3 things the Saints need to do during the BYE week to keep winning
The Saints go into a bye week in Week 6 and at 3-2, the BYE couldn’t have come at a better time. Here are three things the Saints need to do during the BYE week to keep winning.
In Week 5, the New Orlean Saints rolled out of D.C. with a win against the Washington Football Team behind the arm of Jameis Winston. This marked their third win of the season and came at a very needed time — the Saints step into a BYE in Week 6.
With this much-needed rest, the Saints are looking forward to healing up and righting some of their flaws. While they have had impressive performances so far into the season, these injuries and some inconsistencies have played a big part in their 3-2 record and third-place seating in the NFC South. Here are three things the Saints need to do during the bye week to keep winning.
3. Get Healthy
Since the start of the season, the Saints have had 18 players suffer injuries, 10 of those were placed on injured reserve, including starting offensive tackle Terron Armstead and outside linebacker Kwon Alexander.
Despite so many missing faces on the field, the Saints have had three pretty dominant wins against the Packers, Patriots and now Washington Football Team. They’ve also had pretty bad losses to the Panthers and Giants, and the impact of those injuries reared their heads there.
New Orleans will benefit from giving players more rest in hopes of full recoveries.
After their opening week win against Green Bay, starting corner Marshon Lattimore underwent surgery to repair a thumb that he injured in the game. He was good to go for Week 3 and hasn’t missed time since, but he remains week-to-week on the injury report. The week off will aid his recovery in both his hand and a knee that bothered him entering into the season.
They also started the season with star reciever Michael Thomas on the Physically Unable to Perform list while he recovered from ankle surgery in June. If he’s cleared during the bye, the former Pro-Bowler is able to return to the team during the bye week. If he’s healthy and available in Week 7 against the Seahawks, he’ll be a major boost to an already solid passing attack.
While getting Thomas back would be major, the Saints have also missed Tre’Quan Smith, who was fourth in receiving yards on the team last season. With Thomas out, Smith figured to be a primary receiving target but has been hampered by a hamstring injury that’s kept him on injured reserve.
They’re missing many key pieces on both sides of the ball and hope they can at least regain some of their core guys, they’ll be in good shape to pry out wins moving forward.