New Orleans will look to put lots of pressure on the mistake-prone Tony Romo.
For the second straight week, the New Orleans Saints play in a match-up that makes for a grudge match for Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan. It’s another battle with familiar faces for Ryan, when the Saints welcome the Dallas Cowboys to the Mercedes Benz Superdome tonight. Last week it was his brother, this week it’s the team that fired him less than a year ago. Ryan has told the media all week that he has no hard feelings about being let go and I certainly believe him. There’s not much room for resentment when he’s now coaching a top-10 defense, to go along with a top-10 offense lead by a hall of fame quarterback. The resentment may not exist, but you can certainly bet that Ryan would love to shut his former colleagues down on national television. Dallas already seems remorseful about letting the coach go. Although he didn’t exactly say that he regrets firing Ryan, Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garrett indicated in the press this week that it was a bad move. It truly seems as if the coordinator was made out to be the scapegoat of a team that had under-performed as a whole. The case for that argument is being made thanks to Ryan taking the worse defense in NFL history to what is now the 9th ranked defense in the league. That, folks, is impressive.
Pass Defense
The pass defense continues to be the strong part of what has been a surprisingly good defense for the Saints this season. New Orleans ranks 5th in the NFL in yards allowed through the air, giving up a mere 211.9 yards per game. The pass rush has been turned up and the secondary is doing a much better job of getting their hands on the ball. Halfway through their 2013 schedule, the Saints are 9th in the NFL with 26 sacks, which is only four less than what they had in all of 2012. Recently, they’ve done a great job of getting pressure on the young quarterbacks they’ve played. Facing the likes of Ryan Tannehill, Thad Lewis, and Geno Smith, they got pressure and forced either turnovers or bad throws. Cam Jordan and Junior Galette continue to find their way to the quarterback with 11 sacks between them. Jordan is the team leader with six of his own. Inside linebacker David Hawthorne has played great this year, showing Saints fans why he was brought in before last season. He had an injury riddled 2012 campaign, but he’s finally back to his old self now. He has been very effective with his pass rush lately, tallying 3 sacks of his own when blitzing. The Saints have 9 interceptions on the year, which is 14th in the NFL. Keenan Lewis, a newcomer to the team this season, leads the team with 3 interceptions and has been very effective in man coverage.
The Cowboys continue to play a similar offense as the Saints. Tony Romo has been a part of what has become a very pass-happy offense over the last few years. They are 9th in the NFL with 267.1 yards per game through the air. Romo finds himself 5th in the NFL with 2,553 yards through their first nine games. Much like Drew Brees, Romo has been sacked 19 times this season. That’s one less than Brees, though they’ve played one more game. 4th year wide receiver Dez Bryant continues to come in to his own, trialing only Jimmy Graham and Wes Welker for 3rd in the NFL with his 8 touchdown receptions. You must always keep an eye on tight-end Jason Witten, who has been one of Romo’s favorite targets through their years together. Witten will certainly go down as one of the toughest tight-ends to ever play the game. Not only has he played through typical injuries many times before, but in 2012 he played part of the season with a lacerated spleen. That, folks, is tough.
The battle between Romo and the Saints pass defense should be very entertaining to watch. Dez Bryant creates a mis-match with just about any corner-back in the NFL, but he certainly presents a threat when playing a team without an elite corner. Keenan Lewis has played very well this year, but the best coverage for Bryant is physicality. Lewis, nor any of the other Saints corners, have a physical type of skill-set. I’d look for the Saints to keep some extra coverage in Bryant’s neighborhood to try and prevent him from making the big play. What makes him so tough to cover is not just his physicality, but his incredible speed and size to go with it. I’d look for the Saints to keep at least one of their safeties back a good bit in this game. Terrance Williams is their rookie receiver from Baylor who can flat out fly. He lines up across from Bryant and has become a favorite target of Romo, hauling in 4 touchdowns and a 17.0 yards per catch average. Anyone who knows anything about Tony Romo already knows that he is prone to making mistakes, so this is another opportunity for the Saints to get to the quarterback early and force miscues. Luckily for the Saints, with the game being in prime-time on Sunday Night Football, the Superdome crowd will be deafening.
Rush Defense
Well, not only did old friend Chris Ivory tear up his old team last week, but he exposed a giant weakness in the Saints defense. The Saints had allowed one of the highest yards per carry average all year, but teams have sort of abandoned the run in an effort to keep up with them. The Jets forced two first half interceptions last week, which they were able to get 10 points out of, disallowing the Saints to ever be able to build a good lead. They eventually took the lead for good before halftime, but all of that allowed the Jets to be able to continue to pound the ball on the ground and the Saints struggled to stop it. New Orleans did a better job in the second half, but it was too little, too late, already facing a two score deficit and the New York defense turning up the heat on Drew Brees. Well, the Saints come in to this week with the 2nd worst yards per carry average allowed at 4.9. Their run defense ranks 25th in the NFL, allowing 121.3 yards per game.
Cowboys leading rusher DeMarco Murray returned to their line-up last week after a two week absence with a minor knee injury, but was only given four carries. They only ran the ball eight times as a team, forcing Romo to throw the ball even more. Murray still leads the team in rushing with his 459 yards and has the ability to gain a big chunk on the ground on any given play. He’s had a very injury-plagued start to his career, but he’s very talented. Murray is one guy that you’ll never see take a play off. He runs with a full load of steam every time he is given the ball and tries to punish the tackler, rather than letting them punish him. For any of you that are a fan of old school football, watch the way #29 runs the ball tonight. You’ll certainly appreciate it.
While DeMarco Murray has the ability to gash the Saints defense, it’s hard to see this game go any other way than an aerial shootout. If some early runs prove effective, the Cowboys could continue to try and gash the Saints a few times, which would soften up the coverage over the top when Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins, or Kenny Vaccaro (whoever plays) start sneaking down to the line of scrimmage to help in run support. Harper practiced in full all week, so he should play, despite his questionable tag. Jenkins did not practice earlier in the week, but got back on the field in limited fashion on Friday and is also questionable. It’ll likely come down to warm-ups to see how he feels. Keep an eye out for Cam Jordan as well, as he too missed practice early in the week, but was out there limited on Friday with his lingering ankle injury.
Players to Watch
Brodrick Bunkley and John Jenkins
Although sharing a lot of snaps, these two have played well this season. Bunkley missed a few games with injury, but certainly has the ability to play at a high level. Jenkins has been very good for a 3rd round rookie. Dallas starts their rookie 1st round pick Travis Frederick at center, so I’m interested to see what they do against the young competition.
David Hawthorne
Hawthorne seems to be getting better and better each game this year. A lot of fans forgot about him coming in to this year after dealing with an injury that kept him off of the field for most of 2012. He’s shown why the Saints signed him two off-seasons ago, getting his level of play back to what it was in Seattle before coming to New Orleans. He is second on the team with 46 tackles and 3rd with 3 sacks. He’s more disruptive in pass rush lately, instilling confidence in Rob Ryan to send him on the blitz. If Dallas chooses to try and slow down Cam Jordan and Galette, Hawthorne will be part of the extra pressure that Ryan dials up.
Roman Harper
Harper looks to be set to return to the field for the first time since the team’s Week 2 win in Tampa Bay. A knee injury has kept him out of the last six games. The team has really missed his ability to help in run support. Kenny Vaccaro and Rafael Bush have filled in nicely, but it will be great to get Harper back out there and allow the other guys to play alongside of him.
Prediction
Saints – 34
Cowboys – 23
Who Dat?!
