The Saints defense hasn’t exactly spent the first five weeks building confidence. New Orleans enters Week 6 giving up 30.2 points per game, a number that sits near the bottom of the NFL. But Sunday against the Giants gives this unit a real chance to flip the script.
The matchup changed when New York lost starting quarterback Jaxson Dart, who underwent season-ending knee surgery after suffered damage to his left knee. The Giants have moved to veteran Jameis Winston, and that shifts the way New Orleans can attack this game.
Winston brings experience and a willingness to challenge defenses, but he also gives the Saints a different kind of target. He is not Dart, and that matters. New Orleans can be more aggressive, especially if it keeps New York from settling into a steady run game.
That has to start with the run defense. The Giants are averaging 109 rushing yards per game, while the Saints are allowing 148.8 on the ground.
On paper, that does not look like an edge for New Orleans. In practice, though, stopping the run is what makes everything else possible.
If the Giants stay ahead of the chains, Winston gets to operate in cleaner passing situations. If New Orleans forces third-and-long, then Chase Young, Carl Granderson and the rest of the front can go to work.
The Saints have 13 sacks through five games, and they need more pressure if they want this game to tilt their way.
Winston is the kind of quarterback who can punish a defense vertically, which is why the Saints cannot let him settle in. The goal is simple: speed up his clock, collapse the pocket and keep him from managing the game on his terms.
Dart’s absence also opens the door for New Orleans to attack more freely. His mobility changed what opposing defenses had to account for.
In Week 1 against Dallas, Dart completed 23 of 29 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns while adding 54 yards on 11 rushing attempts. That kind of dual-threat presence forces defenders to hold back.
Winston does not create the same problem, and that should let the Saints mix up pressure in ways they may not have been able to before.
New Orleans can bring heat from different angles, show blitz and drop out, walk linebackers to the line and shift defensive backs around before the snap. The point is not just to hunt sacks. It is to make Winston uncomfortable enough that the Saints can bait him into mistakes.
That leads directly to the secondary, which has another chance to make a game-changing play. Through five games, New Orleans has struggled to convert pressure into turnovers and has been near the bottom of the league in turnover differential. That has to improve.
Against Winston, opportunities should be there, but the Saints cannot sit back and wait for them to appear. They need to manufacture them by disguising coverages, rotating safeties after the snap and forcing receivers to work through tight windows. Getting hands into passing lanes could be the difference in a game where one takeaway changes everything.
New York is not out of this just because Dart is gone. The Giants are 3-1-1, and Winston should help keep them competitive. That is exactly why the Saints cannot treat Sunday like a formality.
This defense has taken enough punches already. Now it needs to answer back.
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New York presents a tricky kind of test because the Giants have been difficult to throw on and stingy enough on defense to make every possession matter. The one opening New Orleans may be able to lean on is the ground game, and how well it takes advantage of that edge could go a long way toward deciding whether the Saints leave with answers or more questions. [Read more 🡒]