Saints Week One Showdown with the Texans: Three Keys to a Win

The Saints will have an interesting test in week one of the NFL season on Monday, as they will play host to dynamic quarterback Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans at home.

Last season’s ending left a bitter taste in the mouth of the Saints, losing in awful fashion in the NFC Title Game to the Rams in a game many think was stolen from them due to a late no-call by the officials.

But that was then, and this is now. Oddsmakers have the Saints installed as a seven-point favorite to get off to a 1-0 start.

Here’s a couple keys for the Saints in the opener to get a win:

1. Run the Ball Effectively

While everyone will want to see the air show with Drew Brees and his wide outs, running the ball with Alvin Kamara and new RB Latavius Murray is a great way to keep the Texans offense off the field and create some momentum with the offensive line in trying to establish early tempo.

Kamara and Murray should be able to get loose a couple of times which should then open up the play action for Brees to take some shots downfield to the likes of Michael Thomas and company.

2. Keep Watson Contained

The biggest key to the Saints D will be to try to not let Deshaun Watson beat them with his legs. The Texans QB is not afraid to take off out of the pocket and run, and when he’s not doing that, he still likes to roll out of the pocket and look downfield often for the likes of De’Andre Hopkins and Will Fuller.

It will be on the Saints guys up front as well as their linebackers to make sure that Watson doesn’t get free often, but if he does, he’s going to be tough to contain.

3. Don’t Be Sloppy

Two things that can kill a team at any time are both penalties and turnovers, and the Saints have to be able to control both if they are going to walk out Monday night with a win.

To have home field is great for the opener, but the Saints can’t let themselves take a break and commit bad penalties to kill drives and extend drives for the Texans.

Same goes for turnovers, as we saw in the NFC Title game, the Saints offense has to be careful with the football, not giving the Texans short fields to play with.

If they play a clean game, the Saints should be able to get out of Monday with a win.

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