Behind Enemy Lines: Previewing Week 5 with Saints Wire (2024)

Winston is playing with training wheels. The Saints have done a good job scheming their receivers open and playing complementary football by leaning on the run game, but too often they’ve shied away from aggressively throwing downfield despite Winston’s efficiency in that area. He’s really cut down on negative plays and has only turned the ball over twice in four games, throwing two desperate interceptions in Week 2’s blowout loss to the Panthers. I’ve seen enough to call for more opportunities for him.

Hill has played half the snaps on offense the last two weeks and continues to work as the punt protector on special teams, so hopefully we see a lot more of him in the first role rather than the latter. He’s gotten more running attempts lately which is what he’s best at. Hopefully, Sean Payton comes to his senses and stops asking him to throw, because he just isn’t good at it — much less a worthy substitute for Winston.

The Saints don’t have many weapons outside of Kamara, who has accounted for 24% of their first downs this year. Committing resources to slowing him down makes sense, especially given how few pass attempts Winston is getting (23.3 per game, down from 37.7 in his Buccaneers career). New Orleans just hasn’t gotten enough consistent plays from the receivers and tight ends, none of whom have even caught a dozen passes yet. Neutralize Kamara and the offense goes with him. But, uh, good luck with that.

The big guys up front have finally started to settle in, even if they aren’t playing particularly well. They can be beaten and it’s forced Winston to make a lot of throws under pressure (39.6%). Cesar Ruiz has been a liability at center with some late snaps and ugly losses in pass protection. James Hurst is a fine left tackle but he’s nowhere close to Armstead. I expect the Saints to give him some help with Jonathan Allen and Montez Sweat rushing off the right side against him. If I were Washington, I’d consider moving Chase Young around more so he can take advantage of that mismatch rather than lock horns with All-Pro right tackle Ryan Ramczyk.

New Orleans’ defense has been the strength of the team. They’ve taken a lot of losses up front but are still pressuring opponents at a decent rate. The problem is pressures are empty calories, and they aren’t finishing many sacks (they’re tied for second-worst with 6). The good news is their linebacker corps has covered well — Demario Davis is spectacular, and rookie draft pick Pete Werner has been very effective. And the secondary is what they hang their hats on with Marshon Lattimore, Marcus Williams, Malcolm Jenkins, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson having played a lot of games together. But after averaging just 243.7 passing yards allowed per game, Daniel Jones just dropped 402 on them. They’ve got to bounce back, and I think they will.

Marcus Williams is a ball hawk in the middle of the field. There aren’t many players who can run like he does from sideline to sideline, and he’s done a tremendous job of cutting down on his penalties and missed tackles in recent years. Taylor Heinicke should be wary of testing him deep downfield. But look out for Tanoh Kpassagnon to make an impact up front. He might be the steal of free agency given his modest contract and quality of play so far (2 sacks, 7 pressures in 3 games). Something I’ll be watching out for is whether the Saints bench rookie corner Paulson Adebo after his rough game a week ago (his first misstep, really) to give Bradley Roby a start. Roby had been running with the dime defensive personnel after the Saints traded for him, but this is a good opportunity to evaluate him and let the rookie watch and learn.