Marques Colston played his first career game in the NFL at Cleveland back in 2006.
It’s finally time to move on from last week’s heart-breaking loss. The New Orleans Saints now set their sights on a second road game of the year as they travel to face off with the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are also 0-1, coming off of a 30-27 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cleveland leads the all-time series 12-4, with the last match-up between the two coming in 2010. In that game four years ago, the Browns came in to the Superdome and gave the defending Super Bowl Champions fits, pulling off a shocker with the score 30-17. Cleveland won despite only having 210 yards of total offense. Drew Brees threw four interceptions, with two of them being returned for a touchdown by linebacker David Bowens. The last time the two played in Cleveland was in the season opener back in 2006, which was Coach Sean Payton and Brees’ first game with the Saints, which also became their first win in black and gold with a 19-14 victory.
As you likely know, the Saints offense is coming in to Week 2 already looking to be in mid-season form. That’s not entirely surprising, but certainly good to see after Brees missed two weeks of camp with his oblique injury and only played in one quarter of preseason play. He has his offense ranked 3rd in the NFL after one week after gaining 472 yards last Sunday. They scored the 4th most points in Week 1, putting up 34 against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Browns, like the Saints, had a dreadful day on the defensive side of the ball. They gave up the 2nd most yardage in the league (bet you can guess who did worse…), allowing 503 yards of offense to the Steelers. The 30 points they surrendered was 24th. Being a team that is going to lean heavily on their defensive unit to keep them in ball games, a performance such as this is very alarming for their staff. They’ll need to get it together soon and the Saints offense is far from the cure.
Pass Offense
With the exception of one throw, Drew Brees played excellent. His 333 yards passing are 7th in the NFL, while the Saints passing offense is ranked 6th. Just a quick explanation on how that’s possible, lost yardage on sacks is subtracted from passing yardage total from a team standpoint. Joe Flacco actually threw for more yards, but the yardage he lost being sacked dropped Baltimore four yards behind the 333 yards Brees picked up without being sacked. Getting back on point, Brees completed 69% of his passes last week and threw for one touchdown and had one interception. Marques Colston is tied for 7th in the NFL with his 110 receiving yards that came on 5 receptions. Rookie Brandin Cooks was on the receiving end of Brees’ lone touchdown throw, as part of his 7 receptions, 77 yards. Jimmy Graham quietly added in 8 receptions, 82 yards with a team high 10 targets.
Cleveland allowed the second most passing yards in Week 1, giving up 376 yards through the air. Their pass rush was pretty decent, as linebackers Paul Kruger, Jabaal Sheard, and Christian Kirksey each recorded a sack. Inside linebacker Carolos Dansby came up with an interception, the team’s only takeaway, and also had two passes defended. The Browns have a very talented secondary, led by Joe Haden, Justin Gilbert, and Donte Whitner.
Drew Brees should not have any trouble getting close to 300 yards passing again this week. Cleveland certainly has some good talent on the defensive side of the ball, but they are likely still adjusting to new defensive-minded Head Coach Mike Pettine’s scheme. They did prove last week that they can get after the quarterback, so the Saints offensive line will have to protect Brees as well as they did last week. Joe Haden does have a reputation of taking whoever he covers out of the game, so it’ll be interesting to see if the Browns choose to put him on Jimmy Graham when he splits out. Justin Gilbert has a little better size, but I cannot see them trusting a rookie with that match-up. Carlos Dansby and Donte Whitner will likely also see time across from #80. Kenny Stills remains questionable to play as of now, but he did return to practice on a limited basis this week. Friday practices are always a good indicator of if a player is going to be able to give it a go or not, so keep an eye out for the injury report tomorrow afternoon to see if he was able to do more. My hunch says that they’ll keep him out for another week due to two reasons. First, it’s only Week 2 and this doesn’t appear to be a tough match-up, so they will likely be fine without him. Second, Brandin Cooks quickly proved he can step up with an extended role.
Rush Offense
I said it in last week’s post-game article and I’ll stress it again, one of the most promising signs to come out of such a tough loss was the success that the Saints had running the ball. They rushed for 139 yards, which was 9th best in the league. After a slow start, Mark Ingram finished with 13 carries for 60 yards and 2 touchdowns, while pumping out a 4.6 yards per carry average. Pierre Thomas chipped in on 7 carries for 31 yards and Khiry Robinson added 6 carries for 28 yards. The backfield as a whole gained 4.6 yards per handoff. It was clear that Jahri Evans and Ben Grubbs being at full strength, unlike the majority of last year, was a huge factor. Second year starting left tackle Terron Armstead also had a nice day in run blocking. Also, as if he didn’t do enough with the ball in his hands to impress, Brandin Cooks showed some very nice down field blocking and also took one end around for 18 yards.
Cleveland also had a rough day against the run last Sunday. Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell gained 109 of the 127 yards that the Browns surrendered on the ground, which was tied for 20th in the league in Week 1. Strong safety Donte Whitner led the team with 13 tackles, 12 of them being solo. Rookie cornerback Justin Gilbert finished 2nd on the team with 7 tackles. Cleveland has a mountain playing at their nose tackle position in Phil Taylor, who checks in at 6’3″, 335 pounds. He only had 2 tackles on Sunday, but don’t let that fool you, he’s a huge cog against the run.
Coming off of such a strong effort running the ball in Week 1, Coach Payton will certainly take a long look at what Pittsburgh did to open up so many holes against this Cleveland defense. It’s clear that the Saints are committed to getting the ground game going this year, converting three rushing touchdowns from inside the Falcons five yard line. It’s safe to assume they’ll look to keep the strong effort going, keeping the pressure off of Drew Brees and the passing attack. Look for the aforementioned Taylor, Whitner, and Dansby, all to be very active against the Saints rushing attack.
Players to Watch
Drew Brees
Brees without a doubt beat up on himself more than anyone else about that interception he threw in the end zone last week. He knows just how costly it ended up turning out to be and being one of the most self-critical players in all of professional sports, he’ll work out every ounce of sweat he can to correct his mistakes. He’ll come out laser focused and primed for a big day. Another reason to see what he can do is this being an outdoor game. The critics of he and the offense playing on the road will not pipe down until they force them to, so every outdoor game is an opportunity to make that happen.
Marques Colston
Speaking of beating up on himself, they’re may not be another guy in the league that did that more than Colston last week. Not only am I interested to watch the way he rebounds from such a tough, costly day of mistakes, but I want to see how he can do it when matched up against one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.
Jonathan Goodwin
I already mentioned the behemoth that plays nose tackle for the Browns, well this is the man that’ll have the most head to head action with Phil Taylor. Goodwin’s ability to keep Taylor from winning this battle will be crucial in what the Saints are able to do on the ground. If he struggles, look for the Saints to give him some help with either Jahri Evans or Ben Grubbs
That’s all on this side of the ball, folks. Check back tomorrow for the defensive preview. As always, Who Dat?!
Follow David Billiot Jr on Twitter @DCBilliotJr6
