Wide receiver Russell Shepard knows that the Saints are having an incredibly poor statistical beginning to the season. But he doesn’t care.
“The year they won the Super Bowl, they had the last-ranked defense in the NFL. As soon as I hear the name Drew Brees, I mean, anytime you hear a Hall of Fame name behind the quarterback position, you better forget about the record,” Shepard said after practice on Thursday. “You better forget about statistics, whatever people are saying, because he is who he is for a reason.”
Any preview of the Saints begins and eventually ends with the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer; Brees is inextricably linked to his receivers, as he continually makes stars of unheralded pass catchers as they come across his passing arc since he came to the Saints in 2006. Marques Colston was a seventh round pick. Jimmy Graham was a converted basketball player. Remember Lance Moore? Devery Henderson? These are all names that you know because of Drew Brees. So while the list of pass catchers in New Orleans may not have the cache of fellow NFC South receivers DeSean Jackson or Julio Jones, the guy throwing them the ball makes a huge difference. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/AP Photo
While the Panthers will avoid fantastic route runner Dr. Bill Snead due to a suspension, the Saints’ wide receiver cupboard is not bare by any means with Brees able to spread the ball around to multiple receivers over the first two weeks of the season. Michael Thomas, a second-round-pick in 2016, emerged as a true #1 receiver in his rookie year, allowing the Saints to ship Brandin Cooks to the New England Patriots in the offseason; Thomas is a big target (6’3″, 212 lbs) who runs extremely crisp routes and has shown great hands. He will certainly present a problem for either of the Panthers 6’1″ corners, as Thomas plays bigger than his height, but they won’t be asked to contend with Thomas going vertical, as the Saints tend to leave that to their burners Ted Ginn and Tommylee Lewis, who showed his speed on a 52-yard catch against Minnesota when a cornerback flinched at a play-action fake.
“It’s time for grind time. Strictly business. I’ll see him pregame, I might say what’s up, but I’ve got to compete against this guy. I don’t want to be his friend, when I cross those lines, I’m nobody’s friend.”
-Captain Munnerlyn on former teammate Ted Ginn, Jr.
Brandon Coleman is another tall (6’6″) receiver who will be a tough matchup for either corner, especially in the red zone; the Saints ran a fade to him inside the five-yard-line last week, that will be hard to defend for a cornerback duo giving up almost half a foot in height. Like the Panthers, the Saints will use their rookie running back Alvin Kamara as a pass catcher, lining him up in the slot or out wide in order to create a mismatch much like the home team will do with Christian McCaffrey. If either team can get their speedy rookies lined up one-on-one against a linebacker, look to the quarterbacks to try and take advantage by getting them the ball in space or perhaps sending them on a deep route to utilize their speed. Last week against the Patriots, a motioned-out Rex Burkhead was too fast for linebacker Alex Anzalone to cover for a touchdown when the Saints showed a single-high safety look; the Panthers should hope for the same situation to arise on Sunday.
After getting torched in mostly zone coverage against the Vikings in Week 1, the Saints tried implementing more man-to-man against Tom Brady and the Patriots, and that yielded 436 yards and three touchdowns to the future hall-of-famer; nothing the Saints have tried has worked this season and the secondary appears to be heading down the same road that had them finishing dead last against the pass during the 2016 season. As if the Saints needed more bad news heading into Charlotte on Sunday, they only have three healthy cornerbacks: 5’11’ second-year man De’Vante Harris; P.J. Williams, who only saw the field for 82 snaps in 2016; and undrafted rookie Ken Crawley; Marshon Lattimore is in the NFL’s concussion protocol and Sterling Moore is battling a chest injury. Even with Lattimore and Moore on the field the first two weeks, the Saints still allowed 793 yards and six touchdowns with an over 80% completion rate against Brady and Sam Bradford.
The Panthers pass catchers should be able to excel against this young, inexperienced cornerback group, even if the Saints decide to give a three-safety look as they did during the 2016 season; expect a lot of zone from the Saints to try to hide the weaknesses of their secondary, so the Panthers pass catchers need to take their time and find soft spots to create easy completions for Cam Newton. If the offensive line can give Newton time, the passing game should be successful against one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL. Don’t be surprised if tight end Ed Dickson sees a fair amount of targets in Greg Olsen’s absence, the Saints have allowed 147 yards and two scores in two weeks to opposing tight ends; Saints TE Coby Fleener has had two touchdowns in two weeks, but both have come in garbage time with the game well in hand.
Young, inexperienced secondaries have trouble identifying route trees and being disciplined to stay in their zones or with their assignments. Those are nice ways of saying that the Saints defense makes a lot of mental mistakes; the Panthers can force the issue with many different formations, looks, and motion before the snap to cause confusion. If Newton has time in the pocket (which is not a given as the Saints were able to make life uncomfortable for Tom Brady at time last Sunday), he should be able to take advantage of an inexperienced and undisciplined secondary.
