The New Orleans Saints came out of their preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers with another victory. Their record now stands at 2-0 in the preseason. The game came down to the wire yet again with the defense making the play to win the game, as was the case a week ago.
As we know, the record not the most important part of the preseason. These exhibition games are more about evaluating performances. That’s exactly what we’re here to do. The defense had a strong game limiting touchdowns and the offense hit their stride in the second and third quarter.
Here are the biggest Saints takeaways from the game:
Jaylon Smith is the third linebacker
Premature? Possibly. True? Yes. Jaylon Smith will be the player that fills in for Demario Davis or Pete Werner if that arises. After today’s performance, the argument could even be made to make him the third linebacker in the base defense as well. He wasn’t used in that capacity, so that might be a reach. Jaylon Smith jumped off the screen in a way no other linebacker competing for this role has. In a tight competition, that matters.
Smith showed explosion to stop a third down pass short of the first down marker. It wasn’t only splash plays either. Smith showed good run fits throughout the game.
Payton Turner deserves to be a big part of the rotation
Turner hasn’t really found his footing through the first two years of his career. If the training camp is any sign, that is going to change for the former first round pick. He’s been impressive throughout camp and this game was a prime example of that. Turner’s most impressive play was a strip sack recovered by Bryan Bresee.
He also forced Chargers quarterback Easton Stick out of the pocket on a play that resulted in an incompletion and forced a field goal. Carl Granderson may stand unopposed at the top of the defensive end depth chart, but Turner needs to be a large part of the rotation.
Penalties need to get in check
Last week, the Saints had nine penalties for 84 yards. They were guilty of this in the first half alone against the Chargers. Not only was it the number of penalties, the severity of the penalties was also an issue. Bryan Edwards was called for two offensive pass interferences on pick plays on the same drive. Both of those penalties took touchdown passes off the board. You don’t want penalties at all, but penalties like that are unacceptable.
The efforts to increase forced turnovers have worked
The Saints abnormally struggled to force turnovers in 2022. There has been a concerted effort to change that in the upcoming season. So far, those efforts have paid off. The defense forced two interceptions in the first preseason game then put out an even better performance on Sunday.
They forced a fumble and had two interceptions this week. The aforementioned forced fumble by Turner led to the first touchdown of the game, and the interception by Isaac Yiadom led to a field goal. The last interception sealed the victory for the Saints.
