First Look: Chargers vs. Saints
The Saints (2-2) are set to host the Chargers (1-3) on Monday Night Football to close out Week 5. There were some concerns that developed yesterday regarding Hurricane Delta, which could have made the team evacuate and play at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, but that storm threat has shifted further west, and it's game on in New Orleans.
Here's some things we'll be paying attention to over the next few days, as the team starts practice on Thursday.
What to Watch For
Will key players return and what does health look like this week? The Saints were down six starters against the Lions last week, and overcame a major hole to eventually power their way to a win. Jared Cook (groin), Michael Thomas (ankle), Andrus Peat (ankle), Janoris Jenkins (shoulder), Marshon Lattimore (hamstring), and Marcus Davenport (elbow/toe) are among the players we are paying attention to for the first injury report. New Orleans also saw itself lose Ryan Ramczyk on Sunday due to a concussion, while other players like Deonte Harris and Justin Hardee Sr. left the game early.
Can New Orleans keep the momentum going? Offensively, Drew Brees looked more like what we were expecting him to against the Lions. Any time Brees can get things going is a good sign, and it wasn't just him. Both Tre'Quan Smith and Emmanuel Sanders had strong games, and that chemistry was really good to see. Of course, some have suggested that 'it's just the Lions', and we want to see a repeat performance out of the Saints. The run game has been on fire with Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray, so leaning on that again would be a good way to keep it going.
Clean-up time. Defensively, the Saints still have a few things to fix and address. Early on against the Lions, they gave up three straight 3rd down conversions. The concerning thing was all of them were 3rd and 7 or longer. That's not what you want to see when you do well on the first two downs. The good news is that Dennis Allen's defense made the adjustments, going 4-of-11 afterwards. The team had four penalties on the day (67 total yards), and three of them were on the defense. The two on Alex Anzalone were questionable, and it wiped an interception off the board. The one against Marcus Williams was just a bad look.
Monday Night Magic. Justin Herbert is the young gunslinger coming into the Superdome ready to duel with Drew Brees, but we know this game is more about Brees and playing against the team that drafted him. This game was supposed to have way more pomp and circumstance, and was set to have fans. However, that's not an option, and it is what it is. The Saints lost their previous Monday Night Football matchup against the Raiders in Week 2, but this is a team who still does well on ESPN. They're 11-6 since 2010, and they tend to show out at home. Brees is 16-8 on Monday Night Football, and 11-5 at home with the Saints. New Orleans has scored 30 points or more in 12 of their 24 Monday Night Football games, and are 11-1 when they get to that point threshold.
