What should we expect from a resurgent Saints team?
It’s week 15 of the NFL season and the 8-5 Washington Commanders will be facing a 5-8 Saints team on the road at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA on Sunday at 1:00 pm EST. The Saints have had a rollercoaster of a season, blowing out opponents in their first two games, then crashing back to earth and losing 7 straight games(!), which resulted in the firing of head coach Dennis Allen and promotion of special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi to interim head coach. The Saints have seemed rejuvenated since Rizzi took over, winning 3 of their next 4 games.
Before breaking down the offense and defense, it’s worth mentioning the Saints injury situation. The Saints have been absolutely gutted with injuries and many will point to this as the largest factor in their precipitous decline.
The slew of injuries started in week 3 with a major groin injury to star center Erik McCoy, followed by a multi-week knee injury to RG Cesar Ruiz, a concussion that forced star WR Chris Olave to IR, and season-ending knee injuries to TE/FB Taysom Hill and WR Rashid Shaheed. On defense, CB Marshon Lattimore, LB Willie Gay, LB Pete Werner, S Will Harris, and CB Paulson Adebo all missed multiple weeks due to injury. Many of these injured players have started to return to the field, which may also partly explain the uptick in wins for the Saints of late. However, Saints QB Derek Carr fractured his left hand last week and will not play in week 15.
On offense, the Saints are in their first year with Klint Kubiak at OC. Klint is the son of Super Bowl winning head coach Gary Kubiak and a Kyle Shanahan disciple, having served as the passing game coordinator of the 49ers in 2023. The offense is a standard Shanahan offense built around an outside zone run game with the QB primarily under center, a mostly quick passing game, but heavy reliance on play action to set up occasional deeper throws and lots of pre-snap motion to diagnose coverages. Despite the OL injuries, RB Alvin Kamara has been resurgent in this offense, having already racked up 938 rushing yards, more than in any complete season in his NFL career.
On defense, the Saints are in their second year with Joe Woods at DC (former DC of the Browns), though former head coach Dennis Allen was the true architect of the defense. Allen ran a 4-3 defensive front with a low blitz rate (26th in blitz rate), relying instead on defensive stunts and misdirection to cause confusion and achieve pressure. This results in the Saints often showing the same look pre-snap, but then changing responsibilities and motions to force QBs to diagnose and adapt quickly post-snap or be overwhelmed.
The Saints defense has had an obvious weakness this year in run defense. The Saints have given up 5.0 yards per rush attempt this season, tied with the Panthers for most in the NFL. In addition, the Saints under Allen had a history of being gashed by QB runs. Although they haven’t faced many athletic QBs this year, they surrendered 10 rushes for 75 yards to Bo Nix in week 7.
I asked Nic Jennings of Canal Street Chronicles five questions to better understand the state of the Saints and what to look for in this game.
1. The Saints lost 7 straight games, fired Dennis Allen, and have gone on to win 3 out of their next 4 games. What do you think of interim head coach Darren Rizzi and how much of the recent winning is due to him?
The shift from Dennis Allen to Darren Rizzi has undoubtedly provided the team with a desperately needed spark amid a catastrophic collapse. Rizzi deserves a good chunk of the credit for this recent turnaround, especially since the Saints are missing multiple starters on both sides of the ball.
Following the Saints’ Week 11 triumph over the Cleveland Browns, Rizzi became just the second head coach in franchise history to begin his tenure 2-0, joining future Pro Football Hall of Famer and current Denver Broncos HC Sean Payton, who did the same in 2006 during his debut season with New Orleans.
Photo by Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Rizzi made one promise to the Who Dat Nation during his opening press conference upon being named interim HC: This team is not going to be boring to watch. With a 3-1 record, including two gritty wins, a blowout victory, and a down-to-the-wire loss—along with kickers going 2 of 8 on FG attempts since Rizzi (former special teams coordinator) took over—it’s safe to say he’s fulfilled that promise. The Saints have been much more fun to watch than Weeks 3 through 9 under Dennis Allen.
Given that he’s been in charge of special teams for New Orleans since 2019, Rizzi has developed a relationship with every single player on the roster. This has been essential in getting them to buy into what he’s selling as a coach, and based on what we’ve seen to this point, it’s evident that the team is fully bought in and has been laying it on the line for their coach. Rizzi’s passion for the game and emotion that he “wears on his sleeve” have been well received and contagious throughout the entire facility. After Sunday’s victory over the New York Giants, star LB Demario Davis stated that “There isn’t a player that wouldn’t run through a wall for [Rizzi].”
A word that’s been consistently used to describe Rizzi within the building has been “authentic.” Former Kansas City Chiefs’ Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Willie Gay are even on record comparing his practices and coaching style to the likes of future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Andy Reid, which is some pretty high praise for a first-time head coach thrown into a dumpster fire. A few weeks ago, starting quarterback Derek Carr praised Rizzi for being good at understanding and connecting with different generations of players. He emphasized that the team wants to keep winning to give Rizzi the best chance at securing the full-time gig in the offseason.
2. Derek Carr will miss this game due to injury. What would that mean for the offense and what do you think of rookie backup Spencer Rattler so far?
Though Carr may not be the perfect quarterback and has his flaws, this offense takes a significant drop in production without him at the helm. Expect a lot of short and intermediate throws, with the Saints putting an emphasis on getting the ground game going after a rough Week 14 performance.
As for Rattler, his raw arm talent is clear as day and levels above what the Saints have seen in recent years post-Drew Brees. He puts a unique zip on the ball, so much so that the pass catchers for New Orleans had to adjust to the velocity of his throws during practice. Aside from Taysom Hill’s brief stint as the starter in the past, Rattler’s ability to extend plays with his legs also brought a completely new dynamic to the Saints’ offense at the quarterback position—one they really haven’t been able to take advantage of. And the thing I love most about Rattler is that he isn’t afraid of the moment and welcomes adversity.
His ball placement is good; he has a pretty deep ball and can hit tight windows in the intermediate range, but he tends to get a little antsy and sail high on some short passes. However, this isn’t anything that raises concern, especially considering he was thrown behind a depleted offensive line with a limited supporting cast during his first three career starts.
If Rattler is named the starter for Sunday’s matchup, he could potentially have all five starting offensive linemen up front for the first time in the young quarterback’s brief career.
[Edit: after our Q&A, the Saints named Jake Haener the starting QB. Nic was kind enough to give his summary of Haener as well.]
I’ve been impressed with Haener’s growth this season. He’s made the most of his opportunities and stayed ready for the moment, even when thrown into the fire with little time to prepare. While I don’t believe he has the game-changing upside of Rattler and see him more as a career backup, that’s no slight to Haener. He may not be as effective on deep throws or extending plays with his legs compared to the rookie, but Haener has an edge in short-range accuracy and has delivered some highlight-worthy throws from impressive angles this season. The second-year quarterback out of Fresno State has proven he can manage the offense, and he deserves a shot to showcase his abilities. This is a big opportunity for him, and I expect him to play with a chip on his shoulder after being disappointed by the team’s earlier decision between the two young quarterbacks.
Getty Images
3. Tell us everything we should know about Marshon Lattimore.
The Commanders got one of the best in the game. Watching the Saints ship off the best cornerback in franchise history was definitely a tough pill to swallow for some fans, myself included. You aren’t going to find many defensive backs as physically skilled and mentally advanced as Marshon Lattimore from a raw talent standpoint.
He was absolutely outstanding during his seven-and-a-half-year tenure in New Orleans, racking up 15 interceptions (2 returned for touchdowns), 88 pass breakups, and 5 forced fumbles (4 recovered), resulting in four Pro Bowl selections and three straight from 2019-2021.
I wouldn’t expect to hear his name much on game days, and that’s a good thing. As he’s grown more dominant, quarterbacks have begun throwing his way less and less, as it usually ends in an incompletion or turnover for the offense. He thrives in man coverage but can sometimes struggle in zone. However, two questions remain surrounding Lattimore: Can he stay healthy? And can he avoid bad habits? Marshon has a history of injuries, including the nagging hamstring injury he’s dealt with since his arrival in Washington. He’s missed 24 of his last 47 games due to injury dating back to the start of the 2022 season. Lattimore also has a habit of playing down to his competition. He’ll have games like 2021 vs. the Tennessee Titans, where he gave up 5 catches and 100 receiving yards to WR Marcus Johnson, who’s now out of the league. But then he’ll look like the best corner in the world and lock down the top receivers in the game.
Ultimately, his bad games are rare, and the Commanders just got back one of the best defenders in all of football.
4. Who is one Saints player on offense and one player on defense that Washington fans probably don’t know much about, but should?
Offense: RB Kendre Miller
The second-year RB out of TCU has had some of the worst injury luck I’ve ever seen to start his career. However, on Sunday against the Giants, we finally saw why the Saints selected Miller with the 71st pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He recorded 10 carries for 32 yards and a rushing touchdown as he returned from his second stint on IR this season.
Some of the runs we saw from him were genuinely jaw-dropping, reminding me of a young Alvin Kamara’s contact balance. It would look like the play was going nowhere until, all of a sudden, Miller lunged forward for the first down. Really encouraging stuff from the young back in a thin backfield behind Kamara.
Defense: DT Bryan Bresee
The 2023 first-round pick’s eight sacks rank third among defensive tackles and are tied for 17th league-wide. He is now just five sacks behind former Saints edge rusher and current Cincinnati Bengals All-Pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson, whose 13 sacks hold sole possession of the league’s top spot.
Bresee finished with three total pressures, one sack, two passes batted at the line of scrimmage, and the game-winning blocked field goal against the Giants this past Sunday.
Getty Images
5. How should Washington go about game-planning this matchup on both sides of the ball?
Offensively: Run the football.
The Saints’ run defense remains their biggest weakness. New Orleans currently allows an average of 5 yards per carry (most in the league), has conceded 16 rushing touchdowns (tied for fourth most), and has given up 13 runs of 20+ yards this season (fourth most). It’s been a glaring issue for quite some time now.
Defensively: Stop the run.
The Commanders are tied for third in the NFL in average yards per carry allowed (4.8) and tied for fifth in 20+ yard runs given up (12). When the Saints’ rushing attack is rolling, their offense is at its best. While it won’t be as lethal without Taysom Hill in the mix, the emergence of Kendre Miller could help soften the blow—though nothing could fully make up for the loss. This will also be the second consecutive game where New Orleans will have all five starting offensive linemen on the field, which could provide a significant boost to their run game.
That said, if Washington can shut down the Saints’ run game, things could get ugly for New Orleans in a hurry.
A companion article to this with my answers to Nic’s questions can be found here.
Thanks again to Nic Jennings for taking time out of his day to answer our questions about the Saints.