After an embarrassing opening weekend loss to the Washington Redskins, the New Orleans Saints have to do some soul-searching. As the team moves on to face Carolina on the road this week, both the offense and defense will need to tighten up.
PASS OFFENSE: C+
For much of the game, Drew Brees looked incredibly average. He finished the game with 339 yards and 3 touchdowns, but was inefficient (he only completed 46% of his passes) and turned the ball over twice via interception.
Saints receivers didn’t help the cause. Lance Moore was a rare bright spot, catching 6 passes for 120 yards and a score. Jimmy Graham had a nice outing, contributing with 6 catches of his own for 85 yards and a touchdown. Outside of these two players, production was scarce. Dropped balls from Colston and Morgan added to the misery.
The lack of pass protection for Brees also led to a dismal performance. Washington registered 2 sacks, but applied pressure consistently throughout the contest. Brees was forced to throw unbalanced, inaccurate passes, leading to stalled drives and an overall choppy feel to the Saints’ aerial attack.
RUN OFFENSE: INCOMPLETE
The running game never was established due in part to the Saints playing from behind for the majority of the game. New Orleans gained a paltry 32 yards on the ground. 32. Those yards came on a total of 10 rushing plays. Yikes. The Saints never attempted to even appear interested in running the football during this one. The absence of the run for the Saints hurt the offense as a whole; Washington was able to dedicate fully to slowing the pass.
PASS DEFENSE: D
The pass rush, which sacked Robert Griffin III twice, failed to apply consistent pressure throughout the game. Washington used short, quick passes effectively, allowing for Griffin III to remain off of the Superdome turf. Screen and flare passes to the speedy Redskin wide receivers exploited a weakened Saints secondary.
RUSH DEFENSE: D+
Washington’s “running back by committee system” worked extremely well, as the team gained 153 net yards on the ground. Alfred Morris led the charge for the Redskins, amassing 96 yards on 28 carries, and scoring two touchdowns. Griffin III was also very effective when called upon to run, gaining 42 yards on 9 carries. The Saints’ defensive line did a poor job of pushing the line of scrimmage backwards, allowing for Washington’s offensive front to block downfield an into the linebacking corps.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B+
A bright spot! Martez Wilson’s Steve Gleason impression blocked punt in the second quarter provided a much needed lift heading into halftime. The kicking game, both from Hartley and Morstead, was solid. The return game was decent, as Darren Sproles was able to provide decent starting field position throughout the game. Even though he didn’t return a kick for a score, Sproles did a nice job of getting upfield and holding on to the football.
COACHING: D-
The Saints looked unprepared and disinterested on defense for basically all of the game. After getting gouged on quick flare passes for much of the first half, the defense was slow to adapt and make adjustments.
Play-calling on offense was somewhat questionable. Although the Saints played from behind for most of the game, the team only called ten rushing plays. This made moving the ball unnecessarily difficult for Brees. Even if the offense had mixed in the occasional draw play on 2nd down, Brees might have had less pressure and could have been more effective.
Penalties hurt the Saints from the opening kickoff until the final whistle. The team was penalized 12 times for 107 yards. Even with some of the penalties being questionable (the pass interference call against Harper was horrible), a bevy of offside and false start calls made it extremely difficult for the offense.
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