{"id":1962,"date":"2016-09-19T12:35:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T16:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=1962"},"modified":"2016-09-19T12:35:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T16:35:43","slug":"new-orleans-saints-week-two-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2016\/09\/19\/new-orleans-saints-week-two-takeaways\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Saints Week Two Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Orleans Saints<\/strong>\u00a0continued their losing streak and\u00a0are now\u00a00-2 after being defeated 16-13 by the\u00a0New York Giants<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0MetLife Stadium<\/strong>\u00a0in the final seconds of the game. This will be the second game in a row where the Saints have suffered a heart-wrenching loss during the last minute of play. There are several Saints Week Two takeaways.<\/p>\n

New Orleans Saints Week Two Takeaways<\/h2>\n

Tight End Coby Fleener Still Hasn’t Found his Groove<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Saints added\u00a0Coby Fleener<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>this off-season\u00a0by signing him to\u00a0a five-year, $36 million deal. Before the regular season even began, reports were circulating that\u00a0the former Stanford<\/strong> Cardinal\u00a0was having\u00a0trouble grasping the Saints playbook.\u00a0Fleener proved this to be true\u00a0In Week One when the Saints played the the\u00a0Oakland Raiders<\/strong>. In\u00a0New Orleans’ first game of\u00a0the season Fleener had only one catch and was targeted only four times.<\/p>\n

Fleener did not look much better\u00a0on Sunday against the Giants. He finished the game with only two catches for 27 yards\u00a0despite being targeted eight times. Fleener simply has not been able\u00a0to create the same dynamic with\u00a0Drew Brees<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>that Brees has had with previous tight ends since Brees joined the Saints\u00a0in 2006. At $7.2 million a year,\u00a0Fleener will need to make more\u00a0plays.<\/p>\n

An Already Dismal Cornerback Situation Just Became a Whole Lot Worse<\/strong><\/h3>\n

New Orleans lost their number one cornerback for six weeks during\u00a0their Week one\u00a0game against Oakland\u00a0when\u00a0Delvin Breaux<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>fractured his fibula.\u00a0P.J. Williams<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>was serving as the Saints\u00a0number one cornerback in Breaux’s place during\u00a0Sunday’s game. But Williams ended up leaving the stadium in an ambulance strapped to a board after he took two blows to the head. The first shot\u00a0came from the Giants tight end\u00a0Larry Donnell<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>and the second one came from his own teammate, Saints linebacker,\u00a0<\/strong>Craig Robertson<\/strong><\/a>. An unproven and inexperienced secondary in New Orleans\u00a0just became even more uncertain.<\/p>\n

The Saints Defense Came to Play<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When the Saints last played the Giants (in 2015), 101 points were scored and 13 touchdown passes were thrown. In a duel where similar offensive fireworks were expected, the result was a game of ball control and play action.<\/p>\n

The Saints have one of the worst ranked defenses in the league and little was expected of them going into their game against the G-Men. The Giants should have been able to exploit the Saints mediocre secondary, but that did not happen. Instead, the Saints defense kept the game limited to three field goals and no offensive touchdowns. The lone touchdown scored by the Giants\u00a0was when New York blocked a\u00a0Wil Lutz <\/strong><\/a>kick.<\/p>\n

The Saints defense forced three turnovers and\u00a0had two sacks. Head coach\u00a0Sean Payton<\/strong>\u00a0and defensive coordinator\u00a0Dennis Allen<\/strong>\u00a0could not have asked for more from this group. The highlights began when the Giants fumbled three straight possessions in the second quarter. The most damaging one came when\u00a0Ken Crawley<\/strong><\/a>‘s\u00a0hit forced a fumble from the Giants wide receiver\u00a0Victor Cruz<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The defense didn’t stop there and went for a hat trick.\u00a0Cruz’s fumble was followed by a sack by\u00a0Cam Jordan<\/strong><\/a>, which was the first sack of the season for the Saints. Jordan’s sack was immediately followed by a\u00a0sack by\u00a0Michael Mauti<\/strong><\/a>, which was the first sack of\u00a0Mauti’s career.<\/p>\n

The defense actually gave Brees the opportunities he needed, but\u00a0the offense was unable to capitalize against the Giants on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:<\/p>\n

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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n