The Recap- Saints Vs Colts

Well, well, well the Saints offense picks the best time to produce their best game of the season exploding for 38 points and over 500 yards of offense, the defense started slow again but locked in with some great second-half adjustments to keep the Colts at bay.

Let's break down the most fun Saints game of the year, no Saints therapy is required this week.

Team Stats 

(Saints/Colts)

Final Score: 38-27

First downs: 24-19

3rd down efficiency: 6/12- 7/16

Total yards: 511-371

RedZone Efficiency:3 of 4- 2 of 3

Penalties: 8 for 73 yards- 6 for 30 yards

Turnovers- 1- 1

Time of possession- 30:09-29:51

Takeaways 

Offense

This was the offense I expected to see this year it's crazy that we’ve had to wait until week 8 to see it. Carr played his best game as a Saint today, he still missed a couple of throws 2 slants to Thomas and a throw to Olave where he overthrew him otherwise, this is exactly what you want to see from Carr and these are the types of performances that justify the contract the Saints gave him.

Pete Carmichael called a great game today, in fairness to him he did overall against the Jags too, the big difference is Carr executed far better in the game. The Taysom usage was perfect barring one play (I didn't like the deep ball call, it felt like the wrong time to take Carr out), I am especially loving the Khalen Saunders package with Taysom at the goal-line, which I'm going to call ‘The Bink Easy’ Package. The Saints are now 17-1 when Taysom Rushes the ball 7 or more times and 16-1 when he rushes for 40 more yards, pretty good for an overpaid gimmick player.

We saw AK out wide, run option routes out of bunch sets and the backfield and finally a Texas Route which went for an 18-tard touchdown to get the offense started. This is how Ak should be used every week, he's more than just a dump of machine. Now all I'm waiting for is an AK wheel route and some more screens, but this is a step in the right direction for Carmichael where AK is concerned in the passing game.

It’s been far too long since we’ve seen a Rashid Shaheed big play in the passing game and then we saw 3 in one game. Shaheed finished with a massive stat line 3 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown, all three of these were huge plays. That sounds obvious when you average 51 yards per catch, but let's look at each one:

• Catch 1-  a 58-yard catch and run for a touchdown to give the Saints their first lead on the day.
• Catch 2- Taysom Hill underthrows him, Shaheed comes back to the ball and battles with the DB to come up with the catch, after it was originally called an INT. The Saints go on to score to put them up 15.
• Catch 3-  3 mins left in the 4th Saints up 7 it's 3rd and 13 reminiscent of week 1 against the Titans. Carr uncorks a beautiful deep ball for a 51-yard completion to ice the game.

Shaheed=Clutch.

A couple of quick hitters:

• Mike Thomas was really good again, especially when we find out after the game he's barely eaten for two days due to the illness that swept the Saints locker room this week.
• Thought Jamaal Williams looked really good running the ball today, definitely his best game as a Saint.
• I thought the o-line held up well bar one play ( the Buckner forced fumble) one thing that has to change is the pre-snap penalties, way too many false starts today at one point there were 2 in 2 plays.

Defense

It was a very similar story for the defense this week as it was against the Texans. They started slow, the Colts ran on them at will, as the Texans did. Crucially as they have the last few weeks they adjusted really well and shut their opponent down in the second half. Only conceding ten points (would have only been 3 if not a crazy throw by Minshew) and again forced turnovers they are now up to 9 interceptions on the season (two more than their total from a season ago).

The secondary was fantastic this week, especially the CBs, Lattimore looked locked in barring a PI penalty. Taylor looked like he had his best game in the slot so far. The cream of the crop though was Paulson Adebo he was stifling in coverage, had an excellent interception and had another 3 PBUs. They looked like one of the best CB trio’s in the NFL  today.

My only gripe with the defense today is the D-line. I'm still not sold on them in run defense, yes they tightened up after the Colts early success but they are still proving they can be run on when a team wants to. Also, the pass rush is still all too quiet in games against competent o-lines there is only so long this elite secondary can cover with the pass rush not getting home consistently. 

Granderson and Jordan both had moments but it wasn't consistent enough. Cam having to play 80-odd % of the snaps every week as a 34-year-old DE is not the move. This team could really do with Payton Turner back sooner than later to help with the rotation to keep guys fresh or….. They go full YOLO all-in mode and trade for one of the many great DE options at the deadline, I’d rather they didn't pump more future draft capital into this team, particularly this coaching staff but I have to admit this defense without another plus starter at DE is an exciting thought, My personal choice would be Washington DE Montez Sweat who its been widely reported could be had for a 2nd round pick.

Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody)

Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players/staff have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down:

Stock Up

• Derek Carr
• Rashid Shaheed
• Alvin Kamara

This was Carr’s best game as a Saint and if he plays like this the rest of the way the Saints are winning the South and hosting a playoff game (Big IF).

Rashid Shaheed shrugged off a couple of down weeks with missed assignments and chemistry issues to look like prime Randy Moss. There's no way I couldn't have him on this list.

The final spot was a tough one as I'm sure you are aware if you've read many of my articles/tweets I'm a big Taysom Hill fan he's my favourite Saints player I've watched so it pains me to not have him on this list, but I had to go AK here he looked explosive today in the passing game and is now tied for the 5th most games in NFL history (with Jim Brown) with now 11 games with a receiving and rushing TD.

Stock Down



• Bryan Bresee
• Erik McCoy
• Chris Olave

I struggled to find specific players here but here’s my rationale:

Bresee had the costly illegal formation penalty which turned a Colts FG attempt into the Colts scoring a TD on 4th down, Bresee nearly had this exact penalty earlier in the season but Zack Baun Managed to just move his alignment pre-snap. Luckily it didn't cost the Saints today but it easily could have.

McCoy had one of the false starts I mentioned earlier he also got beat badly but Buckner on the Carr strip sack, little things but you would expect more from one of the highest paid Centers in the league.

Finally, I went with Olave, this feels a little harsh but he had a brutal drop on 3rd down which would have been a walk-in touchdown, at this point the Saints were only up 1. It was a beautiful route by Olave to get open and he looked like he lost the ball in the lights. Olave has had that issue a few times this year, I don't know how you fix it but he has to find a way because it has been a problem for him.

Conclusion 

It was great to see some good offensive football it feels like we haven't seen any for about 2 years so I'm going to enjoy this win i am not fooled into thinking this team's issues are fixed. There are still far too many penalties, some spot run defense and pass-rush.

This, however, was a damn good start we just need to see some consistency, something we have seen in the Dennis Allen era, the Saints are now tied for 1st in the NFC South, and have 2 winnable games up next against the potentially Justin Fields-less Chicago Bears and the definitely Kirk Cousins-less Vikings. If the Saints are who the say they are they should be going into their week 11 bye sitting pretty at 6-4, will they be who the hell knows with this team but after this game I'm looking forward to finding out.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @SaintsReportUK, for much more Saints content and discussion throughout the 2023 season and beyond.