The New Orleans Saints will close out their preseason schedule with a Saturday afternoon showdown against their former Head Coach, Sean Payton, and the Denver Broncos.
The offense – more specifically the quarterback position – will be put under a microscope this weekend. I’m not sure how many, if any, of the Broncos starters will be playing, but they’re projected to have one of the best defenses in football in 2025, so this should be a great test for the Saints’ offense.
Here are three things I want
to see from the Saints’ offense in their preseason finale.
Either quarterback to run away with the job
I’ve been a big proponent of Tyler Shough winning the QB battle unless they are 100% certain Rattler is the better QB (which I’m not sure they are). However, at this point, I just want one of them to separate themselves and have the fanbase feel good about whoever it is that’s starting week one.
If they both perform similarly on Saturday, whoever they choose to be the starter will be controversial. If it’s Shough, the Rattler crowd will cry about how it was never a fair fight. If it’s Rattler, people are going to complain about how they drafted a 26-year-old rookie and didn’t start him right away. No matter what, someone’s going to complain, but I hope one of these guys separates themselves and proves they deserve to be the Saints’ starting QB.
A solid performance from the OL
The offensive line has not been great thus far. There have been some great individual performances, such as Kelvin Banks in pass protection, but we’re yet to see the whole unit sustain a solid drive both in the pass and run game.
Eric McCoy is unlikely to play on Saturday. I would imagine the rest of the starting offensive line will get at least a couple of drives with Rattler at QB. I don’t need to see them light it up, I just want to see some consistent pockets and a few open running lanes. Again, this Broncos defense is good, so it doesn’t need to be perfect, just better than it has been. Because without McCoy, the line has looked pretty bad, especially in the middle.
Another Mason Tipton show
Mason Tipton has been a name on Saints fans’ radar since last preseason. He didn’t get to show much in the regular season, but this preseason, he’s been standing out again. He went for 100 yards against the Jaguars last week, and I hope he can have another solid performance this week.
I know the Saints just brought in Devaughn Vele and Tipton will likely be WR5 at best this season, but he’s so much fun to watch, and I really hope they continue to give him chances. If he has another big game like he did last week, it’s going to be hard to keep him off the field much longer.
I want to come out of this game knowing who the Saints’ starting QB is going to be, and feel good about where the offensive line is at. If those two things happen, I’ll feel better going into the two-week break before the regular season. But if they leave us with more questions than answers, it’s going to be a long couple weeks.
