The Good: Tyler Shough and Chris Olave
Shough and Olave once again had a great day, as Shough threw for 252 yards and Olave went for 86 yards while the pair connected for the game tying touchdown. Juwan Johnson and Devaughn Vele also had very good days, as they each converted a few tough third downs and had 60+ receiving yards in their own right. Shough is the NFL’s passing yards leader through two games and Olave trails only Jaxon Smith-Njigba in receiving yards. This combination is only going to continue to get better as the season
goes along, as after two tough road games to start the year the Saints now have three very winnable games in the Superdome over the next three weeks before they head to New York and then Paris.
The Bad: Rushing offense
The Saints trailed much of the game, so they did not need to rely on the ground game that much, but even still they did not produce much in that area this week. As a team they ran 27 times for 65 yards which is an average of 2.4 yards per carry. This is going to be a problem if they manage to get a lead early in some of their next few games against weaker opponents and need to milk the clock a bit, as so far through two weeks the Saints and new addition Travis Etienne Jr. are averaging just 3 yards per carry on the ground. The Ravens and Lions both have above average run defenses, but still we need to see a bit more considering how good we know Etienne and Alvin Kamara can be.
The Ugly: Another slow start
The Saints started slow again on Sunday, thankfully not as slow as they did last week in Detroit but they still eventually needed a +15 point fourth quarter to secure the win. The defense kept it close throughout as they had a very good day and deserve a lot of recognition for the win. The offense managed just three field goals through the first three quarters before turning it on in the fourth. They did not have any turnovers like last week but only had one drive of more than 50 yards before the fourth quarter. While exciting, this is a dangerous game to be playing week in and week out, and lets hope that the Saints returning home against lesser competition will have them take and hold a lead throughout a game rather than having to rely on fourth quarter comebacks most of the time.
