 53-yarders). Yes, these kicks didn't massively matter today but going forward this team is still likely to need their kicker to win them games and Grupe proving he can be relied on is big for this team.

        Honorable mention- Lou Hedley has got a lot of flak so far, but I thought he had a good game, he’s still inconsistent but he flashes the type of ability that shows why the Saints went with him over Gillikin. He just needs to stop some of the weird shanks and unnecessary touchbacks if he can. I think the Saints have a legit punter.

Stock Down
Adam Prentice

Offensive penalties 

Chris Olave

        I'm not belittling Fullbacks, I actually still think there is a lot of value to the position and some untapped potential if you can find the right player, but at the very least you need to be able to block. Prentice had a holding penalty today and a complete blown assignment which meant Ja'Whaun Bentley blitzed completely untouched for a 3rd down sack on Carr. This has also been an issue in other games where Prentice was supposed to chip and completely whiffed. If the Saints want to continue carrying a fullback, I think it could be time to look in a different direction or a move I've been campaigning for to let Taysom play more snaps there.

        A bit of a cop out but there were too many players with dirty hands here. Shaheed, Moreau, and Olave all had false start penalties, as did Cesar Ruiz, and Trevor Penning was called twice for holding. These are the types of plays that hurt this offense and too many times today turned third and short/medium into 3rd and longs which is when this offense gets in trouble, it has to be cleaned up or it will cost the Saints dearly going forward.

        My final down might be a little harsh considering he was battling a toe injury and caught his first TD of the year, but Olave has to be better. I'm putting him because of how good I think he is, he had two plays down the field from perfect throws by Carr where he couldn't quite complete the catch. The first he couldn't get his second foot in which in fairness was a tough catch to complete, the second is more my gripe, where he couldn't complete the catch going to the ground if he did it was a touchdown. The second play specifically is one he must make and it's a repeat issue from plays we saw last year.

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