The New Orleans Saints made several mistakes in their preseason loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. With a week’s worth of adjustments and a joint practice, the Saints will host the Jacksonville Jaguars with hopes of having answers to their glaring issues.
Saints OL vs. Jaguars Pass rush
Last week, I had the Saints quarterbacks vs. the Jaguars pass rush as a key matchup. I thought the young QBs would be antsy in the pocket in the face of pressure and struggle against a real pass rush. While I was right, I think my confidence in the offensive
line to keep the quarterbacks safe dwindled quite a bit.
Left guard Trevor Penning went down during the first quarter with an injury and is expected to miss “some time,” says head coach Kellen Moore. Tackle Will Clapp faced a season-ending injury a few days after the Saints lost Nick Saldiveri to a season-ending injury.
Saints quarterbacks were sacked 5 times against Los Angeles and were under constant pressure. While it’s true that the young group of passers could’ve made better decisions in the pocket and found ways to get rid of the ball, the consistent pressure had made evaluating the quarterback competition that much harder. Now with an injured offensive line room, New Orleans will have to scheme better ways to keep their quarterbacks up.
Saints WRs/CBs vs. Travis Hunter
Second overall selection Travis Hunter appeared in the Jaguars’ preseason opener and finished the day with two receptions for 9 yards. While nothing exciting, Hunter is such a dynamic player and could take over at any time. It’s not confirmed how much, if at all, the second overall pick would play, but the Saints need to keep his impact as minimal as possible to keep the game close and let the young quarterbacks operate the offense normally.
If New Orleans is to go down early, the offense would be forced to be one-dimensional and pass only. On the opposite side of the ball, Hunter is disciplined in coverage and blankets an opposing receiver. While the versatility and dynamic play style of Hunter is exciting, the Saints could take advantage.
New Orleans could target Hunter in coverage after a long offensive drive for Jacksonville. Pending the former Colorado WR/CB’s role on Sunday, a heavy snap count could tire the Jaguars’ wideout, and he could see plenty of targets his way.
Saints’ defense vs. Jaguars’ run game
The run defense for New Orleans was lacking, to say the least, against the Chargers. Los Angeles ended the game with 148 rushing yards, averaging 4.4 yards a carry. Quarterback Trey Lance led the team in rushing yards, but running backs Raheim Sanders and Hassan Haskins each had large roles in the running game and averaged 4.2 and 5.5 yards per carry.
Fortunately for the Saints, the Jaguars didn’t have much of a rushing attack against the Pittsburgh Steelers, running for 66 yards on the day and averaging 3.9 yards a carry. The team’s leading rushers were rookie Bhayshuil Tuten and Tank Bigsby, who had the same stats of 6 carries for 24 yards. While Jacksonville didn’t have a big day running the ball to open the season, it’s likely an offense led by Liam Coen will work to get the run game started, and who better than one of the worst run defenses from a year ago?
