By Ross Jackson
NEW ORLEANS — With their Thursday night matchup drawing near, the New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos are set up for an emotional and hotly-contested matchup. Former head coaches and quarterbacks are making their return to New Orleans while two rookie quarterbacks and historically strong defenses are set to square off. One defense has seen some recent lows while the other is riding high. We’ve got you covered with what you need to know ahead of Thursday’s big primetime contest.
- Former Saints’ head coach Sean Payton makes his first return to New Orleans and former quarterback Drew Brees will be honored at halftime
A large storyline in this game will have nothing to do with the football played. Payton and Brees are treasures to the city of New Orleans, or at least Brees is. They brought the best football to the New Orleans Saints organization’s history and both will play a role in the emotion of Thursday night’s game. Payton will face a lot of resentment after choosing to leave the team two years ago. But he is also the coach credited with revitalizing the franchise and, in some ways, the city of New Orleans. While the Saints themselves will play down the return of Payton to New Orleans, as well they should, there is no denying the attention that will go to that element of the evening. Brees is being inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame, and will be honored at halftime. A moment that will surely be well-received by an excited halftime audience.
2. New Orleans may be without both top wide receivers
The Saints look like they will be thin at wide receiver for this game. Top wideout Chris Olave is working through concussion protocol, but the tight timeline from Sunday to Thursday may be challenging to meet. Meanwhile wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, the team’s biggest home run hitter, may miss extended time with a knee injury. That means rookie wideouts Bub Means and Mason Tipton will have much larger roles than they have this season to try to help the team’s passing game get going. Veteran wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. and tight ends Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau will be essential as well.
3. Denver’s opponents have missed an average of 10.3 tackles per game so far this year
We highlighted the Saints’ tackling woes in a story earlier this week. The team’s focus on getting its miscues under wraps on defense has been evident this week. Over the last two games, the Saints have missed more tackles against their opponents than the other teams their opponents have played. This week, the Saints would like to curb that habit. On average, Broncos opponents have missed 10.3 tackles per game against them. New Orleans would love to come in at less than that number for sure.
4. The Broncos are one of the best teams in defending the outside run
The Saints’ run game relies on the outside rush heavily and Denver does a very good job defending exactly that. Per Next Gen Stats, New Orleans runs outside the tackles on 72.8% of their rushing attempts, No. 2 in the NFL. Meanwhile the Broncos have allowed the NFL’s second-lowest success rate on outside run and have shut down explosive plays in that category so far this season as well. The Saints will look to challenge that by sticking with their identity on offense. However, if the team is able to get do-it-all weapon Taysom Hill back, he could provide some of the power run game back, which could help the Saints win with versatility.
5. Rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler struggled against pressure last week and will see a lot more this week
Rattler had an up-and-down debut, but a strong first half to start the game gave the Saints a lot of hope in what they may have with the young quarterback. Where he struggled most, particularly in the second half of the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was when he was blitzed and under pressure. He’ll face a lot more of that against the Broncos and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. Per Next Gen Stats, the Broncos rank No. 2 in the NFL in pressure percentage with 41%. When under pressure last week, Rattler completed just 33.3% of his passes and had a 19.8 passer rating, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). On top of that, PFF charted Rattler with a 33.3% completion percentage and 37.7 passer rating against the blitz last week. Denver is credited with the most pressure when blitzing across the league.
