New Orleans Saints Review

After beating up on the New England Patriots with a 38-17 win on Monday Night Football, the Saints will travel to FedEx Field to take on the 3-8 Washington Redskins with a chance to clinch the NFC South crown.

The Skins have suffered two very difficult losses against Dallas (7-6) and Philadelphia (27-24) in consecutive weeks.  It will be interesting to see how they respond after losing a couple of games that they easily could have won.

Washington is offensively challenged, to say the least.  They average just 15.5 points per game, good for 29th in the NFL.  Quarterback Jason Campbell hasn’t been all that productive and has thrown 12 TDs against 11 INTs this season.  Running back Clinton Portis has missed significant time with a concussion, and it has hurt the Redskins offense.  Couple that with a porous offensive line, and it’s easy to see why this unit has struggled so much.

Defensively, the Redskins are doing quite well.  They are 10th in points per game (18.6), 7th in yardage (298.3) and 2nd against the pass (170.4).  On the downside, they are giving up 127.9 rushing yards per game, which ranks 25th.

For the Saints, some seem to think that this could be a letdown game after that emotional win against the Patriots.  But we’ve heard that before this season and the Saints have been able to maintain focus throughout.  There’s no reason to believe that won’t continue this week in Washington.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams may be coaching with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, as he held the same position with the Redskins a few years ago.  He was passed over for the head coaching job after Joe Gibbs left and instead the Skins hired Jim Zorn (how’s that working out?).

Campbell has been sacked a whopping 30 times this season and so you have to believe that the Saints will bring pressure from all angles.  The Washington QB does not appear to have the confidence of the coaching staff and they generally don’t throw the ball down the field.  With the rate that the Saints defense creates turnovers, Campbell could be in for a long day.

On offense, the Saints will certainly face pressure from a very good Washington defense.  Defensive end Andre Carter (9 sacks) and rookie linebacker Brian Orakpo (7 sacks) are among the best in the league at getting to the QB.  Linebacker London Fletcher is 4th in the NFL with 102 tackles and is all over the field.

Still, the Saints simply have more weapons than the Redskins can cover.  And their running game can slow down the pass rush.  It’s just a matter of playing smart football, as they’ve done the past two weeks against Tampa Bay and New England.  Because there is no way that the Redskins offense can trade scores with the Saints for an entire game.

Keys to the Game
1. Get on Campbell – Jason Campbell is struggling and the Saints know how to bring pressure.  That doesn’t bode well for the already stagnant Washington offense.

2. Offensive gumbo - One of the keys to the Saints season so far is how well they’ve mixed up their offense.  Opposing defenses don’t know what’s coming.  While the Redskins have a strong unit, Sean Payton’s play-calling can slow them down significantly.

3. No easy yards – I have a feeling that if the Saints defense plays to its potential early in this game, it could seriously demoralize the Redskins.  Washington wants to run the ball and use the short passing game.  The Saints must keep the play in front of them and be sure-handed in their tackling.  Don’t allow yards after the catch.

4. Fundamentals - The Saints have played two very fundamentally sound games in a row after some struggles in previous games.  We’re now in the stretch run of the season and, ideally, you want to start playing your best football as you move into the playoffs.

5. Remember the Alamo - FedEx Field hasn’t been all that kind to the Saints in recent years.  They suffered a heart-breaking loss there last season.  Even though the Skins are struggling, they still must be taken seriously.

Prediction:  Saints 30 – Redskins 13

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 8:56 am and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.