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The 2022 NFL season has been all but ideal for the New Orleans Saints, starting off 1-3, losing their QB1 Jameis Winston to injury early on for however long Dennis Allen decides is right, and just overall lacking production on that side of the ball. They now head into a Week 5 matchup against the 2-2 Seattle Seahawks, who are coming off a close win against the Detroit Lions.
In this article, I will be breaking down how the Saints’ passing offense and Seahawks’ passing defense have performed so far, and then going into how we should expect these units to perform against each other this week.
How have these units performed so far this season?
So far this season, the Seahawks’ pass defense has been pretty poor, and the Saints' passing offense has been average to above average. The Seahawks have allowed the 4th most passing yards at 1096, are tied for the 9th most passing touchdowns allowed at 7, tied for the 3rd least interceptions at 2, have allowed the 8th most passing first downs at 53, and have allowed the 12th highest completion percentage at 66.7%. The worst part is that they have allowed the highest yards per pass attempt on the season at 8.7, so they not only have been poor overall in stopping the pass but have struggled to stop it each time a passing play is called.
On the other side of the ball, the Saints' pass offense has been about average to above average so far this season. they have the 10th most passing yards at 1094, the 6th highest yards per pass attempt at 7.6, and the 14th highest completion percentage at 65%. The issues reside in sacks, allowing the 7th most so far at 13, as well as being tied for 2nd in interceptions with 5, and are tied for 4th to last in passing touchdowns with 5.
What should we expect when these units match up?
Looking back to 2021, these two teams went against each other, which ended up being a tough matchup for the Saints’ passing offense. However, the Saints had next to no weapons at WR last season and were obviously missing Michael Thomas at the time. Jameis Winston went 19/35 for 222 yards and a touchdown, and Alvin Kamara had the game of a lifetime through the air with 10 receptions for 128 yards and a touchdown, as well as 20 rushes for 51 yards. Alvin Kamara has only played the Seahawks twice in his career, yet has 120 rushing yards, a rushing touchdown, 220 receiving yards, and 2 receiving touchdowns against Seattle in that time frame. Simply put, him playing or not playing will likely be a large factor in how the Saints' passing offense plays.
The Saints’ offense did lack that “safety blanket” type player this past weekend against the Minnesota Vikings, so having either Alvin Kamara or Michael Thomas, if not both, back against Seattle will be huge. This is a huge matchup for New Orleans, where they really need to take home a win and get the momentum going. Provided at least one of Kamara and Thomas plays this game, the Saints should be able to get the passing game going and move the ball down the field effectively based on what we have seen so far.
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