Saints Win Over Lions Should Set Tone for Rest of Season
DETROIT -- The Saints are 2-2 after Sunday's victory over the Lions, and it didn't come so easily. The team looked rough early, finding themselves in a 14-0 hole less than five minutes into the game. However, as we alluded to in our Pregame Show and discussed on Sunday morning, it was simply time for the pieces to come together for New Orleans, and that's what happened for Sean Payton's team.
The Saints rattled off 35 straight points, scoring in a variety of ways. Drew Brees looked good and much more comfortable with his receivers, the run game with Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray was stout again, and some adjustments were made defensively to help stop the bleeding. Emmanuel Sanders and Tre'Quan Smith were in sync with Brees, while the running game finished with 164 yards. New Orleans probably had the best weapon of all to help without their starting two cornerbacks, and that was time of possession. The Saints held the ball for 36:46, nearly 61 percent of the game.
Of course, getting a huge lead, especially against the Lions, was a false sense of security, almost reminiscent of the 2017 matchup. Detroit would do enough to make things interesting late, especially after converting a 2-point conversion. It felt like all that hard work and how good the Saints actually looked would get overshadowed and be all for naught again. However, good teams finish, and that's what New Orleans did.
Sunday was one of those victories that could help boost the team for the rest of the year. Yes, the odds had the Saints favored to win by 3 points, but down six starters and facing all of the craziness from the night before regarding the COVID-19 testing could have very well broken them. It's still early in the season, but this could be a crucial turning point in the team's year.
The Saints will get a Chargers team who looked to upset Tom Brady and the Bucs, and they had a great chance to after going up 24-7 by halftime. However, Tampa Bay battled back and didn't give up, and that's the type of grit you want to have with your team. New Orleans is likely going to enter this week with a CVS receipt-like injury list, as they lost Deonte Harris, Justin Hardee Sr., and Ryan Ramczyk (concussion) throughout the game. Others like P.J. Williams, Patrick Robinson, Tre'Quan Smith, Terron Armstead, and Trey Hendrickson got hurt, but returned to play.
Both the extra day of rest and Week 6 bye will be a blessing in disguise for the Saints. For now, it's good to savor a hard-fought victory and monitor what happens going forward. Most importantly, players like Michael Burton and Alvin Kamara can finally get some much-needed sleep.
