Can the New Orleans Saints bounce back against the Chiefs?

Will the New Orleans Saints be a worthy opponent to the Kansas City Chiefs?

To say that NFL Week 14 was absolutely bonkers would be an understatement. Extremely promising teams fell to teams with paltry win totals In particular, the New Orleans Saints managed to lose to the Philadelphia Eagles.

To put that into perspective, the Saints were 10-2 before the game and the Eagles were 3-8-1. It was honestly one of the most bizarre wins of the week and still has some scratching their heads.

For the Saints, it was a crushing blow as it felt like an easy win. The Eagles have otherwise been mediocre and not on par with New Orleans. Even without Drew Brees these last few weeks, Taysom Hill has gotten it done. Being beaten by the Eagles has to be a bit demoralizing. Even so, it does give the Saints a small dose of reality as they head into Week 15.

While Week 14 seemed like a surefire win, Week 15 seemed like it could be an incredibly exciting game for multiple reasons.

The Saints are taking on the former Super Bowl Champion, Kansas City Chiefs and it has the potential to be an amazing game. Watching Patrick Mahomes vs. Brees was a fairytale in the making but that idea went up in smoke. Even likely without Brees, how much of the chance do the New Orleans Saints really have now?

How can the New Orleans Saints bring the heat against the Super Bowl champs?

Coming up with a game plan for the Chiefs isn’t easy. Other teams have tried and failed aside from the Las Vegas Raiders. Even if the games are close, the Chiefs always find a way to best their opponent. For the Saints, it comes down to making sure they don’t repeat mistakes and follow a few careful steps to hopefully give them a chance.

Starting off with the defense, the team missed multiple opportunities against the Eagles. They were unable to make splash plays against an inexperienced quarterback in Jalen Hurts. Now up against Mahomes, they must find a way to take advantage of any mistakes, even if there are fewer than there were last week.

Additionally, the defense also needs to work on stopping the run. The Eagles ran all over them with both Hurts and Miles Sanders putting up over 100 yards rushing. The Saints can’t afford to let the Chiefs do that to them.

While the Eagles game was close, the Chiefs will just keep scoring if the defense doesn’t stop them. With guys like Cameron Jordan, Demario Davis and C.J. Gardner-Johnson on the team, they should be producing more and they need to prove how elite they can be against the Chiefs.

However, the defense isn’t the only one who needs to step up big against the Chiefs. While the Saints offense is extremely hyped, there are some cracks there, too. In particular, Taysom Hill has to be more confident in his abilities.

During the loss to Philly, Hill tried to pull one over on the team when he just needed to make a play. While he’s great to utilize for trick plays, Hill needs to think more on his feet especially in those third- and fourth-down situations.

Offensively, the Saints also need to get some of the mojo back in their running game. Alvin Kamara looks like a shell of who he was earlier this season. While Hill can run, Kamara should be the one he goes to. Kamara finished the game with 50 yards rushing while Hill had 33. It’s time to shift the focus from Hill using his legs to Kamara doing what he does best.

Beating the Chiefs won’t be easy and the Saints need to not fall behind early. As for the offense, Hill needs to trust in who he has around him to make plays and focus more on leading the team down the field. While he’s impressive, that only goes so far, as proven by the Eagles.