It was an undeniably positive performance for many Saints players on Friday night at the Caesars Superdome, but that doesn't make the cuts any easier.
In fact, the effective performances by players in rosters battles in the Saints' 27-10 victory over the Chargers in the preseason finale might make them even harder as the team looks at paring down to 53 players by 3 p.m. Tuesday.
“A lot of tough decisions. … We’re gonna go back. We’re gonna evaluate this tape," head coach Dennis Allen said. "There’ll be a lot of meetings, a lot of discussions to make sure we’re keeping the right 53 for the New Orleans Saints and what we feel like gives us the best opportunity for us to win.”
Two players in particular who made a compelling case on Friday were WR/RB Kirk Merritt and safety Justin Evans, both of whom have had strong camps but still could be considered question marks.
Merritt interestingly spent the past week working with the running backs, but he saw his full workload at WR on Friday. The Destrehan native said that was the plan going in, and it resulted in his biggest performance with 4 catches for 32 yards and a touchdown. But that performance was tempered by a procedure penalty that cost the team yardage earlier in the game.
“I think there was a lot of things that were encouraging," Allen said. "There’s certainly more things that you’d like to see him clean up a little bit."
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For Evans, the highlight moments came when he punched a ball out for a fumble that was recovered by teammate Daniel Sorenson in the second half. On the next drive he broke up a pass in coverage to force a punt. But Allen noted a discussion with Evans earlier this offseason where they discussed his need to improve on special teams.
“That was one of the areas that we had a discussion with him about improving in that area, so that’ll be part of the evaluation process," Allen said. "But he made a nice play punching that ball out and there was another I think third down stop that he made a nice play on, too. So he’s a guy that’s caught my eye a little bit.”
Those are just a few of the players making decisions difficult. Other questions linger at receiver, running back, tight end and linebacker. We'll find out where the team lands on Tuesday, but what we saw tonight should indicate the issue will be too many quality players, not a lack of them.
"I’m confident in the guys that we have in that locker room," Allen said. "I’m confident that we’ll be able to find 53 guys that will be a tough competitive group and they’re gonna fight tooth and nail all the way to the end, and that’s kinda what I want our team to be. I want it to be a gritty, tough group and I think we’ve got that. I’m excited about it.”
MORE FROM DENNIS ALLEN
ON JAMEIS WINSTON'S PERFORMANCE
Jameis Winston's lone series of the preseason can be looked at as a resounding success. He went 4-for-4 for 59 yards and led a drive that was capped off by a Mark Ingram touchdown run.
“I thought he was confident in the pocket," Allen said. "I thought he was decisive with his reads. There was a couple where he really stepped up in there and rifled the ball in, so I was impressed with what he was able to do. It was good to see.”
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WHAT WAS THE GOAL FOR STARTERS TONIGHT?
Allen kept his plans a mystery, but those ultimately turned out to be a majority of the Saints starters getting in their first action of the preseason. That included players like Alvin Kamara, Cam Jordan, Demario Davis and others.
“I think the plan going in was for our starters to get in 10-12 plays and I kind of had that in my mind, if we had a nice, long touchdown drive then we’d probably get them out pretty quick after that," Allen said. "So that was kinda the plan.”
THOUGHTS ON THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE
“Good to get a win. Offensively I thought there in the first half, I thought we had some pretty good rhythm offensively," Allen said. "I thought we did some really good things, both Jameis and Andy at the quarterback position. I thought Mark and Alvin had a couple of nice runs in there. It was good to get some points. It was good to get some points at the end of the first half and operate the 2-minute drive like we did.”
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