Week 9 Key Match-Ups To Watch vs New Orleans
It’s a Week 1 rematch between division rivals fighting for the #1 Spot.
It’s the prime time Sunday Night game. It’s must-watch.
Tonight’s game is full of storylines. Brees and Brady are playing tug of war with NFL All Time Passing Touchdown record.Both teams featuring potential big-time players returning.
You can take a look at the previous match-up preview between returning WR Michael Thomas and the 3-Man rotation at CB here. You can also check out the match-up preview between Brees and Devin White here.
Both of those previews still stand up pretty well today.
Now, we’re taking what we learned from that game and applying it to the prime time game tonight.
Who learned the most from the first game this year?
Who has improved the most from then to now??
Gronkowski, Brate & Hudson vs New Orleans LBs
In Week 1, the game was marred by interceptions, penalties and blocking issues. Among the biggest issue, though, was the offensive game plan. The Arians/Leftwich braintrust decided to deploy boy Rob Gronkowski and O.J. Howard as additional tackles for the vast majority of the game. Gronkowski played 54 offensive snaps and was targeted just 3 times in the game. Howard played fewer snaps(37) and got targeted 6 times. Cameron Brate only looked at once on his 7 opportunities to touch the field.
The decision of not utilize the TEs more was most curious. Spreading out the New Orleans LBs and additional CBs to allow 1-on-1 opportunities on the outside as well as opening up the middle of the field for Ronald Jones just made too much sense to ignore. Yet, Arians and Leftwich did just that. And it made the offense that much more limited and overall predictable.
The following week, the Las Vegas Raiders exploited the New Orleans LBs by throwing to TE Darren Waller 16 times. He ended up with 12 receptions and 105 yards against them.
There’s no reason the combination of Gronkowski, Brate and Hudson can’t put that kind of pressure on the sAints’ LBs.
NONE.
Demario Davis, Alex Anzalone and Kaden Ellis have a grand total of 1 pass defended all season.
Let’s see if Arians and Leftwich have learned their lesson.
Mike Evans vs Lattimore & Friends
While the ball shouldn’t be forced to Evans or anyone for that matter, he should definitely be one of the priorities of the game plan tonight.
With Mike Evans feeling close to 100%, it would be a great opportunity for him to break out. He got 4 targets in the last game. He ended up with 1 catch for 2 yards.That’s just not indicative of how good Evans is.
It should also be noted that Evans drew two defensive pass interference calls that would’ve likely resulted in catches. One might have even gone for a TD.
The New Orleans pass defense is boo-boo! They’ve allowed 19 TDs so far this season. And they’ve come away with only four INTs. And two of them were in Week 1 against us.
Our own Carlton Davis has 4 interceptions on the year.
If the BUCS can succeed in spreading the sAints DBs and LBs like they did against the Raiders, Evans could have a helluva game. It did wonders for Scotty Miller.
For the vast majority of the Week 1 game, Marshon Lattimore was covering Mike Evans man-to-man. With the continuing emergence of Scotty Miller as well the possible presence of both Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown, it’s gonna be interesting to see if New Orleans is made to shake up their approach with coverage on Evans.
But if he gets matched up with Evans once again, it’s advantage Evans given the fact that lesser WRs have done well in recent past.
Mike Evans thru Week 8
Marshon Lattimore thru Week 7
Devin White vs Alvin Kamara
Since Michael Thomas has been out, Alvin Kamara has been the most potent receiver for New Orleans. He’s led the team in receiving in all but 2 games since Thomas’ exit in Week1.
But you already knew he was a threat there anyway.
Coming into tonight’s match-up, Devin White is need of a bounce back game after his showing in New York. You could say the whole Team is. But he, in particular, had an off game.
The numbers won’t tell story as he came away with 7 Tackles including 5 solo and 2 for losses. But his pass coverage deficiencies and bad tackling tendencies were on display. He gave up the TD on a really good throw and really good catch early in the game. Can’t blame him for being imperfect. However, he ended up playing a bit hesitant for much of the game after that.
Going up against a dual threat like Kamara is gonna be a real challenge for our guy.
There’s no reason to worry that he’ll carry over his up-and-down performance from the Giants game into this one. He doesn’t have a history of back-to-back slump games. Still, that match-up is one to keep an eye on.
The Vita Vea Effect
In the previous game, New Orleans didn’t have much success running up the middle. At least, not by yardage. They gained 35 yard running between the guards. That was, in LARGE part, due to the presence of Vita Vea.
With Vea out, it may be easier for the sAints to try rushing up the gut. Steve McClendon can definitely help like he did in his first game with the Team. But he wasn’t much of a relief in New York.
Against New York, the defense gave up 46 yards up the middle with much lesser talent. That rushing attack went on to gain over 100 yards rushing against the BUCS for the first time since Week 11 last year.
Also, Todd Bowles went to his 2 down linemen front with Suh and Gholson on the inside with Pierre-Paul and Barrett standing to rush on the outside much of last week. This is what he was used to doing with Vea and Suh. Let’s see if that continues.
Pay attention to whether or not New Orleans tries to prioritize running the ball on the interior early in the game to draw both Lavonte David and Devin White in. If they’re successful, it could end up loosening things up for their short pass attack which is featured with Michael Thomas.
X-Factor: Offense
OFFENSIVE LINE/Ronald Jones.
If Ronald Jones can get going early, he can set up a lot of the BUCS offense tonight. As much as some may hate it, the offense may be predicated on the run once again. This time, due to weather.
With New Orleans missing Sheldon Rankins in the interior of the their defensive line, Jones could be primed to make some big plays.
This all depends on how the offensive line handles the absence of Ali Marpet at LG. Some creative blocking assignments could help. Maybe we see Donovan Smith and Tristan Wirfs pulling more.
X-factor: Defense
Antoine Winfield Jr.
With Michael Thomas returning, Winfield Jr. should see a lot of him crossing the field on his patented slants. I expect to see Winfield Jr. with a few opportunities to get some bit hits on the big time receiver and possibly a few shots at INTs.
He could also see a whole lot of action down in the box to help with blitzing in the absence of Vita Vea. Getting pressure on Brees will be a top priority and the young safety is a helluva weapon in that area.
Bold Play Prediction
-2 Turnovers caused by the Defense. 1 INT by Carlton Davis
New Orleans has had at least 1 turnover in all but 1 of their last 4 games.
-2 QB Hits and 1 Sack by Winfield Jr.
The young fella shows his versatility and gets to Brees
-2 TDs passes to Mike Evans
Evans breaks the “Lockdown Lattimore” narrative and we get a re-imagining of this:
