Workmanlike. The
Saints reached the quarter pole of the season with a workmanlike 33-18 victory
over the New York Giants in New Jersey. On
paper, the Giants triumvirate of Eli Manning, Saquon Barkley, and Odell Beckham
should have matched up with the Saints trio of Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, and
Michael Thomas. But they didn’t. Brees and Thomas did not have their usual massive
statistics, but ball control is a wonderful thing. Alvin Kamara is beginning to look like an
Offensive Player of the Year candidate, if not MVP. He ran for 3 TD’s on the way to 134 yards rushing,
and now leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage, with 611. Third string quarterback Taysom Hill is playing more and more because of his versatility, and may have had the key play in
the first half when he got a first down on a fourth down pass on a fake
punt.
The Saints started slowly as several drives resulted in
field goals. But, suddenly the defense
got in a decent September performance, holding Odell to insignificance and Barkley
to crumbs. The Giants had a good drive
to begin the game, and a good last possession, but in between they did
little.
So, we are now one fourth of the way through a season of
high hopes. The Saints have rebounded
from that horrible first game to move to the top of the division with a 3-1
record. Brees has not thrown an
interception yet, and is completing 75% of his passes. Michael Thomas is averaging 10 catches a game. Kamara is all-world. Ingram returns from suspension this week, but
while he’ll get some carries, it may be that the Saints have to keep getting
Kamara the touches. He’s more than most
defenses can handle. The defense is
looking better and appears to be able to handle any team with one great
receiver. They don’t match up well against
a team with two superstar receivers (Atlanta.)
Fortunately, they can shoot-out with anyone, and are
beginning to rush the passer. Don’t buy
your Super Bowl tickets yet, but in the words of Cass Elliott, “It’s getting
better.”
No comments:
Post a Comment