NEW ORLEANS — The Saints honored Will Smith on Sunday by adding him to the club’s prestigious Ring of Honor. Smith’s No. 91 was flashed in lights on the side of the Superdome when fans entered the building on Sunday morning and will be displayed inside the Dome alongside other team legends for posterity.
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The Saints then proceeded to honor Smith in the best way they could, by putting on one of the most dominant displays we’ve seen from their defensive line in years.
The Saints sacked Jameis Winston six times, hit him eight times and pressured him countless others in a 31-24 win that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score.
But stats don’t tell the story here. This was a visceral, physical beatdown. The Saints dominated the Bucs along both lines, punishing them in the trenches and exerting their authority in almost every key situation.
In addition to the relentless pass rush, the Saints held the Bucs to 94 rushing yards on 22 carries. Their long run was an 18-yard end-around by wide receiver Scotty Miller. Otherwise, the Bucs failed to record a run that covered more than 14 yards.
“I thought that we did a good job disrupting the passer,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “(Stopping the run) was going to have to be with some seven-man and also with some eight-man fronts, because they are a patient running team; and we knew that, so it was going to have to be a few different looks. … I thought we won that battle.”
Marcus Davenport’s breathtaking bull-rush sack over, around and through Demar Dotson was the talk of the postgame locker room. “That’s a highlight of the week,” defensive end Cam Jordan said. “That was impressive.”
But the scary thing about the performance was how many linemen contributed to it. The entire eight-man front got into the action. Five had sacks. Five recorded quarterback hits. Eight recorded pressures.
“It’s a great feeling,” Jordan said. “You get a sack, you get a sack, you get a sack. It was like (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) came in and said, ‘Everybody gets a sack.’”
After five weeks of the season, the Saints’ defensive line has gradually gained strength. The return of David Onyemata, Sheldon Rankins and Carl Granderson has bolstered the unit and improved its depth at every position. It’s now the unquestioned strength of the Saints defense. With four former first-round draft picks in the group, the talent is obvious. But there’s also enviable depth. When the Saints rotate reserves at either end or tackle, the drop-off in production is minimal, if any.
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It all adds up to one of the best lines in the NFL and one of the best in Saints’ history. In fact, it’s the best one I’ve covered since 2000, when La’Roi Glover, Joe Johnson, Darren Howard and Norman Hand dominated opposing offenses, setting a club record with 66 sacks and leading the Saints to the NFC West Division title. And the scary thing for opponents: It should only improve as Davenport and twitchy rookie pass rusher Granderson gain experience and Trey Hendrickson returns from injury.
“It’s definitely the best group that I’ve been a part of since I’ve been here,” Rankins said. “This D line is deep, talented. When we roll guys out there, we expect no drop-off in production, no drop-off in effort.”
Other than Granderson’s sack-dance display (see below), there wasn’t much to complain about with the Saints defensive line. Its performance carried the club to its third consecutive win and was a fitting way to honor one of the best Saints linemen of all time.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Saints’ 31-24 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
What I liked …
• The pass rush: A forced fumble, six sacks, eight quarterback hits and countless pressures and hurries. Winston was under siege for four quarters and never looked comfortable in the pocket. And it was a team effort. Five Saints linemen recorded sacks and hits on the quarterback.
• Teddy Bridgewater: What a day for the veteran backup quarterback. His 314-yard, four-touchdown pass performance was one of the best of his career. His 131.2 passer efficiency rating was the second-best of his career. By game’s end, “10-Yard Teddy” was being serenaded by the sold-out crowd with “Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!” chants.
• Marshon Lattimore: For the second week in a row, the Saints’ third-year cornerback shadowed the opponent’s top receiver and for the second consecutive week he locked him down. Mike Evans didn’t catch a pass in a game for only the second time in his six-year career, snapping his four-plus-year streak of 65 consecutive games with a catch. With Lattimore smothering Evans, Winston was forced to go to No. 2 man, Chris Godwin, who was targeted on nine of his 27 pass attempts.
LETS SPEAK ON IT 🗣 https://t.co/dXD3aZVK34
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) October 6, 2019
• Michael Thomas: It was a Tale of Two Mikes. While Evans was being locked down, Thomas was thriving. He torched the Bucs secondary for 11 catches, 182 yards and two touchdowns. Thomas did most of his damage against Bucs cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, who showed his frustration by pleading with officials for offensive pass interference calls against Thomas. Thomas was simply too big, too strong and too good for the Bucs.
.@CantGuardMike goes 42 yards on the deep ball from @teddyb_h2o! #TBvsNO
📺: FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/d6meepU6Nz pic.twitter.com/IV1xMyMKbW
— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2019
• The pass protection: Payton called out his offensive line after last week’s sloppy, penalty prone performance against Dallas and the front five responded. Message received. Bridgewater was not sacked and was hit just three times in 34 pass attempts. The unit stymied NFL sack leader Shaq Barrett: two tackles, 0 sacks, 0 QB hits.
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What I didn’t like …
• Deonte Harris’ butter fingers: Harris fumbled two consecutive punt returns in the first quarter and in the process clearly drew the ire of Payton. Fortunately for the Saints (and Harris), neither play resulted in a turnover. Harris recovered the first muff, and officials ruled there was no clear and obvious recovery of the second fumble, despite a replay review that overturned the call on the field that Harris’ knee was down before the ball was lost. Harris injured his right knee while getting twisted to the turf on the second play.
• The hit by Carlton Davis III: Davis was ejected for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Jared Cook in the second quarter. It was a brutal hit, drawing a shocked reaction from the Superdome crowd when the replay was shown on the video board. Davis did everything NFL officials are trying to outlaw from the game. He lowered his head, led with his helmet and launched his body into Cook. The jarring hit sidelined Cook for a couple of plays, but he eventually returned to the field and later caught the first touchdown pass of his Saints career. There’s no place in the game for such hits.
• The offensive tempo: It was better, but it’s still not quite where the Saints would like it to be. Too often Bridgewater snapped the ball in the final seconds of the play clock. This has been an issue since Drew Brees went down with a thumb injury, and it’s become a point of emphasis for Payton and the offense in recent weeks. There’s still work to do here.
• The coverage on Godwin: As good as the coverage was on Evans, it was equally as poor on Godwin, who had a field day in the Saints’ secondary. Godwin finished with seven receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns, mostly working against Eli Apple and P.J. Williams. He consistently found openings in the Saints zone defense, as well.
By the numbers
3 — Players (Bridgewater, Taysom Hill and Alvin Kamara) who completed passes for the Saints. It marked the first time since Billy Joe Hobert, Danny Wuerffel and Lamar Smith did so on Sept. 6, 1998, when the Saints defeated the host St. Louis Rams in the 1998 season opener.
31 — Consecutive games in which the Saints have not allowed a 100-yard rusher. The streak dates to Nov. 19, 2017, when Samaje Perine ran for 117 yards in Week 11 of that season.
276 — Consecutive games in which the Saints have scored, the longest current streak in the NFL and the fourth-longest in NFL history. The last time the Saints were shut out was Jan. 6, 2002, when they lost 38-0 in the 2001 regular-season finale.
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Did you notice?
Bucs coach Bruce Arians went 0-for-2 on replay challenges. In the first half, he challenged the ruling of a fumble by Harris on the muffed punt return. Officials overturned the call on the field that said Harris’ knee was down before the ball came loose but still awarded the ball to the Saints because they said there was no clear recovery on the play. Arians also challenged the first play of the second half for possible pass interference against Thomas, who was battling with Hargreaves on the play en route to a 42-yard catch. Officials upheld the non-call on the field, much to Arians’ dismay. “If that is not (pass interference), I do not know what the hell is,” Arians said. “A two-hand shove and knocked the guy backwards. They said they were hand-fighting. Yeah, they were hand-fighting, but that doesn’t knock the guy backwards.”
From inside the locker room
On a day of collective dominance and celebration, the lone criticism of the defensive line was reserved for Granderson, who celebrated his fourth-quarter sack with a modern version of The Worm dance. The postgame reviews were not positive. “I was appalled,” said Jordan, the unquestioned leader of the defensive line and its unofficial sack-dance czar. “It was like when a fish hit a frying pan. He just flailed a little bit. When I was young I used to play Pokémon, and it was like a Magikarp. The Worm is usually a rocking motion. When I got to the sideline, I told him, ‘Bro, you did push-ups.’”
This might be the best sack celebration of all time by @Saints DE Carl Granderson 🤣 🤣 🤣 pic.twitter.com/tRfsW0WTVv
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 6, 2019
Parting shot …
Michael Thomas faced press coverage on 22 of 35 routes against the Buccaneers, catching all 9 of his targets for 164 yards and 2 TD.@Cantguardmike has gained 4.6 yards per route against press coverage this season, best in NFL (min. 40 routes vs press).#TBvsNO | #Saints pic.twitter.com/yBWg2Kmkxh
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 6, 2019
(Photo of Cam Jordan: Chuck Cook / USA Today)
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