It’s finally almost Saints game-day once again, as the black and gold will travel to division rival Tampa Bay this weekend for their second NFC South contest of the season. New Orleans is 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the division, with a Week 2 loss at Carolina. Tampa Bay is one game better, with a 2-3 record overall and a 1-0 division record, with a Week 1 victory at home to the same Panthers. Both teams have struggled mightily early on, as the slow starts are not what either team imagined. As they prepare to battle on Sunday afternoon, both teams sit in a similar predicament, where the winner gains another sliver of hope of making something out of this season and the loser taking one step closer to likely and inevitably an early exit from playoff contention.
The Saints are coming off of a bye week, one which couldn’t come at a better time. After the 0-4 start, New Orleans won a hard fought, emotional game on the national stage vs. the San Diego Chargers back in Week 5. They gave up a couple big plays in the first half and fell to a halftime deficit, but roared back to score 17 unanswered to cap off a 31-24 win. The win gave the Saints their only positive momentum of the season thus far, hopefully giving them something to build upon to prepare for not only Sunday’s tilt vs. Tampa Bay, but also from here on out.
The Buccaneers are coming off an impressive win vs. the Kansas City Chiefs last week, dominating 38-10. Their win was coming off of an early bye week for themselves as well, executing a performance that all Saints fans hope to see their team accomplish this week. Tampa Bay snapped a three game losing streak with the win, one which started following an opening game victory way back in Week 1 vs. the pesky Panthers. The Bucs’ three losses all came by a total of fourteen points, with none of them being by more than one score. They’ve had a legitimate shot to be 5-0, having opportunities to win each game they lost.
Passing Offense
Not only is the passing attack near the top of the league, as usual, but they are actually on top. New Orleans ranks as the #1 pass offense thus far and Drew Brees and company are only getting better. Brees is averaging 344 yards and nearly 3 touchdowns per game. He is coming off of another fantastic performance vs. his former team, in which he broke yet another record. Marques Colston has been hot, cashing in for nearly 300 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns in his last two games. Devery Henderson found his way in to the end zone last week as well and also put up over 100 yards receiving. While players like Brees, Colston, and Henderson have been on fire, Jimmy Graham has yet to break 100 yards receiving and is coming off of his worst performance since becoming a full time starter to start 2011. He only had 1 catch for 4 yards. Unfortunately now, he is questionable to play with an ankle injury from the Week 5 win vs. San Diego.
Tampa Bay’s pass defense has been on the exact opposite of the spectrum in terms of performance. They rank as the 31st pass defense in the NFL, giving up 312.2 yards per game. That ranking is still that low, even after giving up only 180 yards passing to Chiefs back-up quarterback last week, Brady Quinn. Their worst performance was back in Week 2 when they gave up a ridiculous 510 yards passing to Eli Manning. While they give up lots of yardage, the Buccaneers defense has been phenomenal at getting their hands on the ball. They are tied for 5th in the NFL with 8 interceptions. Veteran corner back Ronde Barber has transferred well to free-safety, picking off 2 passes of his own so far and 1st round draft pick Mark Barron has 1 of his own.
Expect more of the same old song and dance this week. Brees will most likely torch this porous Tampa Bay pass defense. The question that will be answered on Sunday, though, is whether good passing numbers will come in a win or a loss. Drew has almost always produced the high numbers, regardless of the outcome, so it will most likely depend on his ability to protect the ball from Tampa’s INT happy defenders. If he can keep the ball out their hands, they should have no problem getting up and down the field to put up points. On the flip side, if he throws a couple interceptions, not only will that take away scoring opportunities, but the Saint defense will most likely be left defending a short field.
Rushing Offense
New Orleans’ rushing attack continues to be invisible. They are ranked 30th in the league with 75.2 yards per game on the ground. It has been a miserable mixture of both inability to have success and also the inability to continually attempt to run the ball. In four of their five games, the Saints have run less than 20 designed running plays. Darren Sproles continues to be a very minimal part of the attack (or lack-thereof), Pierre Thomas does all he can with his small amount of touches, and Mark Ingram’s snaps have been sparse. Overall, it has been a very pathetic start to the year for the Saints rushing offense.
Tampa Bay’s rush defense has been much better than their pass defense. They rank impressively at 3rd in the league, giving up 75 yards per game. Alfred Morris has been the only running back to eclipse 100 yards rushing on this defense and they have faced some good competition. The three-headed rushing attack from Carolina, Ahmad Bradshaw, DeMarco Murray, and Jamal Charles have all been either contained or shut down by Tampa Bay’s defense.
For the second straight game, the Saints abysmal rushing offense will face a stout rushing defense. As expected, last time the Saints faced a top-5 run defense, the Chargers shut them down. Hopefully the team did some serious work and game-planning during the bye week to figure out some sort of way to get the ball moving on the ground. The Saints, particularly Pierre Thomas, have had success before against Tampa Bay’s defense, so it will be interesting to see how things play out. Look for an improvement in the yards per carry average, but the total amount of rushing yards will all depend on the potential existence of early success and the coaching staff’s commitment to attempt to pound the ball.
Players to Watch
Drew Brees
He’s on this list every week and almost every time there’s a reason that he may not be on the list the following week. In all honesty, he could be listed here 16 times this year (or hopefully more) and that would be just fine. Why? Because he’s Drew Brees and he’s amazing. On a more serious note, until the run game gets going, he’s going to have to carry the offense. He’s obviously capable of it, but for the sake of the man’s shoulder, he could use some help.
Pierre Thomas
He’s here both because he’s had success vs. Tampa Bay in his career and it’s about time any of the three running backs gets mentioned on this list and goes out and runs his butt off. If there’s a man for the job, it’s PT. Pierre is at his best when fresh. That statement obviously holds true for most running backs, but especially Pierre. Lots of fans have complained about Mark Ingram being in New Orleans and getting carries and even Darren Sproles’ rushing attempts have drawn a few sighs when things have gotten bad. Fans wonder, “Pierre is very talented, so why don’t they just give him 20 carries a game?” Well, the answer is because he is best when he’s fresh. He fought with numerous nagging injuries a few years ago and that’s because he was getting nearly 20 carries a game. The reason why he had success last year with popping off big runs here and there, was because there were 2 or 3 other guys to help carry the load. With the Saints also coming off of a bye, Pierre will be as fresh as Week 1 and ready to help the offense get back to normal.
Lance Moore
Since the last description was so long, we’ll keep it short and sweet here. Lance is a player to watch, because he looks to be back from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Saints’ last game vs. San Diego. Although he typically performs much better in the Superdome, he could be in for some extra targets with Jimmy Graham banged up. It’s still unknown whether Graham will be able to play or to what capacity if he does, but Moore will have to pick up the slack. The underneath and middle of the field will be where Drew looks for his safety valve all day and Moore is certainly capable of coming up big.
Aaron Kromer (Coach to Watch)
This will be Kromer’s final game as interim interim head coach and it could be his final dress rehearsal before hopefully earning a full time head coaching position in the NFL. He’s had two weeks to prepare, so expect him to come out ready to go with a solid game-plan. He’s done an admirable job in a tough spot, so hats off, Coach Kromer.
Prediction
I believe two Sundays ago was the start of an impressive run to make the impossible happen and make a run at the playoffs. A win this week would make me feel even better and I believe the Saints will deliver.
New Orleans – 27
Tampa Bay – 24
Who Dat?!
