Gameday! The bye week truly felt like an eternity this year. No Saints football for two weeks was less refreshing than I hoped. Even at 1-3 I miss watching them. The good news (or potentially destructive news) is that we’ll now get Saints football for 12 consecutive weeks. It all starts today as they host the 1-4 Panthers, a division rival, as they try to climb back up the NFC Standings. We’ll be keeping an eye on Falcons-Seahawks too, of course, in hopes the Saints can narrow that division lead Atlanta has. Here’s five things I’m looking for coming off the bye week:
1. Drew Brees’s health.
I was concerned about Brees after the Chargers game. To me he doesn’t look right throwing the ball. He can put those worries at bay by coming out firing on this porous Carolina secondary. I have a feeling the Panthers saw the same thing on tape I saw, and they might dare Brees to throw a deep ball to prove he’s fine. Any chance at turning around the season hinges on Brees’s ability to stay healthy. I’m really hoping I see him looking like his normal self and I’ve been nervous about this.
2. Kill Cam Newton’s head.
Sorry, that’s a little crass. But I can’t help but remember Gregg Williams’s speech about Frank Gore, coming back from a concussion, and what the defensive players had to do to affect him. “Kill the head and the body will die”. I’m not advocating that they intentionally go out there and try to injure anyone. And no, I don’t think the Saints should go after Newton’s head. Head injuries are scary, and as much as I dislike Newton I don’t want to see him drooling at 48. But I think you can still take some of this metaphorically, or even to a lesser extent, literally. Football is a physical game and Newton is an MVP caliber player. He’s also coming back from injury and he might be rusty. Your best chance at slowing him down is to take your shots at him when you can. If he’s a runner, you have to punish him. Rattle him. Get in his head and affect his play. I want to see the Saints come out aggressively and punish him.
3. Linebacker rotations
I’m kind of at a loss for who plays at linebacker. We all want to see Stephone Anthony back on the field, but does it give the team the best chance at a win? Nathan Stupar played well against the Chargers – does he have an expanded role? What if James Laurinaitis and Dannell Ellerbe are healthy are ready to play? And we’ve seen Michael Mauti get some snaps too. The only thing I know for sure is that Craig Robertson deserves a prominent role. After that? I honestly have no idea how the rotation shakes out. Very curious to see.
4. Carolina’s not elite defense.
I can’t believe what I’ve seen from the Panthers on defense so far. The spotty secondary doesn’t surprise me as they lost some good players and they’re going with young guys. What SHOCKS me is the drop off in run support and pass rush. What happened? The front four of Charles Johnson, Kony Ealy, Star Lotulelei and Kawann Short is positively terrifying on paper. Add Luke Kuechly, maybe the best defender in football, with Shaq Thompson and Thomas Davis behind them? Even more terrifying. You look at those names and it feels like the #1 front seven in football. I have no idea how that front seven is stuffing runs or getting sacks on every drive. I fully expect them to turn it on, and soon. I just hope it’s not this week. And for what it’s worth, on paper, it’s not that bad. The Panthers are tied with 4 teams for 6th in the NFL in sacks, 11th against the run and 4th in yards per carry yielded. They’ve been good overall. They just haven’t been dominant. And if the Saints can expose their secondary early, it could open things up on the ground. Let’s not forget the Panthers were stronger on defense last year and Luke McCown and Brees took turns carving them up.
5. Home field advantage, or lack thereof
The Saints got lit up by the Falcons and upset by the Raiders at home this year. Already 0-2 in the Superdome. If you go back to last year, unbelievably, the Saints are 1-5 in their last 6 games at home. On the road, conversely, they are 4-3 in their last 7. It’s so weird that appear to have lost what was previously only defined as a “can’t lose” edge at home, and yet at the same time they’ve become so much more competitive on the road. You can’t really blame the fans – the Saints have great fans that sell out the dome and do their part. For whatever reason, they have not played their best football at home for a while now. I’d love to see them come out firing. The Saints laid an egg coming out of the bye week last year travelling to Houston – so I’m hoping they look sharper this time.
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