New Orleans Saints quarterly report: Status at the first quarter pole

At the end of the first quarter of the 2019 Season, the Saints sit at 3-1 and have the divisional lead in the NFC South.

When we looked at the NFL schedule to open the season, no one had a tougher road than the New Orleans Saints. Every one of their first four contests was against playoff teams from the 2018 Season. True to form, those teams currently have a combined 11-5 record. The schedule makers seemed to want to find out if the Saints were still a real threat. After four games, the verdict is in and the answer is a resounding, yes!

I made my preseason prediction that the Saints would open the season 2-2. I’m very happy to say I was wrong! After the hiccup in Los Angeles against the Rams, the Saints got right and ran off two wins, blowing up my prediction. Sorry, not sorry.

Houston Texans

The Saints opened with the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football. The Texans feature one of the bright young quarterbacks in the game in Deshaun Watson, as well as one of the most dynamic receivers in the game in DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins did make his presence known with eight catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

The Saints started out sluggish, going in down 14-3 at halftime. After trading touchdowns to open the second half, the Saints got two more touchdowns and took a lead. They added a field goal to go up by six points. But the Texans stormed back and scored a TD with less than a minute to play, going up by one point.

But as we know, with Drew Brees all things are possible and with 37 seconds to play, the Saints ran three plays and got into field goal range. Wil Lutz kicked a 58-yard field goal to atone for a miss at the end of the first half and send the Texans home with a loss, 30-28.