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For years, the story for the New Orleans Saints has been that they would go as far into the playoffs as their offense could take them. Led by Drew Brees, the game’s most accurate passer, and a pair of difficult-to-cover receiving threats in Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas, the team’s gone on to score a lot of points and push deep into the postseason.
But 2020 is shaping up to be their best performance yet. The Saints offense was ranked third overall in the NFL, and best in the NFC, by Mark Schofield over at Touchdown Wire. Here’s what he wrote:
The New Orleans Saints suffered a surprising loss on Wild Card Weekend to the Minnesota Vikings at home, in a loss that few saw coming prior to the contest. But that should not diminish the potential of this offense heading into 2020. The Saints return Drew Brees for at least one more season, who is more “accurate high powered computer playing quarterback” than he is a human playing the position. They also return Michael Thomas, one of the game’s bright young receivers, as well as Alvin Kamara, a three-down back who is a true weapon in the passing game. But they also added Emmanuel Sanders, giving Brees another downfield threat and Thomas a true running mate. With Sean Payton pulling the strings, this offense should be high-powered yet again in 2020.
Few teams have as strong a three-deep lineup at the skills positions as the Saints, and none of them have Brees. But New Orleans has other pass-catching threats worth remembering, too, like tight end Jared Cook. The 10-year NFL veteran averaged a career-best 16.4 yards per catch last season, also setting a personal best in touchdown catches (9, tying with Thomas for the team lead). Cook should be even better in his second year working with Brees.
And that doesn’t even get into the strong Saints running game, led by Kamara with Latavius Murray deserving more opportunities after an impressive first year in New Orleans. The Saints invested big along their offensive line and will obviously be hoping to lean more on their ground attack. Hopefully it’ll pay off.
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