Saints vs Seahawks: 4 key matchups to watch in Week 7

1.  Jameis Winston against Jameis Winston

The Saints are taking on perhaps the league’s worst defense in the Seahawks; if their offense stalls it will likely be because of their own errancy. New Orleans quarterback Jameis Winston cannot afford to run a lethargic offense if he wants to maintain his coaches’ confidence in his play. However, the former Florida State standout should look to do more this week against such a weak defense.

It’s no secret that Winston had to toil to win the trust of the Saints coaching staff and the starting gig. It’s also no secret that Winston has had a polarizing season that started with a five-touchdown outing against Green Bay and then laid a stinker against Carolina the following week.

Another known fact is that Seattle has never ever been an easy place for opposing teams to play, The notorious 12th Man can prove to be a boisterous deterrent to much of anything the Saints try to do on the offensive end and if Winston isn’t on his game, mistakes can be made.

Through New Orleans’ three wins, including last week’s four-touchdown outing against Washington, Winston’s been a decent enough game manager — however, we all know Jameis can be much more or slightly less than that.

Yes, he has the arm and talent to be averaging way more than 178 yards a game and is very much capable of throwing for lots of touchdowns — but he also has the propensity to throw boneheaded picks and sometimes costly picks.

Whether or not the Saints will be able to rack up the yards that Seattle’s begging them to take will depend on how much confidence New Orleans has in their starting quarterback. The Winston experience is one that New Orleans has yet to fully unleash and this battle against the Seahawks may be the time to test it.

In his two previous games against the Seahawks, both in Seattle, Winston is 1-1 and threw for 555 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception.