Welcome everyone to the latest game preview for the New Orleans Saints! This week, we look at the Saints matchup against the Washington Redskins!
Last Week: The Saints had another dominant game last Sunday against the Buffalo Bills on the road with a 44-10 victory. The Washington Redskins had a pretty competitive matchup against the Minnesota Vikings but came up short by the score of 38-30.
Last Meeting: The last time these two teams faced off, the Washington Redskins blew the Saints out of the water with a 47-17 win in 2015. The Redskins hold the overall series lead 6-2 and have won four of the last five matchups.
Storylines to Watch:
Trap Game? While the Saints seem to be on a roll as of late with seven straight wins and the last two being dominant wins, this is going to be the first true challenge for this red-hot team. Don’t let that 4-5 record that the Redskins have fool you, in terms of stats there are a lot of similarities between themselves and the Saints.
One of the biggest things that can keep Washington in it is Kirk Cousins. When you look at the quarterbacks that the Saints have faced off against during this win streak, you’ll see a lot of middle of the road QBs. Kirk Cousins may not be getting wins, but his numbers are pretty solid with 14 touchdowns and 2,474 yards through the air. Can this Saints pass rush, which has been phenomenal as of late, keep it going?
Keeping the Balance: It bears repeating, but the Saints balance between run and pass this season has been phenomenal and exactly what they needed. Just last week, the Saints ran the ball almost twice as much as they threw the football. That never happens in the NFL in 2017 and the Saints made it look easy.
While most of the runs came in after the game was well in hand, the performances of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara can’t be ignored and can really help when it comes to keeping the offense balanced. It’s been the winning formula lately, the biggest question is can they keep it up.
Controlling the Line: Going back to the Saints pass rush, they’ve been able to wreak havoc and create pressure during this win streak and it’s another week that the Saints face off against an offensive line that has had some tendencies to give up a lot of sacks.
In the last four games, Kirk Cousins has been attacked relentlessly getting sacked 15 times, six of which came vs the Seahawks just two weeks ago. While the sack numbers aren’t huge for the Saints in that category, the amount of times they’ve been able to pressure the mobile quarterbacks has been impressive to say the very least. If they can create a lot of pressure, it’ll make the Saints path to victory a little bit easier.
New Orleans Will Win If:
The Saints can make it eight in a row and guarantee they won’t finish 7-9 for the first time since 2013 if they can keep the offense balanced. This won’t be like the Bills game last week where a ten-play drive can consist solely of runs so you’ll need to have Brees perform well enough through the air to pull away from Washington.
Washington Will Win If:
The Redskins can pull off the upset if their offensive line can hold up against the Saints pass rush. That doesn’t mean keeping Cousins vertical though, it just means making sure that he isn’t forced to make any errant throws this season.
-Clint Domingue