Shedeur Sanders had a tough time translating what he saw from the New Orleans Saints
defense to what they showed him in Sunday's overtime loss. The Cleveland Browns quarterback gave the team some bulletin board material early in the week, with an attempt at expressing confidence taken as cockiness instead. Head coach Kellen Moore made sure those comments were shown in team meetings, and normally soft-spoken veterans like edge rusher Carl Granderson relished in putting Sanders down.After the game, and after that same Saints defense sacked him five times, Sanders took time to clear things up.
"I would say first and foremost, um," Sanders paused, considering his words. "My intention when referring to the Saints defense, and how they are, I was never
ever throwing a shot. Especially Granderson, so. I apologize if my words were taken out of context. Yeah. Yeah, so, I apologize for that being taken out of context. That's just how the media is sometimes, you know? But also that's on me for not making it very clear."
The Saints defense held Sanders in check for most of the afternoon; 41% of his yards came on two plays when wide receiver Denzel Boston beat cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry at the catch point (gaining 60 yards) and later when another rookie, KC Concepcion, broke a couple of tackles to cover a lot of ground after the catch (picking up 64). And the defense got the last laugh in overtime, flushing Sanders out of the pocket on an attempted two-point conversion to throw an incomplete pass. Whether or not he respected them going into this game, he sure does now.
New Orleans still has a lot of work to do in earning respect from the rest of the league, especially on defense. Brandon Staley's unit ranks 27th in points scored per game (27.0), 28th in passing yards per game allowed (236.6), and 29th in rushing yards per game given up (133.9). Just four defenses are worse on third down (47.2%). If the defense had done its job for all four quarters, this game wouldn't have gone to overtime in the first place. But it is what it is. We're on to Carolina.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Shedeur Sanders on Saints defense after getting sacked five times
