No matter which direction you look on the Detroit Lions offense, there’s a weapon that could break the game open at any given moment. For a while, it looked like the New Orleans Saints would catch a minor break with Sam LaPorta nursing a hip injury. That thought completely evaporated once the Lions put out their injury report.
The tight end had been out for the last couple of weeks, and there were questions on if LaPorta would be ready for the opener. Not only will he be ready, he’ll be a full go. LaPorta had no injury designation either.
Detroit had kept LaPorta out of practice since the hip injury, which made his return this week standout even that much more. The Lions still are hampered by injuries, but they are mostly on defense. The Saints defense will have their work cut out for them in all areas of the field.
Saints safeties will have their work cut out for them with Sam LaPorta’s return
LaPorta is just another weapon for the Lions to carve up the Saints, and they have plenty more. Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and LaPorta all present unique challenges for the Saints defense. Williams and LaPorta specifically will test safeties Justin Reid and Julian Blackmon.
For LaPorta, that's going to be split between linebackers and safeties. The former is what makes the impact of the largest. Kaden Elllis and Pete Werner are going to frequently have to stand up in coverage with LaPorta.
That should be the tight end's biggest mismatch. LaPorta is one of the best tight ends in the league and will likely win those battles often underneath against the Saints linebackers. As long as they can make the tackle at the catch point, those receptions should be largely manageable.
It wwould be irresponsible to not discuss the linebackers when laying out defending LaPorta, but the safeties will be tasked with preventing the explosive plays. There's so many things that go into LaPorta versus the Saints safeties as well. There's coverage, play calling and Jared Goff's eyes.
Part of stopping LaPorta from generating explosive plays is simply holes in the secondary. If the Saints play a lot of 2 high sets, there's going to be a hole in between the safeties that's naturally vulnerable. LaPorta is the perfect weapon to exploit that.
Quick fix is playing more single high defense, and then you have to worry more about Goff tricking safeties with their eyes. It may work, but playing single high safety will give more openings to the explosive Jameson Williams.
That's the reason the Saints could deploy more 2 high looks on Sunday, because they want to try to keep everything in front of them. Having to defend LaPorta up the seams and Williams streaking down the field out wide will put a lot of stress on Reid and Blackmon. If they can manage, the Saints will have a much better chance at defending the Lions' explosive passing attack.
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