This game features two of the best offensive minds in the NFL in Sean Payton and Bill Belichick
The Saints continue their road trip with a battle in New England against the Patriots this Sunday afternoon. The game will kick off at 3:25 local time in Fox’s “America’s Game of the Week”. This was looking very much like a battle of unbeatens just a week ago, but while the Saints took care of their business in Chicago, New England couldn’t do the same in Cincinnati. The Patriots lost their first game of the season and now sit at 4-1. It’s not hard to remember the last time these two teams played, which also featured the Saints being undefeated. The 7-3 Patriots traveled down to New Orleans only to get crushed on Monday Night Football in what was a statement game for the Saints, even having already been 10-0. Many thought that Bill Belichick and the Patriots could be the team to knock the Saints off their pedastool, but instead they walked out of the Superdome after 38-17 defeat. The Patriots do lead the all-time series 8-4, but will certainly face a tough challenge as an injury riddled team on the ropes after a loss.
The season couldn’t have started any better for the Saints, with their 5-0 start and no serious injuries. This is their last game before they head in to their bye week, so a win could be that much bigger. Regardless if they are 6-0 or 5-1, they’ll certainly be thrilled with where they sit heading to their week off, but it would certainly be great to remain unbeaten while they rest, then prepare for a home game against Buffalo. The Saints offense ranks 4th in the NFL with an average of 405 yards per game so far. Last week against the Bears was their lowest output of the season, only being able to gain 347 total yards. They were actually out-gained by Chicago by nearly 100 yards. The offense still remains efficient, despite the absence of the running game, thanks in large part to Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham.
New England suffered a tough defeat at the hands of Cincinnati last week, falling 13-6 to the Bengals. Not only did they lose the game, but Tom Brady’s streak of 53 straight games with a touchdown pass came to an end. He was only one game short of tying Drew Brees in their match-up this week. You better believe that the schedule makers planned this game in Week 6 for that particular reason, so they are certainly a little disappointed in how things turned out. The Patriots defense is ranked 16th in the NFL, allowing 345 yards per game. They suffered a huge loss (literally) when defensive tackle Vince Wilfork tore his achilles tendon against the Falcons two weeks ago. Wilfork has been the anchor of their defense for years, both as a leader and as a play maker.
Passing Offense
Despite being held under 300 yards passing for the first time in 9 games, Drew Brees and the New Orleans passing attack still ranks 2nd in the NFL with an average of 327.2 yards per game. It’s quite impressive what Brees has been able to do so far this year with very little help from his receiving core. They have only caught 27% of Drew Brees’ passes this year. Of that number, Marques Colston’s 23 receptions account for 61% of those. Jimmy Graham leads the team in all receiving categories with his 37 receptions for 593 yards and 6 touchdowns. Aside from Nick Toon and Robert Meachem, he even leads all other pass catchers in yards per catch average, which is very rare for a tight end. The running backs have also been Brees’ favorite targets as Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles are 2nd and 3rd on the team in receptions with 28 and 26 catches, respectively. Brees’ 1,722 yards passing are 2nd in the NFL behind Peyton Manning, while Graham leads the NFL in receiving yards.
The Patriots come in to Sunday with the 14th ranked pass defense in the NFL, allowing 228.6 yards per game. While that number sounds impressive, the Patriots have not seen very stiff competition from the quarterback position so far. Of their five opponents, only Matt Ryan could be considered a good passing quarterback and he threw for 421 yards against New England. Aqib Talib is quietly one of the best corner backs in the league and he’s showing why this season. His 4 interceptions are tied for the NFL lead, while he’s tied for 4th in the NFL with 8 passes defended. Chandler Jones is their best pass rusher at right defensive end and has 3.5 sacks so far this season.
This should be anything but a tough match-up for Drew Brees on Sunday. Talib, of course, is the biggest threat, but Brees has shown that he can have huge success throwing the ball without throwing to his wide receivers on the outside. Also, Talib started his career in Tampa Bay, so Brees has studied him on film a few times before. He doesn’t usually move around the field, so don’t expect New England to try and put him on Jimmy Graham like we’ve seen teams do with their top corner back a few times this year. The Saints will need to continue to protect Drew Brees from Chandler Jones and company, who’ve tallied 13 sacks in their 5 games so far. I expect the Saints to use the short passing game to the advantage of controlling the clock, while attempting to keep Tom Brady on the sideline as much as possible.
Rush Offense
It’s just another week with not much to say about the ground game. It was the same old story in Chicago last week. Zero holes and constant backfield penetration, resulting in blown up running plays for negative yardage. Saints’ leading rusher Pierre Thomas mustered all of 36 yards on 19 carries, for a putrid 1.9 yards per carry average. As a team, the Saints averaged 2.2 yards per rush. The weak rushing attack has the Saints ranked 26th in the league with an average of 77.8 yards per game.
New England has been very susceptible to the run so far, allowing 116.4 yards per game for the 23rd ranked run defense. The aforementioned Vince Wilfork was their stopgap in the middle of the defensive line that was always a big part in their ability to stop the run. With him out, the middle of their defense becomes much more wide open. Leading tackler Jerod Mayo will continue to try and pick up the slack from his weakside linebacker position.
There’s a good chance that the Saints continue to try and run the ball, knowing that the Patriots are missing their best player. They would also love to see a little bit of improvement from the ground game to pair it with their short passing attack to keep the Patriots’ offense off of the field. As I mentioned in last week’s wrap up, with no injury problems to blame the offensive line’s poor play on, what’s the deal? What will it take for them to finally break through and provide a successful game on the road? If the Saints can take an early lead on the reeling Patriots defense, this could be one of their best chances to turn things around.
Players to Watch
Drew Brees
Although the Patriots offense is down, Brees will want to put up a great showing vs. Tom Brady and company. Prior to these team’s Week 12 meeting in 2009, many compared them and termed the Saints as “the new Patriots”. Not only will Brees want to outperform his elite counterpart in Brady, but he knows that he’ll have to play his best games in match-up’s such as these.
Darren Sproles
After a relative quiet week for Sproles following his huge game against the Dolphins, look for the Saints to get him more involved. Facing a defense that lacks premier play makers, Sproles is a dangerous weapon that could be very tough to stop. He always plays better on turf, which is exactly the type of playing surface in Gillette Stadium, despite being outdoors. The Patriots have some of the best coaches in the NFL, but they’ll have to pay attention to Pierre Thomas after what he did last week. This has the feel of one of those games that Sproles could go off.
Jimmy Graham
Is there anything that I can possibly say that hasn’t been blatantly obvious watching this guy play so far this year? I don’t think so. What I can tell you, though, is that the Patriots struggle against athletic tight ends. They allowed 9 catches for 77 yards to the Bengals’ two talented tight ends last week, but the man that really hurt them was the player that people love to compare Graham to. Tony Gonzales went for 12 receptions for 149 yards and 2 touchdowns when New England played Atlanta two weeks ago. They simply could not keep up with his athleticism. If I’m New England’s grounds crew, I’d be checking the bolts on their field goal posts to make sure they’re nice and snug.
Prediction
This is a game that I had notched as a loss for the Saints prior to the season. After five weeks of play, that has changed. I certainly acknowledge the possibility of New England pulling out the victory, but I think the Saints are simply better and have more confidence right now. Whether Rob Gronkowski plays or not (which we’ll get to tomorrow) is a huge factor, but even if so, the Patriots offense is really struggling.
Saints – 31
Patriots – 23
Who Dat?!
