Last season Drew Brees performed much better against man coverage than zone -- he had the second-highest EPA/P disparity in favor of man. Last week the Rams ran 78% zone, second-most of any team. Brees faces the Rams tomorrow. ESPN's coverage classification is powered by NFL Next Gen Stats.
Saints DT Sheldon Rankins has been ruled out of Sunday's game as he continues to recover from his torn Achilles. Everyone else is expected to play -- including RT Ryan Ramczyk, who was limited in Friday's practice with a thigh issue.
Dante Fowler, whose pressure on Drew Brees forced an overtime interception in the NFC Championship Game, is already off to a hot start.
The no-call in the NFC title game haunted the Saints all offseason, but they can put it further behind them by beating a playoff contender on the road.
As they prepare to play the Saints in a rematch of last season's NFC Championship Game, the Rams are still fielding questions about the infamous pass interference no-call that helped send them to Super Bowl LIII.
Will the Bengals have their star running back on the field against the 49ers? NFL Nation provides the latest updates direct from locker rooms.
WR Ted Ginn Jr. was the only Saints player to miss practice Wednesday, because of illness. Not bad after a Monday night game. Four players were limited: S Marcus Williams (groin), DT Sheldon Rankins (Achilles), DT Mario Edwards Jr. (hamstring), LB Craig Robertson (hamstring).
Tremendous praise for Rams DT Aaron Donald from Drew Brees. "I don't even have names for all the moves he can do to get to the quarterback. You cannot block him with one guy. He's just that good a player. He's such an impact player, he can change a game. I don't know if I've ever seen anybody like him."
A former NFL football player and a Georgia doctor face charges of illegally distributing prescription drugs, including opioids.
No surprise here, but Saints kicker Wil Lutz was named the NFC's Special Teams Player of the Week after nailing the game-winning 58-yard field goal as time expired Monday night against the Texans. Lutz, who made 3 of 4 field goal attempts in the game, has now won this award three times in his career. He was also named the NFC's Special Teams Player of the Month for last September.
The Saints prefer to limit Kamara's workload, but they needed every one of his 20 touches in Monday's win and might need the same against the Rams.
Who were the best rookies in Week 1? We picked the best newbie for every NFL team while ranking them from 1 to 32.
Saints kicker Wil Lutz made history with a game-winning 58-yard field goal as time expired against Houston. It was a career long for Lutz and the longest field goal in the final 10 seconds of any season-opening game since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
Drew Brees called the officiating error that left the Saints 15 seconds short on a drive to close the first half Monday night "a game-changer." Said the QB: "Listen, that can't happen."
Thanks to Wil Lutz's heroics, the Saints are now 1-0 for the first time since 2013. They really needed it with the brutal stretch they have coming up.
Wil Lutz made a 58-yard field goal as time expired to lift the New Orleans Saints to a 30-28 victory over the Houston Texans on Monday night in game that had three scoring plays in the final minute.
Texans CB Aaron Colvin was the nearest defender to Ted Ginn Jr. on the final pass of the game. Over the course of the contest, when Colvin was the nearest defender to the targeted receiver at time of ball arrival the Saints completed 7 of 8 pass attempts for 106 yards and a touchdown, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
Wow, wow, wow. All it took for the Saints to break their Week 1 curse was a 58-yard field goal as time expired. Wil Lutz made the clutch game-winner to cap a game-winning 37-second drive after the Texans had taken the lead with a two-play 75-yard TD drive. The Saints (barely) snapped a five-game losing streak in season openers -- one they absolutely had to have with a brutal two-game road trip coming at the Rams and Seahawks.
Deshaun Watson is struggling against man coverage: 7-12 for 19 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. No such problems against zone where he's 10-14 for 153 yards and a touchdown. ESPN's coverage classification is powered by NFL Next Gen Stats.
The Saints' defensive line hasn't been perfect tonight. But they just had a huge series with two sacks (one by LB Alex Anzalone and one by DE Trey Hendrickson) after Houston crossed midfield early in the fourth quarter. That's four sacks on the night for New Orleans. ... On the flip side, Drew Brees wasn't sacked until the fourth quarter -- though he was under pressure during his interception on the opening drive.
Saints waking up in the second half with some huge third-down plays of their own. First a 9-yard TD pass from Drew Brees to fellow QB Taysom Hill. Then a deep interception by Saints safety Marcus Williams on a third-and-long heave from Deshaun Watson for the much-needed first takeaway of the season.
| RD(PK) | PLAYER | POS | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2(16) | Erik McCoy | C | Texas A&M |
| 4(3) | Chauncey Gardner-Johnson | S | Florida |
| 6(4) | Saquan Hampton | S | Rutgers |
| 7(17) | Alize Mack | TE | Notre Dame |
| 7(30) | Kaden Elliss | OLB | Idaho |
| TEAM | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 30 | 28 |
| Tampa Bay | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 37 | 45 |
| Atlanta | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 12 | 28 |
| Carolina | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 41 | 50 |
