New Orleans Saints MUST establish the run early against 49ers

The New Orleans Saints will enter their most difficult challenge of the year in Week 14, and they must exploit the 49ers run defense.

Week 14 will be telling for the New Orleans Saints.

While they’re still banged up, primarily on the offensive line, there will be no excuse for a poor performance. Most of the battle will take place before the game as Sean Payton must draw up a virtually flawless gameplan.

That plan, on the offensive end, must start with exploiting the only weakness in the 49ers defense, the run game. The 49ers rank as the league’s best pass defense yet give up the 22nd most rushing yards per game.

Teams test their run more often because of the team’s dominant secondary combined with a lethal pass rush led by Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead.

The 49ers have the league’s second-most sacks. However, the Saints also boast one of the league’s better offensive lines, even with two of their stars potentially out.

For New Orleans to find success on Sunday, it’ll start with Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara. But, it may not be Kamara they turn to as he has just two 100-yard rushing games throughout his 41 regular-season games. He hasn’t even notched over 80 yards since Week 1.

That’s just not his playstyle, and that’s ok.

It’s just that, against a lethal secondary, elite linebacking corp and a dominant pass rush, the Saints may need more from their two-time Pro Bowl back. That’s where the veteran Murray may come in and play a critical role.

At 6-foot-3, Murray is a more typical ground-and-pound type running back. In both games which Kamara was out and Murray saw over 20 carries, he produced, totaling over 110 yards per game. Payton could favor that style instead of lining up Kamara on the bulk of offensive snaps.

It doesn’t matter how they do it, but forcing Brees to throw 40 times against the 49ers defense will just not work. They need to make a gameplan focused around a ground attack, exploiting their one weakness.

That said, with trust in Payton, it’ll be interesting to see how this team comes out for what could be an NFC-shaking Week 14.