Welcome everyone to the latest #4Downs where I break down what went right and what went wrong for the Saints! This week, it’s the New Orleans Saints matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
1st Down: Stellar Defense Big Difference
The Saints defense has been much maligned throughout the season. A lot of that is due to numerous injuries hurting the secondary, their first round pick being out for half of the season, and the linebacker corps underperforming. All the being said, this has been one of the best performances I’ve seen in some time. In the first half alone they allowed 97 yards. Having that kind of performance says a lot about how this defense has been able to make lemonade out of the proverbial lemons. It doesn’t hurt that they had some clutch turnovers in the second half.
2nd Down: Offense Continues to Click
Last week, the Saints were able to get their swagger back against one of the better defenses in the league in Arizona. It wasn’t the offensive flurry that was seen in terms of points on the board, but when you have a chance to ruin an opponent’s postseason chances, sometimes you need a performance that proves that it wasn’t a fluke. It would have been nice to see the same offense that was out there all season long, but beggars can’t be choosers. Drew Brees wasn’t phenomenal, but he didn’t need to be because of the stellar run game.
3rd Down: Angry Ingram Is a Good Ingram
Speaking of that rarely seen part of the Saints offense, it seems like Mark Ingram needs to be motivated to do more on the field. Last week, he was visibly upset due to not finishing out a big drive that he helped create. It seemed like another instance of a Saints player being frustrated that he’s not getting enough touches, but that might have been a spark the entire ground game needed. You had Ingram get to 90 yards on the ground and two scores and combine for 123 yards. What’s really nice is that the play calls had more of a balance as there were 34 pass attempts and 31 run plays. If there was more of that throughout the season, we might be talking about the postseason.
4th Down: Byrd’s Big Day
One of the biggest problems as it pertains to the Saints is that they have a hard time in terms of analyzing talent both in free agency and the draft. If you ask most Saints fans, Jairus Byrd has been one of the biggest whiffs in recent memory. This afternoon he looked like the player he was hyped up to be getting two picks that led to points being put on the board. This may not heal all the wounds that fans have, but it’s a start.
-Clint Domingue