Winners and losers from Saints Week 2 preseason game vs. Packers

The New Orleans Saints played in their second preseason game and fell 20-10 to the Green Bay Packers. Who were the winners and losers? 

In a game where very few New Orleans Saints starters suited up, fans got to see a lot of the reserves and that meant fans got to witness a lot of penalties taking place. It was a sloppy game, to say the least.

New Orleans ultimately lost the game by double-digits and now have one preseason game remaining. That’s all that stands between the team and the Week 1 outing against the Falcons.

Let’s check out the winners and losers, starting with the losers.

All stats courtesy of ESPN

Losers

Malcolm Roach

It wasn’t a great game for Roach but the biggest knock on him from this match-up was when he had a bad roughing the passer penalty when Jordan Love was already on the ground. This gave the Packers’ offense new life and they marched down the field and scored a touchdown. Had Roach not had the penalty, the NOLA defense would have been off the field.

Brian Allen

Last week was a hit-and-miss game for Allen, who had an interception late in the game but then got burned on the final touchdown scored by the Texans. This week, he got burned again, but this time by Romeo Doubs. He was able to corral the ball away from Allen and get the Packers into the end zone.

Ian Book

This was a crucial preseason for Book and he hasn’t delivered. During the game on Friday when the offense finally appeared to be gaining some momentum, Book fumbled the snap and the Packers recovered.

This was the second straight game where Book fumbled and allowed the other team to get an extra possession. That isn’t good. The touchdown he threw to Chris Olave was a nice one though, so let’s give credit where credit is due but the fact of the matter is that in a game where Book played the entire time, he didn’t play well.

Winners

Wil Lutz

It sure looks as though Lutz hasn’t missed a beat despite missing all of last year due to injury. He absolutely nailed a 59-yard field goal that looked like it could have hit from a lot further out. Also props to Dennis Allen for calling the timeout with just a few seconds left in the quarter so that Lutz would have the wind aiding him in the kick.

Kirk Merritt

It’s looking more and more difficult to cut Merritt and he showed on Friday that he could also make an impact on special teams. Merritt popped off a 59-yard return setting the Saints up with solid field position.

Tony Jones Jr.

Once again, the preseason version of Jones is here. He shined last week and continued to look like a RB3 candidate for the black and gold. He should be able to find his way onto the 53-man roster if he continues to play well in the final game.

Trevor Penning

Last week was up and down for Penning, who was appearing in the first game of his NFL career. This week, it was mostly good for the first-round rookie, as he was rocking and rolling in pass protection throughout the night. It was a much better outing than last week.

Eric Wilson

With all of the injuries to the linebackers, it’s been nice to see Wilson step up this preseason and he’s someone the team might end up leaning on quite a bit at the position. During Friday’s game, Wilson was able to force a fumble right after Book had thrown a pick late in the first half. It gave the ball right back to the Saints offense and that was a play that Dennis Allen will certainly notice.

Chris Olave

After not getting much action last week, Saints fans finally got to see what the rookie out of Ohio State could do. Olave rounded out the first half with a 20-yard touchdown and boy was it a pretty one. Hopefully we get to yell “TOUCHDOWN OLAVE!” a lot for the foreseeable future.

Blake Gillikin

I don’t think I really need to remind everyone how great Gillikin is but here we are. He’s making an appearance in the winners section because the dude punted the ball 81 yards. That’s insane. He was a weapon last year and he’ll continue to be one again this year.

Jon Bostic

Another Saints linebacker who just joined the team immediately stepped into action and made a positive impact. Last week it was Chase Hansen, this week it was Bostic. He looked poised to be someone who could serve as a rotational linebacker for the defense.

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