The New Orleans Saints will meet the Philadelphia Eagles in one of the most anticipated games of Week 3 of NFL play. The Saints enter 2-0, having outscored the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys 91-29 in the first two weeks. Philadelphia enters at 1-1, having lost 22-21 at home to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.
New Orleans is gaining national notice due to the performance of their offensive thus far. Their defense, ranked eighth overall, has caused five turnovers.
The Saints will face an Eagles attack with plenty of weapons.
Philadelphia is sixth in total offense and boasts one of the league’s more balanced groups. While their rushing game offers a particularly difficult task, the Eagles have the weapons to win games in the air.
Here’s a closer look at one part of Sunday’s game.
Saints Pass Defense Versus Eagles Passing Attack
The Saints are 20th against the pass after two weeks. However, those statistics are misleading because New Orleans had large leads in both games, forcing opponents to pass more and the Saints to relax defensively late in the game.
New Orleans has limited opponent passers to a 56% completion rate, intercepting them four times and allowing only one touchdown pass. They have a suffocating coverage unit that has helped the Saints rank in the top ten against the pass for three of the last four years.
Marshon Lattimore, an elite cornerback, returned to practice on a limited basis after missing Week 2 due to a hamstring issue. Lattimore can shadow the majority of the league’s top receivers with little assistance one-on-one. He not only consistently shuts them down, but his ability to do so helps the defense to be more aggressive and innovative in their overall strategy.
Even without Lattimore, the Saints have a strong bunch of cornerbacks. Paulson Adebo is building on his greatest year of his career with one interception, three passes broken up, and a 45% completion percentage when targeted in two games. Rookie second-round pick Kool-Aid McKinstry has shown tremendous promise in his limited reps thus far.
Alontae Taylor has had an excellent start to his third season. Taylor has looked much better in the slot and has developed into a great playmaker. Tyrann Mathieu, Will Harris, and Jordan Howden are also making several plays every game. The entire unit has blanketed receivers, lured quarterbacks into making mistakes, and sacked pass catchers as soon as a reception occurs.
Not to be outdone, a trio of Saints linebackers can make plays in both coverage and pass rush. Even at 35, Demario Davis is still one of the NFL’s best defensive players. Davis is a disruptive blitzer, but he also possesses excellent man coverage skills and zone instincts.
Pete Werner performs better against the run than the pass, but he may still be effective in short zones. Willie Gay Jr. comes from Kansas City with exceptional athleticism and pass coverage skills. He, like Davis, possesses the quickness to stay with backs or tight ends in man coverage while also closing on the ball quickly from zones.
The Saints’ pass rush has been relatively quiet statistically, but it has the ability to make a significant difference. So far, New Orleans has seven sacks, three of which have come from its defensive line. That is not to say that the unit did not have an impact.
Carl Granderson has 1.5 of those sacks, trailing just Alontae Taylor’s three on the squad, and nine pressures. Young may just have half a sack, but he has six pressures and many hurries despite continual double teams.
The positive performances of Young and Granderson have lowered the number of reps for veteran Cameron Jordan. However, he remains an important element of the defensive units and will undoubtedly have an impact as the season unfolds.
Jordan and DE Payton Turner have the size and strength to shift inside in some pass rush packages. This helps the inside rush, which already has a rising star in second-year defensive tackle Bryan Bresee. Nathan Shepherd, an underrated defensive tackle, also has good inside push and a decent pass rush.
