What We Learned From the Saints In Week 15
NEW ORLEANS -- The Saints played one of their most complementary games of the season, and it couldn't have come at a better time of the year. New Orleans held the Giants to less than 200 yards of offense and played a fairly complete game to earn a convincing 24-6 win to close out their three-game home stand. Here's some of the many things we learned from the team after Week 15.
What We Learned From the Saints In Week 15
Dec 17, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Keith Kirkwood (18) celebrates with teammates after a touchdown catch against the New York Giants during the first half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
THE WIN HAS TO BE PUT TO REST QUICKLY
Let's start with the good. Obviously, this is a big win for the Saints, as they get back to .500 and have jumped into the second spot for the division. However, this is a short week and they have to turn the page quickly to focus on the Rams for Thursday Night Football.
Dennis Allen said in his opening statement, "Man, I was proud of our guys to come out and play the way they did today. Look, now we got to get ready on a short week to fly out to LA and play against the Rams."
Players like Alvin Kamara and many of the veterans are quite familiar with it, and it's just part of the game. The locker room feels like the confidence is growing, and this sets up a really interesting three games for New Orleans. I'd say it's 'best of three' here, but they should go for a clean sweep. Los Angeles is going to be a challenge, and hopefully the Saints are ready for it.
THIS WAS A FAIRLY COMPLETE, COMPLEMENTARY GAME
It's hard not to look at the details and see how well the Saints did in all three phases. When they play this style of football where all three phases are in fairly strong harmony, it produces tremendous results. It was far from perfect, but they didn't do the things that would typically see them finish on the other side of the coin. They got a lead, played lights out defensively and got strong contributions from special teams. You always want to be playing your best football going into the final stretch of the year, and we're not crowning anyone yet, but this is encouraging.
THE RED ZONE PERFORMANCE IS HEATING UP
Don't look now, but the Saints are 9/10 in the Red Zone over their past three games. The extra bonus day dedicated to working on it has helped tremendously. New Orleans hit on both of their opportunities today, with Keith Kirkwood getting into the end zone for the first time since 2018 (vs. Cowboys) and Jimmy Graham keeping his hot streak going. Derek Carr played a strong game, arguably his best with the Saints, finishing 23/28 for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns (134.8 rating). New Orleans is 5-0 now when Carr has 2 touchdown passes or more.
PLAYERS STEPPED UP
Not having Chris Olave or Ryan Ramczyk for this game was less than ideal, but New Orleans found a way. That was the big thing for me coming into this game. Could the Saints get the production from others? Considering Taysom Hill was virtually a non-factor too, I think the answer is a resounding yes. The tight end trio of Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau and Jimmy Graham were big, as well as getting big catches from Lynn Bowden, Rashid Shaheed and A.T. Perry. Let's also not forget how big Alvin Kamara was for the offense too.
A PASS RUSH WORKS WITH A LEAD
New Orleans finished with seven sacks. That was pretty impressive against a media phenom in Tommy DeVito. Tanoh Kpassagnon led the way with a career-high three, while rookie Bryan Bresee was right behind him with two and Demario Davis and Carl Granderson each had one. Having an established lead certainly helps here, as the Saints defense put the clamps down on the Giants offense. They had success even before it got to that point, but it's refreshing to see it all come to fruition.
