Titans-Saints reflection
By: Jake Rajala
The New Orleans Saints entered the somewhat warm Tennessee Titans home on Sunday. The Saints defeated the Titans by a score of 34-26. With that said, I’m going to lay out five things we learned from the contest.
Rookie sensations
Tyler Shough and Cam Ward both played out of their minds. Shough was 22 for 27, 333 passing yards, and 2 TDs. Meanwhile, Ward recorded 251 passing yards and 2 TD passes. Shough started off slow, but he bounced back in the second half. His go-to weapons were Juwan Johnson and Chris Olave. Ward loved to connect with Elic Ayomanor.
Kicking
The game showcased some beautiful kicking. The Titans kicker, Joey Slye, went 4 for 4, including a 58 yard FG! The Saints kicker, Charlie Smyth, drilled two 50+ yard field goals! It’s safe to say he is an upgrade over Blake Grupe.
Alontae Taylor
Alontae Taylor was the best CB on the day. He had four pass deflections, nine tackles, and he brought pressure on the QB. Sure, he may not have WR-like hands. It was nice to see Taylor play well in his home state. Who Dat nation is thankful that he wasn’t traded at the trade deadline.
Saints pass rush
The Saints pass rush had a fantastic day, despite losing contain a few times. Cameron Jordan had 2 sacks today, which means he has double digit sacks on the season (as he has 10.5). Furthermore, Chase Young had 1.5 sacks, including a forced fumble, where he ran it in for a touchdown! They had five sacks on the day.
Running backs
The Saints starting RB (Audric Estime) and Titans starting RB (Tony Pollard) both played well. Estime had a fine TD run where he broke numerous tackles. He finished with 94 rushing yards and averaged 6.7 YPC and a rushing TD. Pollard had 85 rushing yards and averaged 4.7 YPC. I didn’t expect Taysom Hill to only get a couple of carries and Shough to have four carries.
The Saints and Titans have played well over the past four weeks. Of course, the Saints are on a four game winning streak. Do you think they want to tank?
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