The New Orleans Saints are set to continue their journey across enemy lines as they travel to the home of the 12th man, Century Link Field, to battle Russell Wilson’s Seattle Seahawks. While they played in those hostile Northwest confines earlier season, it was a game Saints fans choose to forget. However, this time will be different. The mistakes, missteps, miscalculations of the most recent tilt are things of the past.
The Saints come into this game with a lot of momentum after a road win in Philadelphia against the league’s number one rushing offense. It was a game that many prognosticated that New Orleans could not win, and early on it looked to be just as disastrous as the first meeting with Seattle.
The difference? Drew Brees did not allow a few mistakes made in the first half of the game set the tone for the remainder, unlike the first meeting with the Seahawks where after a sack, fumble, recovery and touchdown by the ‘Hawks, the stage was set for the Saints to go back to NOLA with another road game lost.
There is no single reason I could ever come up with to pinpoint why New Orleans lost to Seattle in the fashion they did; poor decision-making, even worse play calling, and a lack of execution all made that game a disaster from the jump, and those aren’t little things. But with the win in Philadelphia, no easy feat in itself, the Saints have proven not only to all the nay-sayers but to themselves that they can go into another team’s house and get the job done against all odds, with a raucous crowd and weather being the biggest factor.
So let’s crunch some numbers here. The odds seem stacked in Seattle’s favor, but if we look closely we see a potentially different tale.
*Wilson – 257/407 for 3357 yds with 26 touchdowns and 9 interceptions
*Brees in comparison has the better stats – 446/650 for 5162 yds 39 touchdowns and 12 INTs
Okay, Wilson may have fewer interceptions, but in comparison with the amount of yards thrown by Brees, it equals out.
The more veteran quarterback often prevails in January football.
Seattle has had an almost perfect record in the run game, ranked 4th in league, while Saints rank 25th.
However, New Orleans has almost the reverse in the pass game, ranked 4th in league, Seattle ranks 26th.
This makes for an interesting game ahead.
What did we learn about the Saints from the Eagles game?:
- Sean Payton’s ability to dig deep into his playbook early on in the game and really shake things up with an onside kick off the top
- The defense showing some very good discipline. Adjusting quickly to read the offense with great precision. Rob Ryan really shone in this one proving that he can contain the QBs abilities and stuff the run
- Drew Brees not letting the interceptions thrown in first half of the game render his judgement or make him back down. Remaining in control and using the mistakes as a reason to go that much harder
Keys to success this game for NOLA:
- Protect Brees- with having read exactly how to expose the weakness in New Orleans ability to keep Brees safe in pocket, Seattle will stop at nothing to do the same this time
- Don’t wait for the big plays- as I said last week, consistent plays to get them down the field. Seattle will shut down all possibilities of a Brees to Graham or a Brees to Colston scenario. They will have to allow Ingram to run ball, allow Moore to get involved, get the ball to Watson
- Be resourceful, plan for a worst case scenario, adjust where things need to be as they happens. Utilize all play makers’, but balance it out
- Pay attention to hand signals- crowd noise levels will be record breaking, so this means New Orleans front line needs to watch everything in front of them, look to Brees for instructions and not fall victim to the 12th man, so to speak
- Stay the course- discipline, patience and trust in your coaches’ ability to choose the right play.
Going into last week’s game I doubted if New Orleans could really get the win. I’m a ride or die fan, but even I had to be a realist. I also said if New Orleans could win in Philly against the Eagles than they had what it takes to go all the way. I believe that still to be true.
Seattle may have the 12th man, but New Orleans brings the Millions of Who Dat Nation with them.
-Who Dat
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