The New Orleans Saints are looking to avoid an 0-2 start. The last time they began a season with back-to-back losses was in 2017. Standing in their way are the San Francisco 49ers, a 17-13 winner over the Seattle Seahawks last week. Here are four things that have to happen for Kellen Moore to get his first head coaching victory.
Fix the flags
First things first. Nothing else written here will matter if the Saints don’t clean up all the penalties they committed in the season-opening loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The Saints were penalized 13 times, tied with the Tennessee Titans for most in the league. Even worse is eight of the flags thrown were pre-snap penalties. That’s also the most in the league. The obvious result of that is the Saints often found themselves in some unfavorable down and distances. It would make things so much easier for second-year quarterback Spencer Rattler not to be in those situations.
Slowing down McCaffrey
The Saints are catching a bit of a break in this one. 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is expected to miss the game. He’s dealing with injuries to his non-throwing shoulder and a toe. In addition, the 49ers placed tight end George Kittle on injured reserve this week because he’s dealing with a groin injury. But they still have versatile running back Christian McCaffrey. The Saints are very familiar with McCaffrey, who was in the same division when he played with the Panthers. McCaffrey had 142 yards (69 rushing, 73 receiving) last week against Seattle. He had to work for those running yards though, averaging just 3.1 yards per carry. Saints can’t let him have a big game.
Return of the Mac
With Purdy expected to miss the game, the 49ers will turn to Mac Jones to run the offense. Jones is in his first season with the 49ers after playing last season with the Jaguars and his first three seasons with the Patriots. The Saints dominated Jones in both meetings they faced him when he was with New England. The Saints intercepted him five times in those two games, while Jones has thrown just one touchdown against the Saints. They’ve also sacked him four times. They will want to keep that type pressure on him. He was sacked 12 times in his seven starts last season in Jacksonville and went 2-5.
Get Kamara and Kendre going
Rattler threw 46 passes last week, tying Buffalo’s Josh Allen and New England’s Drake Maye for most in the league in Week 1. That’s way too many for Rattler. On the flip side, the Saints ran the ball 22 times. The way the last game went dictated those numbers, but they need to be more balanced to have some success. Getting running backs Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller more involved is key. Good things happen when the ball is in Kamara’s hand. It wasn’t in his hands enough last week (11 carries, 2 receptions). Miller averaged 4.8 yards per carry, but had just five carries. Expect the two backs to get more touches Sunday.