The preseason is mercifully coming to a close as we focus in on the final game against the Ravens before the regular season opener in Atlanta. I will be in attendance at this game tonight, though I’m not expecting much. The starters will be sitting almost across the board and the roster is set with maybe a handful of exceptions. This game is a useless formality and that becomes more and more the case with each passing season. The fact that this game commands the same face value price as a regular season game is a farce. The sooner the NFL does away with this fourth game, the better. That said, I plan to enjoy myself, and here’s what I’ll be looking for.
1. Injuries
This is the last time I’ll recycle this as a topic, but this represents one last chance for the Saints to lose a key player in game before things matter. I think the Saints have been banged up this year in training camp and preseason, but they’ve been very fortunate to sustain no major injuries to key players. Erik Lorig is the only injury that’s weighing on the team at this point, and maybe Kenny Stills (though a pulled quad probably doesn’t cost him a season or anything). This is the best situation I can remember in years going into week one. I doubt many starters will play, so the main guys won’t get a chance to get hurt, but there will still be some important guys in action. I remember backup tight end Billy Miller being lost for the season in this game in 2009, and that was a heartbreaker. The Saints can still lose players that have value to the team in this meaningless game. Let’s just get through it without anything major.
2. Kicker battle
This topic has come up a few times, too, but Derek Dimke and Shayne Graham are still in a heated battle. This is a final chance for one guy to separate from the other. I think Graham will win this job unless there is a stark difference between the two in Dimke’s favor in this game.
3. How does Bryce Harris play?
Harris is the primary backup tackle and I believe he will play an enormous amount in this game. The thing is, there’s really no other tackles on this roster that can cut it, and if Harris looks bad the Saints will need to pick up a tackle at final cuts from another team. I think there’s a good chance the backup tackle on the 53 man roster is not currently on the Saints’ roster, especially if Harris plays poorly. He needs to have a good game.
4. How do McCown and Griffin play?
This is the last chance for the backup QBs. I’m also going to look closely at who is holding on placekicks. McCown has been doing the majority of that, and that leads me to believe he’s won the backup job. The Saints wouldn’t be giving him a ton of special teams snaps unless they planned to have him on the roster. I believe the Saints will keep three quarterbacks on the 53 man roster this year, but McCown and Griffin both need a good showing to secure their spot.
5. Does anyone emerge to give himself a fighting chance at 53?
We’ve seen a handful of guys play huge in some of these preseason games. Senio Kelemete has looked really good at times, Derrius Brooks had an incredible interception this past weekend, Vinnie Sunseri had a monster game, Joe Morgan showed he can still stretch the field and the list goes on. I’m curious to see if anyone we don’t expect will have a big game and make the decision making process hard on coaches. Kasim Edebali is a name that keeps surfacing as an under the radar potential guy and Pierre Warren has been everyone’s favorite darkhorse for a while. Will one of the no names make a tremendous play?
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