The Saints finished their 2021 Adversity Tour with a 2 – 1 record by going into Foxboro and surprising the New England Patriots 28 – 13.
It shouldn’t have been that close. The Saints rode their solid ground game to a 14 – 3 halftime lead. P J Williams picked off rookie QB Mac Jones as they easily won the first half, even while missing 2 field goals. Then in the first 20 seconds of the second half, Malcolm Jenkins grabbed a bobbled room service pass and pick-sixed it. Saints were up 21 – 3 and I was more surprised than Patriot faithful.
Time to relax, right?
No, as the Saints stopped moving the ball. With QB Jameis Winston bouncing around the pocket like a pinball, the Saints slowly but surely left the door open for the steady Pats. A touchdown and a field goal brought it to 21-13 late in the fourth quarter Suddenly, it was a one possession game.
The Saints needed one of those time consuming, soul crushing drives, and that’s exactly what they got with the help of Taysom Hill. A steady, dominant drive consumed much of the fourth quarter and the Saints scored the final touchdown to put it away and left no time for the Patriots. Jones threw his 3rd interception of the game and the year, and now averages one a game. Welcome to the NFL.
Let’s face it, if the Saints can score 4 or 5 touchdowns a game, no matter how ugly, that will win most of their games. The defense, led by Demario Davis, looks strong, when healthy.
It is a testament to the Saints organization that they are 2 – 1 considering they’ve been on the road since Ida. When the Saints had to play all the games on the road after Katrina it was way uglier.
A couple of grades of interest after 3 games:
Winston – B- Not yet
suitable for shootouts. We are used to
Drew Brees hitting his back foot and the ball coming out. Jameis isn’t there yet. The entire receiving corp is new, so patience
is called for. Sean Payton has crafted conservative game plans to ease Winston into the year. In 6 weeks or so we'll know.
Defense – A- Great
defense when they are all on the field
Paulson Adebo – B looks like a 3rd round steal
Alan Trautman – D-
looking more and more like a bust.
Marquez Callaway – B with a great catch in the end zone, finally
showed what the buzz was about.
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