It wasn’t pretty. The first of two Monday Night Football games was worthy of frustrating lovers of explosive attacks. That’s because the NFC South divisional clash was far from competitive – until a big play with Chris Olave destroyed the Saints’ attack once and for all and the team scored two touchdowns in a row. With the 20-17 victory, New Orleans begins the season without losing for the first time since 2013, where it reached the Divisional Round.
An attack with a handbrake on
The final score of 20-17 is misleading: until the last three minutes of the third quarter, the game was 6-6. The two defenses dominated the game: both due to their own merits and the good work of their coordinators – all credit to Dennis Allen/Joe Woods and Ejiro Evero -, but also due to the incompetence of the two attacks. The average offensive yards per play for both teams did not exceed 4.5: at the beginning of the match, it was even lower than that. For the Saints side, the situation became even worse when Jamaal Williams injured his thigh and did not return for the match. The ground game stalled and Derek Carr, who was no longer playing well, was unable to make the aerial attack flow.
The situation only changed when Chris Olave made a beautiful catch at the bottom of the field, which left the Saints in the redzone and, in the end, ended in Tony Jones’ first TD. After that, the attack kicked into gear and scored the final touchdown. Despite the victory and the 2-0 start, it is necessary to pay attention to two things: third-down conversions (the Saints converted 7 of 16) and, in particular, the calendar ahead. Packers, Bucs, Patriots, Texans and Jaguars is not a friendly sequence – and beating at least their division rival is essential to dream of first place in the NFC South.
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2023-09-19 12:08:15
#Saints #beat #Panthers #race #tough #game.. #watch
