How Can the New Orleans Saints Make the Playoffs – Starting in Week 3 Against the Minnesota Vikings?

The New Orleans Saints are surprisingly 0-2 to start the season. Major adjustments are needed on both sides of the field for the team moving forward if they are to get out of this hot mess.

But what adjustments? Where will the improvements need to start? To help diagnose the situation, we’ve listed four things New Orleans must fix starting with their Week 3 matchup against the visiting Minnesota Vikings, a game which we previewed in full here.
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How Can the New Orleans Saints Improve?

1. Fix the pass defense

[sc:NFL240banner ]Head coach Sean Payton wouldn’t be exchanging words with defensive coordinator Rob Ryan on the sidelines if the Saints were doing any better on defense. It’s easy to blame Ryan. After all, fans expectations of the team’s defense is very high, especially after the big turnaround the Saints had last season when Ryan masterfully turned the league’s worst defense from 2012 into its second best in 2013.

Ryan, however, isn’t the only scapegoat. The other is cornerback Patrick Robinson, who has been a beacon of ineffectiveness in the Saints’ secondary thus far.

The 2010 first round draftee of the Saints has earned the ire of fans after giving up a touchdown and taking several costly penalties in the team’s Week 2 loss to the Browns. So bad was Robinson that there is an online petition asking New Orleans to remove this player’s gut off the team.

Robinson is hardly the only one that sucks in the Saints’ secondary, though. In one interview, Payton clarified that “there’s a lot of muddy hands just to be singling out one player.” And indeed, when Robinson was moved from corner to safety, the problems continued for the Saints secondary.

Against a weak Vikings passing attack in Week 3, New Orleans needs a better performance from Robinson, and from the secondary as a whole. Rather than pull him out of the starting line up, the Saints could benefit from leaving Robinson in to regain his confidence – they don’t have better options in the wings.

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2. Continue rushing the ball

With or without Mark Ingram – who’ll miss at least a month due to a hand injury – the Saints must continue to rush the ball in order to take away some of the opposing defenses’ heat off Drew Brees and the team’s passing game. Ingram’s absence means that the Saints will miss their leader in rushing yards (143), carries (24), and touchdowns (3), but the Saints have options.

Pierre Thomas (49 yards on 3 carries, 1 TD) and promising rookie Khiry Robinson (59 yards on 14 carries, 1 TD) should be able to ensure that the running game won’t suffer that much as each has a fair share of the rushing load. New Orleans has enough talent left in the backfield to continue pounding the rock, and they need to to give Brees the opportunities that will help him break the game open.

3. Improve pass protection

One of the negative takeaways for the Saints in their loss to Cleveland was the offensive line’s costly mistakes. The most glaring of which was when Drew Brees threw his lone interception of that game in the second quarter that resulted into a 62-yard touchdown by Cleveland.

In that play, the quarterback was hit by Browns linebacker Paul Kruger, who outmaneuvered Saints left tackle Terron Armstead. It goes without saying that the protection of Drew Brees has to be at its best while the defense is in a funk to give the Saints a competitive edge moving forward. That said, the Saints must…

4. Score early

The only thing that’s keeping Sean Payton sane at this point of the season is the team’s offense that is sixth in passing yards (278.0) and fifth in rushing yards (156.5).

The Saints have yet to show they are capable of disarming opposing offenses, so it’s only ideal for New Orleans to maximize their biggest strength to cover for the defense’s shortcomings. That strength is their offense, having averaged 29.0 points per game – no. 2 in the NFL – thus far on the season.

The Saints, however takes a lot of time before generating their points. In fact, they are 24th in the NFL in first quarter scoring with a paltry average of 3.0 points. Get on the board early and hope that Robinson can improve when the Vikings go to the air to try and catch up, and the Saints should be able to cover -10.5.

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