There’s no mystery about what the Saints are walking into this Sunday. Brian Flores is coming with pressure, and he’s bringing plenty of it.
Minnesota’s defensive coordinator has built a reputation on chaos, and Kellen Moore made it clear New Orleans knows exactly what’s coming.
“Everyone knows their theme as far as their ability to pressure the quarterback and blitz,” said coach Kellen Moore. “They do an excellent job, better than anyone in this league.”
Through four games, Flores has turned that theme into something bordering on extreme. The Vikings are blitzing on 67.9 % of their defensive snaps, by far the highest rate in the NFL this season.
Washington sits second at 44.5 %, and Minnesota’s number is also the highest by a comfortable margin since Next Gen Stats began tracking blitz rates in 2018. The Vikings have produced four of the five highest single-game blitz rates in the league this year.
The payoff has been obvious. Minnesota leads the NFL in sacks with 16, owns a 10.3 % sack rate and a 47.4 % pressure rate, according to Next Gen Stats, and has surged to a 4-0 start behind that defense. The Vikings also sit inside the top 10 in every major defensive category, including No. 1 marks in third-down defense at 22.6 % conversion rate, red-zone defense at 18.2 % and scoring defense at 12.8 points per game.
Shough has seen blitzes before, and he’s handled them reasonably well overall. Outside of a rough first half in the opener against Detroit, he has completed 31 of 48 passes against the blitz for 275 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, good for a 105.8 passer rating. He has also taken seven sacks against the blitz, even while posting an NFL-quickest 2.42-second average time to throw.
Still, this is a different test. Through 15 starts, Shough has never faced a defense that blitzed on more than 40 % of his dropbacks, and that threshold is almost certain to be blown past on Sunday.
“(Flores) has always done a phenomenal job of attacking your pressure plans and stressing you and putting you in hot situations,” Moore said. “We’re going to have to definitely have a good plan for these guys and handle it accordingly. There’s going to have to be different types of ways in which you handle it, it can’t be just one way or they’re going to attack that.”
Shough sounded plenty aware of the challenge, and he praised the way Minnesota disguises and layers its pressure.
“They’re bringing it on all downs, and they do a good job of mixing it up - it makes it really hard for offenses to get a good feel for it,” Shough said. “And they’re extremely sound, all 11 players play as one.”
He also knows the Saints can’t let the game turn into a scramble.
“That’s their formula, and it’s obviously working for them,” Shough said. “We’ve got to be able to handle that and have a plan, and more importantly do our job and focus on that. … Don’t ride the roller coaster that they may bring.”
That’s the issue for New Orleans right now: the protection hasn’t held up. The Raiders started getting to Shough in the fourth quarter of New Orleans’ loss, and the pressure helped fuel a stretch in which Las Vegas forced turnovers on four straight possessions. The Falcons kept the heat on all game last week, pressuring Shough on 49 % of his dropbacks, with most of that coming from four-man pressure.
And the edges have been shaky, too. Asim Richards, filling in for the injured Kelvin Banks, and Taliese Fuaga have both allowed pressures on more than 12 % of their pass sets, placing each in the bottom 10 among their position peers.
Now the Saints have to sort that out before Flores and the Vikings arrive with the most aggressive pressure plan in football.
In Other News...
Kellen Moore Is Already Feeling Heat As Vikings Loom
The Saints have little time to sit with a lopsided loss that exposed familiar trouble spots, especially on the ground and in the flow of the offense. Kellen Moore said the teams execution was poor and that changes are needed, an admission that fits the frustration around a game in which the rushing attack never got going and the playcalling drew questions.
Practice has reportedly looked better in terms of effort, which at least gives New Orleans something to lean on as it resets for Minnesota. The Vikings are next on the schedule, and after a game like this one, the Saints need more than cleaner work during the week - they need it to show up before the problems start stacking again. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Suddenly Have One Offensive Concern Fans Can't Ignore
The Saints loss to the Falcons was already frustrating enough, but the attention quickly shifted to the injury report after practice, where Chris Olave and Alvin Kamara both were out. Olave was simply resting, while Kamara was dealing with back soreness, a reminder that even on a day when the offense moved the ball, the availability of its most reliable playmakers can change the conversation fast.
Kamara still found the end zone twice in the game despite limited carries, and Olave turned in another productive outing with eight catches for 116 yards. Still, for a New Orleans offense trying to find steadier footing, any issue involving either player carries obvious weight, especially with the Saints already looking for answers after the setback in Atlanta. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Suddenly Have A Superdome Problem Fans Wont Ignore
The Superdome has always been the Saints stage, the place where noise has traveled in their favor and where visiting teams were supposed to feel the pressure. Lately, though, the building has felt different. A stretch of disappointing home losses has taken some of the shine off one of the leagues most recognizable venues, and the frustration has started to show in the stands, where fans made their feelings known with boos during a recent home game.
For the Saints, the issue is bigger than one bad afternoon. Home field advantage is supposed to be a difference-maker in New Orleans, but recent results have made it harder to count on the Superdome as a weekly boost. The next few games now carry extra weight, not just for the standings but for the mood around the team, because getting back on track at home may be the clearest way to pull the fan base back in. [Read more 🡒]