NEW ORLEANS — The Saints escaped Jacksonville with a win, and here are my four takeaways.
4. Appreciate Cam
Appreciate Cam. Over nine terrific seasons, Cam Jordan has now played in 142 games for the Saints, and I'm guessing you know this.
But do you know how many games he's missed because of injury?
Zero.
Sunday in Jacksonville, Jordan had two sacks, two tackles for loss,and two quarterback hits.
As a team, the Saints had two sacks, two tackles and three quarterback hits, so the big plays up front Sunday — pretty much all — came from Jordan.
Appreciate Cam because those two sacks tied him for third most in team history, and it was the 16th time in his career he's had two or more sacks in a game.
In those games, the Saints are now 14-2.
3. Lattimore shines
Combined with Jordan's work, Marshon Lattimore and the secondary shined again.
Lattimore was excellent, shutting down DJ Chark. He's re-established himself as the Saints DB star.
Heading into this game, Jags quarterback Gardner Minshew was sixth in the NFL in quarterback rating with a 105.6. That was better than Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers or a bunch of really successful quarterbacks.
You know what his quarterback rating was Sunday?
51.4, which is horrible. Lattimore and company gave him nowhere to throw.
2. Murray steps up
Murray's share. Sunday was — by far — Latavius Murray's best game as a Saint.
His screen pass touchdown got called back, but Murray got the ball eleven times — for 79 yards, his biggest numbers as a Saint.
Look, it's a long season, and the goal is to still be playing football in February, and to do that, this guy has to stay as fresh as possible — and he's banged up now.
In the first five games, Alvin Kamara had 101 touches. Murray had 30, which means Kamara got 77 percent of the running back touches Sunday — the split was a little more even.
Murray got it 38 percent of the time, and this split, I think, is better for the Saints long term.
1. Saints offense is the new norm
Sunday's offensive performance is the new norm.
Last week, the Saints threw up 457 yards of total offense against the Bucs, and we all thought "this offense is great," even without Drew Brees, but check the total yardage numbers in the four games without number nine.
At this point, the performance against Tampa bay looks like the anomaly. The win in Jacksonville looks like the other wins since Brees was hurt.
There's a reason this guy is a first ballot "hall-of-famer."
It's just not going to go as well without him, but the Saints can and have won with those smaller offensive numbers.
Maybe the best thing Teddy Bridgewater has done in his four starts is protect the ball. He hasn't fumbled, and he's thrown just two interceptions.
In four games, of all the quarterbacks with at least four starts, Bridgewater is fifth in the NFL in fewest interceptions.
Just don't expect consistently large numbers until Brees returns, and that's my biggest takeaway from Jacksonville.
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