There’s going to be fireworks when the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans kick off their Monday Night Football season-opener. Both sides are flush with talent, featuring All-Pro caliber players on offense and defense. There’s even a handful of future Hall of Fame inductees in the group.
So that means a number of high-powered matchups will be going on throughout the game. Here’s who to watch when the bright lights ignite.
CB Marshon Lattimore vs. WR DeAndre Hopkins
In one corner: a former Defensive Rookie of the Year who got himself slandered for most of his second NFL season after resting too hard on his laurels, and was bodied in last year’s season-opener against Mike Evans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On the other side, maybe the league’s most-accomplished wide receiver who has thrived with every quarterback he’s played with not named Brock Osweiler, and now gets to enjoy a connection the best young passer he’s ever teamed up with in Deshaun Watson.
Lattimore might be the most-physically gifted cornerback in the game today, and he made a point to train and practice harder in his third offseason after getting embarrassed last year. Hopkins will challenge him as much as any other opponent he’s faced so far. This is as great an opportunity as any for Lattimore to prove his third year in the NFL will start better than his last.
RT Ryan Ramczyk vs. DE J.J. Watt
Who wins between two former Wisconsin Badgers could end up being the deciding factor in this game, more than any other. When the Saints last faced Watt in 2015, he spiked their game plan by overwhelming longtime right tackle Zach Strief on down after down after down. No adjustments the Saints made worked; slide protections were overrun, and a double-team block between Strief and left tackle Terron Armstead was split for a sack.
The good news is Ramczyk has become one of the NFL’s top up-and-comers at his position. He’s proven to be as much an asset on run-blocking responsibilities as a difference-maker in pass protection, allowing just six sacks in his first two years on the job. If anyone is built to slow down Watt and keep Drew Brees clean, it’s him. If he’s not up to it, the Saints may struggle to even move the ball.
LB Demario Davis vs. RB Duke Johnson
Johnson finally got his wish, traded away from the Cleveland Browns earlier this summer. He nearly walked into a starting job in Houston and figures to lead the backfield in touches on Monday night. But what’s dangerous about him is his versatility; he’s just as lethal when running out of shotgun sets (which the Texans prioritize) as catching passes out of the backfield, at times looking like a copycat of Alvin Kamara. He can attack the Saints defense in many ways, and it will fall to their strongest linebacker corps in a decade to bottle him up.
That group is led by Davis, an NFL veteran who was named a team captain in his first year and quickly became a force in both run defense and pass coverage. He has the athleticism to track Johnson across the formation while also threatening to knife through the offensive line and meet the runner at the line of scrimmage. Expect contributions from other linebackers Alex Anzalone, A.J. Klein, and Kiko Alonso, but Davis is the clear leader in the room.
WR Michael Thomas vs. CB Bradley Roby
The Ohio State football factory sent Thomas and Roby both into the NFL, and they’ll get another chance to test each other on Monday. Thomas and Roby last met in 2016, when Roby and his Denver Broncos stole a win after forcing two fumbles out of Thomas (one of which Roby took credit for). The Texans rarely deploy a cornerback in shadow coverage, but it wouldn’t be shocking if that’s their strategy against the Saints. Roby may be their best chance at containing Thomas, given the other options are a 35-year old Johnathan Joseph and maybe-free agent bust in Aaron Colvin.
Thomas is going to want to start hot, proving he’s earned his $100 million contract extension. He hasn’t played in the Superdome since getting limited to just 36 yards in the NFC championship game back in January. Expect Brees to go his way early and often to reestablish the most-efficient passing tandem in the league.
