3 key Saints that’ll be pivotal in a Week 4 victory over the Detroit Lions

No. 2 Emmanuel Sanders

The acquisition of Sanders was another move that left a lot of long-time Saints’ faithful wondering when and if they had died and gone to some sort of afterlife.

At 33, Sanders’ has played quite a bit of football, certainly enough to start slowing any receiver down. Age was the primary factor that the team was even considering parting ways with beloved deep-threat Ted Ginn Jr., so what does Sanders’ bring to the table? Three Super Bowls and a ring.

Sanders was essentially a no-show week 1 against the Bucs. Against the Raiders, he was again invisible. It was against the Packers that we finally drew a sigh of relief, as the speedy vet caught four of five targets for 56 yards and his first touchdown.

As Michael Thomas’ status for the Lions is he that is out, Drew Brees needs to know that he has at least one other target, aside from Alvin Kamara, that he can rely on.

Any pee-wee football coach with half a brain could figure a way to slow down the Saints’ offense after three primetime games; unless the Saints can figure a way to introduce some variety and start utilizing their hard-won assets, their formerly formidable offense will continue to look one-dimensional.