The New Orleans Saints did a great job of keeping quarterback Drew Brees upright against the Houston Texans, allowing just one sack and a handful of other pressures despite facing a talented Houston defensive line.
A key contributor to that success was rookie center Erik McCoy, the Saints’ top draft pick out of Texas A&M. McCoy was as impressive a prospect as any team could hope to trot out for Week 1, but there was still some nervous energy around his NFL debut.
“Nerves are going a little bit,” McCoy told Karen Loftus of WGNO-ABC last week. “Not going to sit here and lie to y’all. But I’m excited for it. I’m ready for it. I feel like I’ve prepared really well this week so far. I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
Based on what he saw against the Texans, Brees was highly encouraged by what he and McCoy can do together moving forwards.
“I felt like he hung in there and did a really good job,” Brees said during his postgame press conference. “He’s got a great group around him that work so well together. Give a lot of credit for his first game out to get a win like this on Monday night football at home, that’s got to mean something.”
The Saints traded up to pick McCoy in the 2019 NFL Draft, identifying him as a potential successor to recently-retired center Max Unger. McCoy established himself early on as the best candidate to replace Unger and handled the lion’s share of snaps over the summer and into training camp, though the Saints never formally announced him as the starter until pregame introductions on Monday night.
There’s no doubt about it now: McCoy will be running point for the Saints and snapping the ball to Brees for the forseeable future. And he’ll be doing a great job of it, if the early returns are any indication.
