The Saints flipped the script to revive their season
In large part, it’s a testament to the narrative-building power of the first two weeks of the NFL season that the New Orleans Saints have such a hard time being mentioned alongside the formidable teams in the league this season.
But how can that be? They’ve won a Super Bowl with their current head coach and quarterback. Even if that is getting close to a decade ago, Drew Brees remains one of the five best QBs in the NFL, even when Aaron Rodgers is healthy. Isn’t that most of battle in pro football? Conventional wisdom suggests it all just sort of falls into place when you have an elite QB. So how have the Saints allowed themselves to be written off?
This past Sunday, New Orleans became the first team since the 1993 Dallas Cowboys to start the season 0-2 and then win seven straight games. That Cowboys team, of course, ended up winning the Super Bowl in dominating fashion. It’s probably not a good idea to bestow predictive powers on a sample size of one, but it’s worth mentioning.
The way NFL media works, an 0-2 start means you start hearing about how a team’s season is already potentially over. You hear about must-win games in Week 3. You hear the annually belabored statistic about the low percentage of 0-2 teams that historically make the postseason.
Of course, an 0-2 start in 2017 wouldn’t scare so many fans if it hadn’t been preceded by three straight seasons of 7-9 finishes. The team traded away its best wide receiver in the offseason and pulled away from a deal to acquire cornerback Malcolm Butler. The defense had been among the league’s worst in four of the previous five years. Going into this season, there wasn’t much to build excitement around the Saints except for the fact that they had star running back Adrian Peterson as a backup.
That relationship didn’t even last one regular-season game before it started to sour. While doubtlessly some fans saw the sideline drama that went down between Peterson and Sean Payton during the Week 1 loss in Minnesota and thought it was Payton losing his grip on the team for the final time, it was prescient in another way.
In the last month, the Saints have radically changed their offensive philosophy. New Orleans went into its Week 5 bye with a record of 2-2. The Saints only rushed for more than 100 yards as a team in one of their first four games, while the defense rebounded somewhat in Weeks 3 and 4 after getting torched in the two opening losses.
Since then, the Saints have averaged 180 rushing yards per game. That’s goosed somewhat by Sunday’s staggering total of 298 against Buffalo, though the Saints’ lowest rushing output in that five-game span is 101 yards. Still plenty good.
Peterson was traded away during the bye week. That can be partially attributed to his discontent over lack of carries. It’s clear now that the Saints knew what they had in the duo of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara. In particular, Kamara has come on since the bye. With Peterson out of the picture, he’s gotten double-digit carries in three of the last five games. Against the Bills, he topped 100 yards for the first time in his career.
And where has Brees been through all this? Still playing well but not asked to do as much. Brees is virtually assured of Hall of Fame induction. It still was clear having him wing it around the field and put up huge stats wasn’t a winning formula for the Saints anymore. Brees isn’t going to lead the NFL in passing again this year. It’s getting increasingly likely, however, that it’ll be his first trip to the postseason since 2013.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a significant boost in the running game has paid off for the defense as well. Winning time of possession doesn’t mean everything, but it certainly has helped a maligned defense find its feet. On the road, the Saints made a Buffalo team that has exceeded expectations this season look inept on Sunday. Tyrod Taylor completed only nine of 18 passes for 56 yards and an interception — which surely played a part in Taylor's surprise benching this week.
New Orleans now ranks eighth in defense by yardage and is tied for fifth in scoring defense. That’s a dramatic leap from 2016, when the Saints placed in the bottom five in both categories. Rookie corner Marshon Lattimore has been a big difference maker. He had the allowed the lowest passer rating of any cornerback in the NFL going into Week 10.
He so frustrated Jameis Winston that the Bucs quarterback poked the back of the corner's head from the sideline, touching off a brawl that got Mike Evans suspended.
Respect will keep building as the wins pile up, but a big signature victory would surely help. Should the Saints take care of business this Sunday against Washington, that will set up a very intriguing game on Thanksgiving weekend between the Saints and the fellow suddenly resurgent Rams. The favorites in a wide-open NFC race should become much clearer after that game.
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