Two contenders in the NFC will battle in primetime when the Green Bay Packers (2-0) travel south to play the New Orleans Saints (1-1) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 3.
The battle between quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees and coaches Matt LaFleur and Sean Payton could be a potential playoff preview.
To help break down Sunday night’s showdown, we sat down with John Sigler, the managing editor of Saints Wire, to get answers to these five questions:
1 People are already writing the obituary of Drew Brees. It's all premature, right? Or are there real reasons for concern?
Saints Wire: It might be! This isn’t even the worst two-game stretch we’ve seen from Brees, but it is part of a year-over-year decline that’s required the Saints to change how their offense operates. Right now they have a very thin margin for error that relies on Brees being pinpoint accurate in the 5-19 yard range, relying on his receivers to win contested-catch situations and create yards after the catch. The timing has been off on too many throws through two weeks and his receiving corps has had some miscues that made him look worse, so there’s plenty of blame to go around. Maybe Brees just needed a few weeks to knock off the rust.
2 The Packers have faced two overmatched CB groups the first two weeks. How have the Saints CBs looked to start 2020?
Saints Wire: Marshon Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins have looked great. They matched up very well with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in Week 1, and made the Raiders wideouts even more of an afterthought in Week 2. After those two at the top, you’ll see safeties like C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Malcolm Jenkins getting on the field more often than No. 3 cornerback P.J. Williams, who is listed as a CB/S this year and moves around a lot as the dime back. Except for DPI penalties, there isn’t much to complain about in the secondary, but that’s a big allowance to make considering how many big plays they’ve given up for free.
3 WR Michael Thomas might not play, but the Saints have a star in RB Alvin Kamara. Who else on the Saints offense should scare the Packers?
Saints Wire: Former Packers tight end Jared Cook has been the main receiving threat after Kamara so long as Thomas is sidelined. He and Brees were dangerous down the stretch last season (averaging 22 yards per catch in December), and he’s gotten many looks through the first two weeks. They also connected on the longest play of the season with a 45-yard pass. The Saints love to move Cook around the formation and get him lined up against smaller linebackers in coverage; expect them to try and stretch the field early with Cook running routes deep into the Green Bay secondary.
4 The Saints are allowing 4.9 yards per play (third best), but they gave up 12 third or fourth down conversions against the Raiders. What happened there?
Saints Wire: Las Vegas just played the hits against the Saints, which meant finding whoever tight end Darren Waller was on and throwing to him. Waller converted 8 first downs against the Saints, which is almost as many as the rest of the Raiders pass-catchers combined (10). And he did it against 9 different Saints defenders in coverage. New Orleans just didn’t have an answer for him. Whether it was man or zone coverage, Waller got through, and the Saints pressure packages failed to get after Derek Carr. But I anticipate a strong bounce back as the season continues, because the Saints defense has been very strong on late downs in recent years.
5 The Saints win if...?
Saints Wire: New Orleans can win this game if they play with better discipline. If they don’t allow many penalty yards (they lead the league through two weeks), if they’re committed to finding their run fits against Aaron Jones, and if they can match up with the Packers receivers, the defense can hold up long enough for the offense to put a few nice drives together. And that will happen if Brees can get back in rhythm with his receivers.
"wire" - Google News
September 25, 2020 at 06:21AM
https://ift.tt/33YbLOl
Packers vs. Saints preview: Going behind enemy lines with Saints Wire - Packers Wire
"wire" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YtvSDd
https://ift.tt/2VUOqKG
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Packers vs. Saints preview: Going behind enemy lines with Saints Wire - Packers Wire"
Post a Comment