In the 2010s, the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints were one of the sneaky better rivalries in football. Every time the two teams played, both teams seemed to be playoff-caliber teams, and every game felt like a big-time matchup.
The quarterback battles were always a headline when the two teams met, featuring matchups between Drew Brees and Alex Smith, Drew Brees and Colin Kaepernick, and Drew Brees and Jimmy Garoppolo.
On Sunday, we will see Mac Jones take on Spencer Rattler.
The 49ers will
look to move to 2-0 in New Orleans. Here are the numbers to know heading into the former NFC West matchup:
1,477
Mac Jones threw 1,477 of his 8,918 passing yards with the Patriots were to Kendrick Bourne, the most yards of any pass catcher Jones has targeted in his career.
With Brock Purdy slated to miss at least a couple of weeks with turf toe, the 49ers will call on former-Patriot Mac Jones to make the start on Sunday in New Orleans. With Jauan Jennings injuring his shoulder in the Week 1 win over Seattle and not practicing through Thursday, San Francisco signed former Patriot (and former 49er) Kendrick Bourne to shore up the receiver room.
The chemistry is already there, making one wonder if Bourne could be in for a big day with his former quarterback on Sunday.
While Jones targeted and had more completions to Jakobi Myers in his time with New England, Bourne was right behind Myers with 161 targets for 119 receptions in three seasons with Jones, good for 1,477 receiving yards. Only tight end Hunter Henry had more touchdowns from Jones (13) than Bourne’s 10 scores with Jones under center in Foxboro
Bourne can only help the 49ers’ receiving room, who, outside of Ricky Pearsall, didn’t do too much in the win against Seattle. Jennings only had two receptions for 16 yards before his shoulder injury ended his day early. Of the eight players to receive a target in Week 1, Pearsall and Jennings were the only two players listed as wide receivers to see a pass from Purdy, with Christian McCaffrey leading the team with 10.
Instead of Purdy to Brandon Aiyuk, like 49ers fans have become accustomed to the past few years, it could be Jones to Bourne for the next few weeks.
13
The Saints committed 13 penalties in Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals, tied with Tennessee for the most over opening weekend.
Week 1 was the debut of new Saints’ head coach Kellen Moore, and it’s safe to say there were some growing pains. Of the 13 penalties called against New Orleans, six were pre-snap against the Saints’ offense.
It took until the second quarter, but the first procedural penalty against New Orleans on Sunday was when Chris Olave was called for an illegal shift, and later on the same drive, the Saints were called for an illegal shift. Those two penalties did affect the drive much, however, as they both occurred on the Saints’ only touchdown-scoring drive.
Their next could have been more costly, when Dillion Radunz was called for an offensive offside on a quarterback sneak attempt on a third-and-1 (something that doesn’t seem to be called against the Eagles, but I’ll digress). While the penalty set the Saints’ offense back five yards, Spencer Rattler was able to find Olave to convert the longer third down.
The Saints were even called for an illegal formation on a Blake Grupe field goal attempt, but he would make the re-try. Maybe another week will clean up the sloppiness from Moore’s first game, but if the Saints have a repeat of Week 1, the 49ers have to take advantage.
4.9
Saints averaged 4.9 rushing yards per attempt against Arizona, ninth-highest in Week 1.
There was plenty of attention around the 49ers reworked run defense in Week 1. The new look defense held Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet, and company to just 86 yards on 26 rushing attempts, good for 3.2 yards per attempt.
The Saints will offer another rushing duo in Alvin Kamara and Keandre Miller, who combined for 69 rushing yards on just 16 rushing attempts. Kamara was the lead rusher, scoring the Saints’ only touchdown of the game on an outside run going for 18 yards in the end zone, but Miller was effective in his limited carries.
Where the Saints will differ from Seattle is the rushing threat at quarterback. Spencer Rattler is much more mobile than Sam Darnold, and that showed against Arizona. Rattler helped that rushing average in the Week 1 loss, rushing four times for 29 yards. If there was ever a complaint with Robert Saleh’s 49ers defense in his first tenure, it was the struggles against mobile quarterbacks.
The Saints didn’t run the ball a lot against Arizona – 46 pass attempts to 22 rush attempts – but that could change on Sunday. The presence of Rattler alone could make this a more challenging test for the San Francisco defense, and a good stress test before Kyler Murray comes to town in Week 3.
