The New Orleans Saints have changed the way they’re thought of in the NFL this season. Instead of Drew Brees slinging the rock all over the field as the defense struggles to keep teams below whatever inflated point total the Saints offense can put up, the Saints have relied on a two-headed monster in the backfield, only turning to Brees when necessary. Making the Saints one-dimensional in 2017 involves taking away their running game instead of their passing game; gone are the 5,000 yard seasons of 2013 and 2016 as Brees finished with 4,334 passing yards this season, with running backs Ingram and Kamara accounting for over 1,200 yards through the air on checkdowns.
The Saints can afford to score fewer points because their defense is playing at a higher level than previous years, especially in the secondary. The Saints have only twice had a higher point differential than their 2017 total in the Sean Payton era: once was in 2011 when they lost in the divisional round to an Alex Smith-led 49ers team. The other was in 2009 when they won the Super Bowl.
One of the reasons the Saints defense has been so good this season will be unfamiliar to the Panthers, as presumptive Defensive Rookie of The Year Marshon Lattimore missed both matchups this season; Lattimore’s absence didn’t help the Panthers air attack to get going, though, as Cam Newton passed for only 350 yards in the two games combined. So a tough pass defense just got tougher.
“[The Saints pass defense] looks a lot different,” Russell Shepard, who had three catches for 29 yards in the Week 13 matchup with the Saints, said about the defense when Lattimore is on the field. “They’re more of a risk-taking unit on the back end; he’s going to press you, he’s going to play man-to-man. You don’t see a lot of corners, especially young rookie corners, playing press man-to-man on third downs. It says a lot about their trust in him and it says a lot about his game.”
“I think he’s going to match Funch, kind of follow him around. I think when Funch isn’t in, he’s going to be a guy that’s going to dictate the defense. He’s a very talented guy; watching he and Mike Evans go at it last week was pretty impressive.”
Impressive if you’re a Saints fan, that is. Lattimore held the Tampa Bay star wide receiver to five catches for 55 yards on 13 targets, a week after Evans had his highest yardage total of the season (107) against the Panthers.
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Lattimore has certainly done enough this season to gain the Saints’ trust, as he has posted 52 tackles, five interceptions, 18 passes defensed, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble in 13 games this season; the 11th pick in the draft has vaulted himself into being a top defender in the league, not allowing a touchdown the entire regular season and winning defensive rookie of the month twice, the first time that a defensive back has doubled down on the award since 1996.
“A very talented football player. He plays with a lot of juice. There’s not much you [can] say bad about him. A guy who, when healthy, is probably a top-tier cornerback in this league. Obviously, with him being selected as a Pro Bowler, that speaks volumes in itself.”
-Cam Newton on Marshon Lattimore
Having a talented cover corner can help the defensive front as well; Sean Payton said this week that having Lattimore in the backfield can allow more time for the front to get to quarterback Cam Newton. While having a rookie cornerback that plays press coverage can be effective when it works, it can also be a boon for the offense if it doesn’t.
“You’re going to give up big plays when you do things like that,” Shepard said about the rookie’s penchant for playing press coverage on third down. “I don’t care if you’re Darrelle Revis [or] you’re Patrick Peterson. When you play that type of defense, when you’re confident in your ability like that, it’s a double-edged sword. It’s going to get you at times.”
“We look forward to taking advantage of that.”
The player who will almost certainly be looking to take advantage of Lattimore is Devin Funchess, who has faced his fair share of great cornerbacks this year. Malcolm Butler, Xavier Rhodes and Darius Slay have all faced off against Funchess, who has blossomed into the Panthers #1 wide receiver after the trade of Kelvin Benjamin; Funchess totaled 483 receiving yards and five touchdowns in the eight games after the Panthers traded Benjamin.
He had four catches for a team-high sixty yards and a score in the Panthers Week 13 loss in New Orleans, but the touchdown came with four minutes left and the Panthers down 17; the 23-year old who holds a four-inch height advantage over Lattimore is excited for the opportunity to go against another of the game’s best young players.
“It’s going to be fun. He plays his game, I play my game,” Funchess said. “They’ve got 10 other people on the field that have to play their game too. It’s going to be fun on Sunday.”
“What time do we play? Four o’clock? Just be in for the show.”
While the Saints will be getting back a key piece of their defense that missed both tilts against the Panthers, the Panthers will have Greg Olsen on the field after Cam Newton’s favorite target missed over half of the season with a broken foot suffered in Week 2. Olsen missed both games against the Saints this season, but has averaged 98.3 yards in his previous three games at the Superdome.
“I’ve enjoyed playing down there, I’ve had some good games over the years,” Olsen remarked this week after being held to only one reception on nine targets last week in Atlanta. “They’ve got good players, they’re very well-coached; so it’s nothing easy. Nothing’s free. We’ve got to take advantages of the chances that you get when they come up and make good decisions on the fly to get open.”
The Panthers are hoping that having Olsen out there will be able to open up the passing game for the other options against the Saints, even as the passing game has struggled for two of the last three games that Olsen has been on the field. If Olsen is able to draw a double-team; if Funchess is able to keep Lattimore tied to his hip; if the Saints leave a linebacker to spy Cam Newton; this means the rest of the defense is at a disadvantage that the rest of the offense has to make the most of when the opportunities are given to them.
In the playoffs, drops, miscues and mental mistakes are unacceptable.
“He opens it up for everybody,” Shepard said. “Having a guy like Greg Olsen, being able to take pressure off of us, it enables the rest of the offense to have one-on-one matchups and being able to win those matchups. When you’ve got a guy like Greg and a guy like Christian, even a guy like Funch right now, they’re getting a lot of attention right now. Teams are looking to take those three away; for the rest of us, it kind of opens up one-on-one battles.”
“We’ve just got to able to take advantage of them.
