Sometime this season, there’s going to be an article that starts off saying, “Who Dat? Well, not (insert potential defeated opponent here).” For the sake of salvaging any chance at the post-season the Saints still have, this week absolutely has to be it. Since the AFL-NFL merger, only one team has made the playoffs after starting 0-4. It’s been over 40 seasons since the two leagues merged and only one single team has overcome that deficit. There’s a famous quote from the funny movie Dumb and Dumber that is often casually thrown around. “So you’re saying there’s a chance?!,” is what many Saints fans, who still believe in their team, are saying.
Ironically, that one team to make the playoffs after starting 0-4 was the San Diego Chargers back in 1992. The 2012 Chargers travel to New Orleans for a Sunday Night Football showdown vs. the Saints this weekend. They’re boasting a 3-1 record, with their only loss coming at the hands of the undefeated Falcons. Atlanta has been easily the best offense they’ve played and they were shredded by Matt Ryan and Falcons.
The Saints are coming of off a somewhat expected loss to Green Bay last week, one which was still closer than many thought. The final score was 28-27 and for the second straight week a late missed Garrett Hartley field goal could have cost the Saints the game. Drew Brees and the passing attack looked the best they have all year through out the entire contest, but the running game still did not. As it’s said each week, both will need to be good for the Saints to finally pull out a victory. It will be a night full of hope, intensity, and emotion, when the Saints and Chargers square off on Sunday Night.
Pass Offense
Drew had his best day of the season last Sunday and will look to build upon it with another good game vs. his former team. He threw for a whopping 446 yards on 35/54 passing, with 3 touchdowns and for the first time this season 0 interceptions. He still missed some throws here and there, but for the most part he looked like his old self. Marques Colston stepped up recording his first big day of the season with 9 receptions 153 yards and a touchdown. It’s no coincidence that the first game in which the offense looked almost like themselves, was when Colston returned from irrelevance.
San Diego’s pass defense has been average at 18th in the league and giving up 237.3 yards per game. They have faced the offenses of Oakland, Tennessee, Atlanta, and Kansas City. Only one of those passing attacks is threatening and as mentioned before, that’s the one that beat them led by Matt Ryan. The San Diego pass rush is not as impressive as that of a couple of the teams New Orleans has seen so far this year. They have 7 sacks this year, only one more than the Saints and we all know how non-existent the black and gold’s ability to get to the quarterback is. All in all, the Chargers are nothing special defending the air and that should become apparent when #9 goes to work.
The story lines in this game are plentiful: New Orleans looking to shake an 0-4 start, Drew Brees and Darren Sproles face their former team, and most importantly, Brees attempts to break Johnny Unitas’ 52 year old historic record of 47 consecutive regular season games with a touchdown pass. This record needs to be a bigger deal and hopefully it will be if/when Drew throws for a touchdown for the 48th straight game. Expect the Saints to come out gunning, looking to get Brees the record early on, so he can settle his nerves and focus on the rest of the game.
Rush Defense
For the third time in four games, the Saints failed to run the ball 20 times. Until just less than 4 minutes left to go in the 3rd quarter, New Orleans was losing the whole game again. This time, though, they were only down by more than one score for a total of 3:23 in the entire game. The question remains unanswered; why have the Saints yet to give much effort to establishing a consistent run game. In fact, last week was the second time that the running game received an “incomplete” grade in our post-game grades article.
San Diego has been very good at stopping the run so far this year and unlike the passing defense, they have faced some very good competition. Darren McFadden, Chris Johnson, Michael Turner, and Jamaal Charles are the running backs they’ve faced; who were all held under 100 yards rushing. San Diego ranks 5th in the league in run defense allowing only 79.3 yards per game.
Either two trends will continue or they’ll both be broken this week. As mentioned earlier when talking about the passing game, Marques Colton’s re-emergence in the offense was a big reason why they looked more normal. For the offense to look completely normal, a solid running game must return. It won’t be easy, facing an opponent who has been very good at what the Saints have been very bad at, but there’s a chance.
Players to Watch
Drew Brees
He was tabbed as a permanent member of this list until he got his groove back, but he remains here for two reasons. First, there’s nothing “groovy” about a loss for Drew Brees. He is the definition of a team player and if the Saints don’t win, he’s the unhappiest of us all. No matter how good he may play, he will find ways to blame himself and say he let the team down. He’s too hard on himself lots of times, but hey, would you want your quarterback to be any other way? The second reason he remains on this list and most importantly, because he has the chance to break a half-century old record. This is a huge deal and something that deserves a gigantic amount of praise, respect, and celebration. Drew would love to celebrate post-game on Sunday night, but it won’t be without a win.
Joe Morgan
Finally, our young receiver with tons of potential made huge play and found the end zone. While it was only one long 80 yard catch that got him there and he would have shown up invisible on the stat line if not for it, this could be a week in which he gets consistent work. The absence of Robert Meachem as a deep threat has flown a little under the radar and this guy could be the one to finally step up. Lance Moore has already been ruled out due to injury, so Morgan will be on the field pretty often. Look for Drew to show more and more confidence in him with each play he makes like last week.
Pete Carmichael (Coach to Watch)
Pete Carmichael has done a pretty good job of play calling when called upon. He showed his ability last year and is taking the job full swing this season in Sean Payton’s absence. While the running game hasn’t had much success when they’ve attempted, the attempts have been scarce. The blame certainly can not be place completely on Carmichael, as the Saints have played catch-up a good bit so far. Whether Coach Carmichael loses faith in the running game too quickly or he has felt an enormous amount of pressure with the Saints trailing, remains a mystery to most people outside of himself. It will certainly be refreshing to see New Orleans give a strong effort to establishing a consistent running game. Hopefully it’s sooner than later, because the Saints’ season could depend on it. Coming back to the Superdome for the first time since the Saints blew a 24-6 lead so quickly to the Chiefs could be a reason the running game gets a look this week. As long as the Saints are in a close game or have a good lead, look for Carmichael to get things going with Sproles, Thomas, and Ingram.
Prediction
I feel as if the Saints finally get in the win column this week. With facing his former team and the passing record, Drew Brees will have the black and gold focused and ready to go. Let’s hope so at least, because Who Dat Nation has been holding their breath for too long.
New Orleans – 34
San Diego – 23
