The New Orleans Saints were able to pull off an upset of the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday — without Drew Brees. While that was a revelation in and of itself, the Saints were able to learn a little more about their team and how they can best proceed. New Orleans found success in many areas of their game, while other ideas may have not worked out as planned.
Alright, let’s get to it. Here are our takeaways from the win over Seattle.
Alvin Kamara will have to put the team on his back
Everyone knows Kamara is good. No, scratch that: everyone knows Kamara is one of the best. When Kamara can get his hands on the ball he can make just about anything happen. His career performance on Sunday against the Seahawks were exactly what the Saints needed with Teddy Bridgewater new at the helm.
Kamara led the Saints in rushing (69 yards) and receiving (92), accounting for 161 of the team’s 265 yards from scrimmage. He will need to continue having the same type of performances against teams such as the Dallas Cowboys if New Orleans plans to win more games than they lose during Brees’ absence. He is now the foundation of the offense.
Teddy Bridgewater is a suitable game manager
Many pundits and fans alike thought that Bridgewater was going to come out slinging on Sunday in Seattle. Instead, the quarterback ended up throwing almost exclusively check-down passes and short-yardage targets. Very few of Bridgewater’s passes went for more than 10 yards through the air. Bridgewater was conservative and only ended up with 177 passing yards while relying heavily on the run game.
The game plan suited Bridgewater, and now that his confidence is at an all-time high, he has proven he can manage a game. Expect Bridgewater and Saints coach Sean Payton to get more ambitious; prolific plays should start to be implemented as tougher defenses come into town.
The Saints secondary needs to clamp down
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson carved up the Saints on Sunday when he threw for 406-yards and two touchdowns. Huge plays were routinely made between Tyler Lockett and Wilson. While the combo may be one of, if not the best combination in the game, New Orleans will need to lock down the passing game against the Cowboys in ways they could not against the Seahawks.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and his band of high-flying wide receivers (like Amari Cooper, Randall Cobb, and Devin Smith) will have a field day with New Orleans’ secondary on Sunday night if Marshon Lattimore and company cannot figure things out.
The penalties have to be cleaned up
The number of penalties on offense was disturbing. The first half, and the first quarter in particular, was riddled with penalties — holding, false starts, and various other miscues. Those penalties killed early drives and shifted momentum towards Seattle. There is no faster way to beat yourself than through penalties as the Saints quickly figured out. On the day, the Saints committed eleven penalties for 70 yards.
Seattle was unable to capitalize on New Orleans’ mistakes, and against the Cowboys the Saints may not get so lucky again.
The defense looked good, but not great
When a defense scores its own points it’s hard to rate their performance as good, but not great. That said: the Saints’ defense was just that on Sunday. Despite some great moments in run defense and the aforementioned touchdown return, they let a lot of big plays happen. The lack of an effective quarterback spy allowed Wilson to rush for 51 yards and two touchdowns. The secondary has already been covered so we won’t beat that dead horse.
The pass rush looked impressive, as they were able to get to Wilson all afternoon and either hurry the quarterback or land a hit. But they weren’t able to match Wilson’s unique brand of maneuverability with a sack. A less-experienced quarterback such as Prescott may not fair as well as one of the best in the game against a strong New Orleans pass rush.
Deonte Harris offered a mixed bag of results–
Harris got his first touchdown as a Saint when he went the distance off of a punt early in the first quarter. His coaches and teammates have had faith in the rookie returns specialist and believed it was just a matter of time until he saw his first return for a touchdown; he delivered on that count.
On the flip side of the coin, the rookie muffed a punt that was a little more easily-forgiven thanks to his earlier score. But ball security has been an issue for him throughout the summer and a long-running peeve of Payton’s; he has to clean that up. For now, we’ll chalk it up to the Seattle rain. However, a closer eye will be kept on Harris in the future.
Thomas Morstead is an absolute monster
Morstead punted six times against the Seahawks for an average of 54 yards and with the longest going for over 64 yards. On three separate occasions he pinned Seattle within their own 10-yard line. Absolute insanity for any NFL punter, much less a 33-year old.
If you think Morstead’s performance was out of this world then you’re not alone. Apparently the NFL randomly drug tested Morstead for performance-enhancing drugs the very day, but he took it all in stride.
