The New Orleans Saints were without their future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Drew Brees in Sunday’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Brees was out recovering from surgery on his right thumb which was injured in the Saints loss to the Los Angeles Rams the previous week.
However, behind efficient play from quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and running back Alvin Kamara along with some help from the defensive and the special teams units, New Orleans picked up what WWL NFL analyst Mike Detillier called one of the biggest early season road wins of the Sean Payton era.
“It’s really early in September,” Detillier said. “But that goes down, that win, because they were 15-0 in September at home since 2010, goes down as one of the biggest early season road wins in the Sean Payton time frame.”
Bridgewater threw two touchdown passes and no interceptions while Kamara posted roughly 160 yards from scrimmage and scored twice. The Saints also scored a defensive touchdown when Vonn Bell returned a fumble forced by Eli Apple 33 yards and rookie Deonte Harris had a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown in the 33-27 win.
“Every factor came into play and that’s what you are going to have to have here until Brees comes back,” Detillier said.
Detillier said this was “as good of gameplan as Sean Payton has come up with” and highlighted the Saints offensive attack was suited to Bridgewater’s strengths.
“I think when Drew walks away from this that it’s going to look a little different and you saw it yesterday that it looked a little differently offensively,” he said.
Detillier was also impressed with the play of the Saints offensive line as well as the Kamara who he said was the best player on the field.
“It’s stunning, for not (being) a big back, how powerful he is,” Detillier said. “He kind of barrels through people and you don’t appreciate what he gives in that category because that’s not what you think about with him. Because he never goes backwards. Virtually, when he gets hit, it’s either sideways or forwards.”
One area Detillier said the Saints need to improve in is the production at tight end particularly from this summer’s prized free agent signing Jared Cook. Detillier said Cook’s lack of production has been the biggest surprise of the early season particularly after the way he impressed in training camp.
“He’s been a major disappointment, so far, early in the season,” he said. “Dropped passes… come on! You gotta make those catches… Hopefully, that turns around because you need him in this offense. He’s such a big play force that he’s been a major disappointment so far.”
