New York Giants Week 14: A Look at the New Orleans Saints Offense

The New York Giants are coming off an extended break following Thanksgiving to face a New Orleans Saints team that is finding its footing. And that’s not good news for the Giants’ defense, which is falling apart not just because of injuries but performance.

The Saints’ offense has truly been built through the offensive line, and right now, they’re dealing with injuries on the interior.

Former New York Giant offensive lineman Shane Lemieux started at center for the Saints against the Rams and struggled, as most would expect.

The interior of the offensive line is the Giants’ weakness right now, and they should look to attack it consistently.

At quarterback, Derek Carr has been up and down this season, mostly up, but when he’s down he’s been very down.

His stats this season are 1,926 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, with a 68.1% completion percentage.

Carr is riding a hot streak right now with 701 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions over the last three games.

Alvin Kamara has been the focal point of this offense for years and is having a productive season, with almost 900 yards so far this season.

Kamara’s dual-threat ability has allowed this offense to run through him. To this point in the year, he’s leading the Saints with 59 catches.

Like most running backs, Kamara does most of his receiving work behind the line of scrimmage but averages 8.1 yards per catch after the catch.

At receiver, Marquez Valdes-Scantling may be the new addition to the team with only eight catches but he’s fifth on the team with 237 receiving yards.

Valdes-Scantling has opened the next level of this offense by giving Carr a true deep threat that he’s been lacking since Rashid Shaheed got injured.

Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau will see most of the playing time at tight end as one of the more underrated 1-2 punches. 

Johnson is the better receiver of the two but Moreau is no slouch himself, especially in the red zone where he can finish catches through contact.

The Saints offense is built around versatility and unfortunately, they just took a huge hit losing Taysom Hill, their do-it-all weapon.

Personnel-wise, the Saints run considerably more 12 (1 running back, 2 tight ends) and 21 (2 running backs, 1 tight end) sets than the league average.

The absence of Hill could impact their personnel usage because it eliminates some layers of their offense.

In the run game, the Saints have shifted to a more zone-heavy offense, which allows Kamara to choose which hole to hit.

Few offenses use their tight ends as much as the Saints do with Moreau in pass protection.

The Saints don’t frequently take deep shots, but when they do, they’re one of the most effective teams in the NFL—connecting on 12 completions for 464 yards and 6 touchdowns this season.

The Giants will sorely miss Dexter Lawrence’s presence, especially in this game against a poor Saints offensive line.

Limiting explosive plays over the top and containing Kamara must be the priority for the Giants’ defense.

I would expect the Giants to send extra pressure along the interior–that way the Giants blow up the interior run game while also taking the quickest path to pressure Carr.