NEW ORLEANS — The Saints fell to 0-2 on the season as they fell 20-10 to the Packers.
We didn’t see most of the starters playing in this one as they got most of their work done in the practices this week. The defense looked really good in those so Dennis Allen pretty much rested all the starters.
We got to see some of the backups play. One of the biggest surprises was that Ian Book was going to play the entire game. Andy Dalton did not see any action. He looked good in his only series against the Texas a week ago. You already know what you’re getting from the 12-year vet, but they wanted to look at Ian Book and see how he responded after he struggled some against the Texans.
I thought he had another up and down game against the Packers on Friday night. He turned the ball over twice again, on another bad snap, like he had against the Texans, and he also threw an interception which may have been because Taysom Hill fell down on the route more than Book making a bad throw, but you did get to see him do some good things. He did put some drives together although they didn’t finish it.
He did have one touchdown pass to Chris Olave and I thought Olave needed to have some confidence in this game. He did make a couple of catches and that touchdown can go a long way, especially for a rookie to get in the end zone. He was a big playmaker for Ohio State and he expects to do the same thing with the Saints.
Allen was upset with both the penalties and the turnovers. The penalties really did bite the Saints, especially in the third half when they had the Packers in a third and 19 and Malcom Roach had a personal foul penalty for roughing the passer. That extended the Packers drive and the Packers ended up getting a touchdown.
He didn’t like the turnovers either.
If you look at Ian Book’s line. The Saints have had five turnovers in the preseason, four of them directly attributed to Book.
Allen did say afterward that there were some positives in this game – I thought some on defense played well. I thought Kaden Elliss played well and we did see Eric Wilson, another vet who is trying to make it got some pressure and created a fumble in the second half.
Wil Lutz also looked good with his 59-yard field goal in the first half and that’s big for the Saints who had so much trouble in the kicking game in 2021. With Wil Lutz healthy and able to hit from as far as 59 and 60 yards, that’s gonna be such a weapon for the Saints this season. The Saints lost a lot of points because their kicking game struggled last season. I don’t think that will be an issue this year.
Some of the battles we’ve been looking at in training camp – First the running game. I thought Tony Jones Jr. played really well in this game, not only running the ball but on special teams. He even had a special teams tackle on a punt return.
I think Jones may have taken a step ahead of the other contenders for that fourth running back slot. I think it’s pretty much set at the top 3 with Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram and Dwayne Washington.
I think Tony Jones Jr. may have taken the lead for that last spot.
As for left tackle, I still think James Hurst is still in position to win that starting spot. Rookie Trevor Penning played better in this game, especially in pass protection. He did look great in the run game portion, but the pass protection game, where he struggled against the Texans, he looked better against the Packers. Penning IS going to be the starting left tackle. I just don’t think it will be when the Saints start the season but eventually he will be the starting left tackle and I think he’ll be a really good left tackle.