The (1-2) New Orleans Saints will be looking to “jump-start” the early part of their 2020 Season following back-to-back disappointing losses in their past two games, when they travel up north on the road this weekend to face their long-time conference rivals from the NFC North Division — the (0-3) Detroit Lions — in Week #4.
The regionally-televised contest is slated to kick-off for 12:00 p.m. Noon Central time at Ford Field in downtown Detroit, Michigan; and the game will also be broadcast locally on WVUE-TV New Orleans FOX Channel 8.
With that in mind, here are Big Easy Magazine’s 5 “Bold” Predictions for this highly-anticipated match-up. And as always: we’ll count them down first beginning with #5 and then work our way down to #1.
Starting first with….
#5. SAINTS ALL-PRO WIDE RECEIVER MICHAEL THOMAS RETURNS TO THE STARTING LINE-UP AND MAKES AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT
The absence of Thomas after he suffered a high ankle sprain in the season-opening win against Tampa Bay clearly has been one of the main reasons for the Saints’ poor overall start to their season thus far, and as of this morning while this article has been just recently published, is expected to most likely return to the starting line-up barring any set-backs.
Michael Thomas returned to practice today for the Saints after missing the least two games with an ankle sprain. The wide receiver was moving well during the portion of practice open to the media. Getting the offensive player of the year back would obviously be a huge boost.
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) September 30, 2020
It goes without saying that the offense has looked completely ‘out of sync’ at times without the League’s top WR available, and it certainly has led to the early-season struggles and ineffectiveness in recent weeks of Saints starting QB and 20th year veteran Drew Brees, the one person that misses (and relies upon) him the most.
Thomas will actually post some modest numbers in this contest on Sunday (5 receptions for 70 yards and a TD) — but his presence alone will force the Lions defense to account for his whereabouts throughout the course of the entire game — and his usage as a “decoy” on several plays by head coach Sean Payton, allows the Black and Gold to open things up a bit for other players such as Emmanuel Sanders and rookie TE Adam Trautman in their normally high-powered passing attack.
#4. NOT TO BE OUTDONE, LIONS WIDE RECEIVER KENNY GOLLADAY GIVES THE SAINTS SECONDARY MORE PROBLEMS COVERING AN OPPONENT’S TOP PASS-CATCHER (ONCE AGAIN)
I forgot to ask, on a scale from 1 to 10, how happy are you to have Kenny Golladay back? ? 1️⃣9️⃣#OnePride pic.twitter.com/UOisKFXo6a
— Mike A #OnePride #DETROITLIONSvsEVERYBODY (@archambeaum3) September 29, 2020
For the sake of the sanity of most faithful Who Dat fans this morning, we won’t spend too much time re-hashing the unpleasant knowledge that the Saints secondary specifically in their past two games (both losses), has played with an obvious lack of discipline that has contributed directly to making New Orleans the NFL’s most-penalized team yardage wise, with 24 total penalties for 331 yards,
Most of those penalties have been committed by several of the Saints starting defensive backs, who have clearly struggled with covering receivers and tight ends and as a result have been flagged time and time again for defensive holding, illegal contact. or blatant pass interference.
But perhaps even worse is the fact that the New Orleans defensive secondary has had difficulty covering an opponent’s best pass-catcher, after they struggled mightily last week in covering Green Bay Packers back-up WR Allen Lazard and the week prior to that against Las Vegas Raiders Pro Bowl TE Darren Waller.
And that issue will become a prominent one for the Black and Gold defense once again this Sunday, as Lions #1 WR Kenny Golladay catches 8 passes for 123 yards and a TD from Lions QB Matthew Stafford (who played his first turnover-free game of the season last week); which allows Detroit to keep the score close throughout most of the game
#3. ALVIN KAMARA HAS ANOTHER STELLAR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN WHAT’S RAPIDLY BECOMING AN UNFORGETTABLE SEASON FOR HIM SO FAR
⚡️ @A_kamara6 through 3 games ⚡️
438 total yards – ???
6 touchdowns – ??? among non-QBs
280 yards after catch – ???
285 rec yards – ??? among RBs pic.twitter.com/0M1VZjE8HY— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 30, 2020
If there’s been any one particular “bright spot” for New Orleans in their uninspired and extremely disappointing (1-2) start, it quite obviously has been the phenomenal performance in the first 3 weeks of the season thus far by Saints Pro Bowl RB Alvin Kamara; who just recently is coming off a game where he caught 13 passes for 139 yards and 2 receiving TD’s in the loss at home vs. Green Bay.
While the 25-year old superstar hasn’t actually had that much of an impact for the Black and Gold running the football (he only has averaged 10 rushing attempts per game), he’s still getting a net gain of 4.9 yards on those touches, including 3 rushing TD’s.
But it’s actually in the passing game where the Saints former 2017 NFL Rookie of the Year has been enjoying the majority of his individual success thus far; as he currently ranks within the Top 5 of the entire NFL in receptions (27), receiving yards (285) and receiving TD’s (3).
For the season so far in the 3 games that New Orleans has played. Kamara has tallied an unbelievable 438 yards from scrimmage on 58 touches (a 7.5 yards per touch average every time he gets the ball in his hands) and has scored a grand total of 6 TD’s.
But what really sets Kamara apart is his elusiveness — and the capability that he has for getting the ball quickly into open space which allows him to utilize his unique slippery running style out in the open field — the very same elusiveness which already has seen him accumulate an impressive 15 missed tackles by defenders, according to the folks over at analytics website Pro Football Focus.
Kamara’s hot start will continue this Sunday in spite of the efforts of an underrated Lions defense. as the young phenom runs the ball 11 times for 57 yards, but gains an additional 92 yards catching the ball out of the backfield to go along with one receiving TD as well.
#2. SAINTS 3RD YEAR DEFENSIVE END MARCUS DAVENPORT DISAPPOINTS (AND FRUSTRATES) WHO DAT FANS YET AGAIN
A sizable portion of Saints fans throughout the ‘Who Dat Nation’ fan-base have clearly been annoyed and even downright frustrated at times over the playing status of 3rd year defensive end Marcus Davenport; who in his first 2 seasons with the team after the Black and Gold gave up two #1 draft picks to select him over two years ago, has consistently been injury-prone and has missed all 3 games this season so far.
Much like Michael Thomas, the 23-year Davenport is expected (as of this writing) to be available to play and start in this Sunday’s contest after suffering an elbow injury during the team’s Training Camp a few weeks back that has kept him out of the starting line-up ever since.
But the former University of Texas-San Antonio star reportedly has made progress and participated in two limited practices last week, and then practiced again (in full participation this time) yesterday. It had been hoped that this season would be a “break out” year for Davenport, who last season had a promising overall performance where he posted a total of 31 tackles and 6 sacks through 13 games.
But in what seems to be a predictable (and unfortunate) recurrence, Davenport will start the game but then leaves after only a few plays into the 1st Quarter — much to the displeasure of Saints fans everywhere, including some who decide to throw inanimate objects at their TV sets all across the nation — out of anger and pure disgust.
#1 HEADING INTO THE 4TH QUARTER, THE SAINTS HAVE A SLIM LEAD BY THE SCORE OF 27-21 — WHEN SUDDENLY….
When suddenly 10th year veteran defensive end Cam Jordan notches a coverage sack of Stafford, which forces a Detroit punt and gives the ball back to Brees and the Saints offense, who still maintain that slim 6-point lead.
The two teams then exchange punts on their respective subsequent possessions, and after the Saints fail to convert a makable 3rd-Down-and-3 at the Detroit 42 yard-line, the Lions get the ball back at their own 25-yard line with only 3:37 left remaining on the game clock.
After an Adrian Peterson run is stopped by Saints LB Alex Anzalone on 1st Down, Stafford throws a pass DEEP down the field intended for Golladay, who at first glance appears to be well-covered by the Saints secondary until — you guessed it right — a yellow piece of cloth resembling an NFL Referee’s penalty flag is shown laying on the turf.
It’s a defensive holding call against Saints slot CB PJ Williams, who receives a televised ass-chewing from a visibly upset Payton as he sheepishly comes to the sidelines.
Three plays later after having reached the red zone following the defensive holding call against Williams, Detroit scores on a 4-yard run by Peterson and now lead the Saints by a score of 28-27 with just slightly over 2 minutes remaining.
The stunned Saints now suddenly find themselves starting down an unthinkable (1-3) start to their season, a win-loss record that they know could potentially ruin any hopes that they have of even making the NFL Playoffs during such an uncertain time as the year 2020 has been. But the Saints this time around have somewhat of a seminal moment, as they very calmly and methodically operate their 2-minute offense to sheer perfection.
The Saints only need a field goal to win it, but want to be careful not to leave the Lions any time remaining on the game-clock to potentially win the game themselves with a field goal of their own. And it’s when rookie tight end Adam Trautman makes a sliding and diving catch to give the Black and Gold a 1st-Down-and-goal inside the Detroit 2-yard line which forces the Lions to burn their final time-out with only 8 seconds still showing, that Who Dats finally began to sigh a breath of relief.
Saints #2 RB Latavius Murray then bowls his way into the end-zone on the very next play, as time ultimately expires and allows New Orleans to escape with a narrow victory to improve their overall win-loss record to (2-2) overall…..
FINAL SCORE: SAINTS 34, LIONS 28
Barry Hirstius is a semi-retired journalist, who has worked previously as a sports editor and columnist. Barry is a New Orleans native who grew up as a fan of the Saints while attending their games as a young boy during the early 1970’s, uptown at the old Tulane Stadium. He is also the proud Grandfather of two beautiful young girls, Jasmine and Serenity. Follow him on Twitter: @BarryHirstius