Saints look to generate pressure versus Titans’ Ward on Sunday

By Ross Jackson

With a pair of rookie quarterbacks squaring off, pressure from each the New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans’ defenses will be a major factor on Sunday. 

In particular, the Saints could change the fabric of the matchup with their ability to get after and make plays in the backfield with their pass rush. 

Rookie quarterback Cam Ward has seen some improvements, dropping his pressure-to-sack percentages from 28.1% before Week 10 to 17.6% since, per Next Gen Stats. 

But pressure is still a way to keep Ward off-balance. 

First, the Saints have the fourth-best pressure-to-sack rate in the NFL, converting at a 24.3% clip. While Ward has improved in this area, the Saints’ defense still proves to be a strong contender here. 

Beyond that, Ward’s success rate (27.3%) and yards per attempt (5.4) are among the ten lowest in the league while under pressure. 

He also carries just a 40.6% completion percentage and 52.8 passer rating when under pressure. Both of which rank third-worst in the league among quarterbacks with at least 100 drop backs on the year, per Pro Football Focus. 

Saints pass rushers Chase Young, Cameron Jordan and Carl Granderson will all be key players in this matchup in trying to keep Ward out of rhythm and uncomfortable. 

Defensive coordinator Brandon Staley may again put the task of pressure generation on his front four, much like he did in the team’s win against the Carolina Panthers just two weeks ago. Tennessee has surrendered the league’s No. 9 highest pressure percentage despite facing blitzes as the 11th-lowest rate. 

Disrupting Ward will be a very important element of the game for New Orleans, and doing so while still being able to drop seven players on coverage could be the best way to go about it.