3 Saints who need to thrive in Week 14 vs. Giants for New Orleans to win

The New Orleans Saints are hoping to get back in the win column, and they have the perfect opponent in Week 14 for that to happen. The Saints will be taking on the 2-10 New York Giants, in the first road game for interim head coach Darren Rizzi.

Typically, road games are tough for the away team, but not much has been tough about the Giants this season. They’re currently tied for the worst record in the league, and they haven’t won a game at home this season.

While New Orleans hasn’t been that good either, it has been better than New York. Still, this is the NFL, so the Saints need players to show up and perform to actually secure the win. Here are some players New Orleans will heavily rely on Sunday.

Saints need Alvin Kamara to thrive

Rinse and repeat; New Orleans needs Alvin Kamara to thrive every week. Fortunately, the veteran running back has actually been delivering, having the best season of his career. Starting all 12 games, Kamara has 206 carries for 894 yards and six touchdowns, while also adding 59 receptions for 450 yards and an additional touchdown.

Aside from a few uncharacteristic drops, the biggest problem for Kamara has been Klint Kubiak going away from him when he’s having success on the ground. The Giants have the fourth-worst rushing defense in the NFL, so Kubiak shouldn’t be afraid to lean on his star running back.

Trevor Penning needs to thrive against the Giants

New York isn’t good at much, but they can get after the quarterback. The Giants currently have 36 team sacks, which ties them for sixth-most in the league— that’s with only 12 games played, while some teams have played 13. They were led by Dexter Lawrence, but his season is now over after a recent injury.

The Giants still have Brian Burns, who New Orleans is familiar with. In Week 13, Saints right tackle Trevor Penning struggled a bit with Los Angeles Rams rookie Jared Verse. Penning now has the perfect opportunity to get back on track and silence a talented edge rusher.

The entire Saints defensive line needs to be better in Week 14

In Week 13, the New Orleans defensive line had an embarrassing outing. The Rams were able to win the game behind a strong rushing attack, running for 156 yards on 29 carries. Everytime they ran the ball, the entire Saints defensive line was being moved off the line of scrimmage. It’s hard to win in the football when losing the battle in the trenches like that.

The Saints can’t afford for that to be the case in Week 14. With the Giants down to their third-string quarterback, they’ll definitely want to run the ball. New Orleans can’t allow that to happen.

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