Game Recap: Saints Lay a Smackdown On Redskins, 43-19

By Sean Conte

Drew Brees did as Drew Brees does in a Drew Brees-heavy game in which the announcers paid a lot of attention to Drew Brees. Drew Brees. The Redskins were also there. But who cares? Last night was about Drew Brees. Lay a fresh bough of rosemary and a lamb shank at your door tonight, because Drew Brees is going to personally come by your house to feast. He’s earned it. Hail the mighty Brees!

Yes, I’m bitter. It’s hard not to be. The Saints took this one 43 – 19. Alex Smith looked atrocious. The offense got nothing going. The defense blew it. It was a full-team failure. A lot of fans are probably scratching their heads…after all, Samaje Perine put up 117 yards less than a year ago against this team. Jamison Crowder had a big game too. Hell…Kirk Cousins even threw for 3 TDs! What the hell happened last night?

First of all, we need a support group for victims of the Saints’ defensive line. Morgan Moses got repeatedly worked by Cam Jordan, and it started early with a sack on Smith in the first quarter and never really let up. That was not a good matchup. And Moses wasn’t the only one. Trent Williams continues to show signs of decline. Scherff had a lousy game. Chase Roullier got beat. Smith took a bone-crushing hit from Saints defensive end Marcus Davenport that had me flinching….and then another one from Sheldon Rankins a few plays later. It was a brutal, bruising night that laid bare just how well the Redskins’ line stacks up against a top-ranked rush defense.  

What’s more surprising is how inept the Redskins proved to be at exploiting an extremely poor Saints pass defense. Even with yesterday’s Redskins no-show factored in, the Saints are one of the worst teams in the league at defending the pass. But Washington’s dink and dunk tendencies and hot-and-cold run game do not yield chunk yardage or exploit such a secondary…and chunk yardage is exactly what you need when Drew Brees and his Saints are running away with things.

It should be pretty clear that the Redskins are not going to keep up with an offense as prolific as the Saints. This team lacks the personnel (QB and receivers both) to stretch the field. It lacks the game plan to change things up and keep a defense guessing.

Now, to Smith’s credit, he barely even had room to scramble, but on the other hand he almost always made the wrong decision when he did (credit where it’s due for the touchdown scramble, though). Case in point: that cringeworthy interception. Smith has a guy open in Maurice Harris out to the right…but he didn’t get the pass off in time and the DB jumps the route. INT with a nice return. That reeked of Cousins, and it’s exactly the sort of thing we expected Alex Smith to avoid.

No, it’s definitely not the performance Redskins fans wanted to see from Smith, but I don’t think it’s right to panic. If you didn’t see this coming, at least at some point, from a crew of #2 (and below) receivers and a QB long known to favor the short ball, I’m not sure what you did expect. Alex Smith does have better instincts and a better football IQ than Kirk Cousins, but this game didn’t show it.

He didn’t help at all last night, but I want to firmly point out that Alex Smith is not the problem. First, offensive line struggles put a serious damper on the running game, particularly interior rushes, and inhibited the passing game against the Saints. This is exactly what happened against the Colts. With the running game stalled, Smith running for his life, nothing developing downfield, and the score getting out of reach, the Redskins dug into their playbook and found out once again that there is no plan B outside of Thompson dump-offs, screens, and lateral outside rushes. That’s just not difficult to snuff out, and the Saints snuffed it. Our highlights aren’t by-design — they’re AP stiff-arming a linebacker for another 10 yards, or Chris Thompson showing supernatural speed out around the edge. It is not sustainable.

This offense has to get real, immediately. The talent on this depth chart is not worse than it was last year. Alex Smith is not worse than Kirk Cousins. Adrian Peterson is not worse than Samaje Perine. There’s something rotten on this team and it isn’t talent.

Defensively, the unit I’ve spent the last several weeks calling “solid”, “dependable”, and “postseason caliber” phoned one in. Except for a fumble, the Saints marched up and down the field for the entire game and capped each long drive with a score – 6 of them, in fact. The Saints do not punt. Drew Brees scoffs at the notion of punting. The Saints score, pause briefly in the endzone for Brees to smile and receive keys to the universe, then score again.

There weren’t many surprises on the Saints’ offense, outside of Tre’Quan Smith’s big night. The rookie was the beneficiary of a soft Redskins defense and recipient of Drew Brees’ record-setting throw, which went for a 62-yd TD. Enjoy your place in football history, young man. Smith snagged another TD before the night was done. Outside of him, Michael Thomas, Ingram, Cameron Meredith and Josh Hill all made impacts on the Saints’ offense. Drew Brees had his pick of open receivers on Sunday. It was ugly, ugly, ugly.

So, what is this team’s identity? It’s a top-notch offense against the right opponent and a poor-to-middling one against everyone else. I think the defense is still pretty good, despite the eye-popping point total on Sunday…this was Drew Brees’ night and I’m just thankful we were invited.

Lots of people should be nervous after a loss like this. Josh Doctson, who failed to see the field again this week, is on borrowed time at this point. Josh Norman better stay packed with the way things are going. Jay Gruden is showing his characteristic inconsistency and rigid gameplan. Alex Smith hurt us last night, instead of helped. It’s early in the season, but the ship has to be righted now.