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Saints secondary will need to step up Sunday night versus Packers

By Terry Kimble

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - SEPTEMBER 29: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson #22 of the New Orleans Saints, Marcus Williams #43 and Marshon Lattimore #23 breaks up a pass intended for Amari Cooper #19 of the Dallas Cowboys during the second half of a game at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on September 29, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - SEPTEMBER 29: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson #22 of the New Orleans Saints, Marcus Williams #43 and Marshon Lattimore #23 breaks up a pass intended for Amari Cooper #19 of the Dallas Cowboys during the second half of a game at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on September 29, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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The New Orleans Saints want to create a No Fly Zone in their secondary. So far flags have been flying the Saints way on the backend.

The New Orleans Saints will surely face their stiffest test on defense so far this year as they host Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers Sunday in the Superdome.

This is especially true of the secondary who have struggled early this season with missed assignments, poor tackling, and especially penalties within that unit. They will need to bring their A-game for the Saints to have a chance.

Rodgers has started off the season red hot as he has led the Packers to a 2-0 start while amassing an impressive 604 passing yards, six touchdowns with no interceptions on over 67% percent completion rating.

The Saints’ secondary is coming off a porous game in which Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr looked like Rich Gannon back in 2002. Carr absolutely shredded the Saints secondary to the tune of over a 73% completion rating, three touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 120.9.

It hasn’t just been that the Saints secondary has been so inconsistent, it’s been that they are constantly beating themselves. The Saints have gone from one of the best in the league in opponent third-down conversion to one of the worst.

Last season the Saints were 8th in the NFL  as opponents only converted 36.4 percent.

This season, the Saints are 27th as opponents are converting a whopping 50 percent of all 3rd down opportunities against the Saints. Part of the issue is the number of flags thrown against the secondary.

The Saints lead the NFL in penalties that result in opponents’ 1st downs at 5.5 per game.

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Most of these have been pass interference and holding calls in the secondary. The Saints have already been called for six pass interference penalties this season, which is second behind only the Jacksonville Jaguars.

That cannot happen on a game by game basis if the team has any hope of winning. The sooner the defense can get off the field, the sooner the high powered offense of the Saints can get into a rhythm and put points on the board.

The Saints offense can’t do that from the sidelines.

The Saints defense must be aggressive yet utilize smart, technique football and not fall into the trap of grabbing and holding the opponent’s receivers.

The onus will especially continue to be on the secondary if the Saints run defense continues to be as stout as it has been. In a remarkable stat, it has been since November of 2017 that the Saints have allowed a rusher to gain more than 100 yards on the ground.

That means teams will attack the Saints through the air in order to have success. This Sunday will probably be no different.

The New Orleans Saints will have their hands full as Aaron Rodgers brings his Top 5 passing offense to town.

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The secondary will have to live up to their full potential to slow down the Packers attack. In the words of Stephen A. Smith, Aaron Rodgers is a bad man. If the Saints secondary steps up, maybe they can make him play bad, man.

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