Saints overcome penalties in preseason win at Chargers

  • August 20, 2023
  • By Ken Trahan
  • Category: Saints
  • icon
  • icon
  • icon
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

With a tropical storm passing through the Los Angeles area, the New Orleans Saints, who escaped heat and have frequently escaped storms over the course of their history, played a preseason game Sunday evening against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Late in the afternoon, there was an earthquake 58 miles from Los Angeles at 5.1 on the Richter Scale, centered in Ojai, California. There were 16 after-shocks as well.

The weather and atmospheric conditions were dire outside of SoFi Stadium but the Saints ignored the distractions to pick up their second win in as many games of the 2023 preseason.

The good news is that there were several bright spots for New Orleans and there were issues as well, primarily with penalties, which will have to be worked on.

Dennis Allen will undoubtedly make that a primary focus this week.

New Orleans was flagged 14 times for 141 yards. In two preseason games, the Saints have been penalized 23 times for 220 yards.

The clear positive is the defense forcing three turnovers and New Orleans now has five forced turnovers in two games.

Here are my Quick Takes from the 22-17 win over the Chargers:

**Highly respected quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry received an opportunity with Dennis Allen allowing him to call plays, instead of Pete Carmichael for one game. It was a nice move by Allen to give Curry a chance to gain valuable experience.

**There was a face mask penalty of 15 yards on Lonnie Johnson Jr. on the opening kickoff.

 

**Zach Baun, who played well against the Chiefs, batted down a pass from Easton Stick on the first series of the game

**Jaylon Smith delivered a big hit on the next play on a pass completion to Joshua Kelly, stopping him short of a first down and forcing a punt. Smith had blanket coverage later in the quarter and broke up another pass.

**Storm Norton killed the first drive with a holding penalty.

**Smoke Monday was flagged for holding, nullifying very good field position after a punt.

**Trevor Penning whiffed on a run block, resulting in Kendre Miller being hit for a loss. It was not a good look for a player the Saints have so much invested in.

**Jameis Winston hit Lynn Bowden on a smoke screen and Bowden got a block and showed burst, racing 32 yards. Bowden has showed well in preseason games in the return game.

**Malcolm Roach did a great job of playing off a block and making a tackle for no gain.

**Tanoh Kpassagnon used his length to knock down a pass by Stick to start the second quarter.

**A pair of young players being counted on to step up, both first-round picks, stepped up and made a play early in the second quarter. Payton Turner sacked Stick with an excellent under move, forcing a fumble and Brian Bresee recovered at the Los Angeles 33-yard line. Bresee later batted down a pass.

**The Saints capitalized, driving 33 yards in three plays with Kendre Miller scoring on a 7-yard run to make it 7-0 with 12:54 to play in the first half.

**Miller made a huge play to set up the score, catching a 27-yard pass from Winston on a well thrown ball that Miller extended to catch.

**Troy Pride was penalized for pass interference, an obvious call, resulting in a 31-yard penalty to the New Orleans 11-yard line.

**Donald Parham Jr. dropped a pass in the flat which could have been a touchdown.

**The Saints held and Dustin Hopkins booted a 25-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 9:57 to play in the first half. The drive covered 61 yards in seven plays.

**Lucas Krull made an outstanding catch, going underneath a defender blanketing and going up over him to make a 16-yard reception for a first down.

**Isaac Yiadom, who nearly had an interception earlier, picked up Stick and returned it to the Los Angeles 15-yard line. Yiadom was in zone, waiting on it. Stick did not see him.

**A holding penalty stalled the ensuing drive. Blake Grupe continued to impress, nailing a 35-yard field goal to make it 10-3 with 1:56 to play in the half.

**The defense failed miserably at the end of the half as the Chargers drove 74 yards in six plays with Stick scoring on a 6-yard run to tie the game 10-10 with 33 seconds left in the half. It was too easy and Miller was noticeably angry with the defense.

**The Saints grabbed a 13-10 lead at halftime, driving 49 yards in four plays with Grupe nailing a 37-yard field goal on the final play of the half. The big play was a 42-yard completion Shaq Davis.

**Winston finished the half 13 of 20 for 169 yards in a solid effort.

**The big negative was the Saints incurring eight penalties for 96 yards in the half.

**On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Jake Haener was flushed out of the pocket, rolled right, remained calm, kept his eyes fixed down field, and threw a strike to Jontre Kirklin of Lutcher and LSU for 55 yards.

**Haener then threw a strike to Krull in the end zone who had it and going to the ground, lost it as a defender looked to get a hand on it.

**Undaunted, Haener threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Shaq Davis but that was nullified by a pass interference call against Bryan Edwards, who was flagged for an illegal pick.

**Haener was then roughed on a helmet-to-helmet hit by Carlo Kemp, who is likely to be fined by the league for the hit.

**Haener had to leave the game, Winston returned and threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kirklin, who was wide open. Once again, the touchdown was nullified by yet another offensive interference call on Edwards.

**The penalties were simply too much to overcome and Wil Lutz came on to kick a 33-yard field goal to make it 16-10 with 11:07 to play in the third quarter.

**Johnson tried to fill a hole to tackle Elijah Dotson, who lowered his shoulder, delivered the blow and Johnson was injured on the play.

**Linebacker Ryan Connelly came up with a sack of Stick in the third quarter. Connelly then made a big hit to stop a receiver short of a first down on the same series.

**Haener made a pinpoint throw into coverage to Davis, who made a strong catch on the hands, fully outstretched, for 18 yards.

**The lead grew to 19-10 early in the fourth quarter on a 51-yard field goal by Lutz, who made it with room to spare. The drive covered 40 yards in 10 plays.

**Niko Lalos was tremendous in the fourth quarter. First, he stopped Dotson for a loss of two yards on a third-and-one play. Then, he sacked Stick on fourth-and-three to turn the ball over on downs to the Saints. Later, Lalos batted down a pass on one play then sacked Stick on consecutive plays.

**Lutz made it 22-10 with a 34-yard field goal with 7:38 to play in the game.

**The Chargers cut the deficit to 22-17 with 3:46 to play in the game on a one-yard quarterback sneak to cap a 14-play, 75-yard drive. Stick used his legs to make plays, running for 32 yards on the drive.

**Johnson returned from injury and got the game-clinching interception of Stick. The interception was forced by Ty Summers, who got in the face of Stick and delivered a blow as Stick was throwing off his back foot.

**Haener finished 11 of 17 for 118 yards.

The MVP had to be Lalos, who finished with five tackles, including for loss and three sacks to go along with batting down a pass.

Those who impressed included Roach, Turner, Bowden, Smith, Bresee, Winston, Haener, Davis, Kirklin, Lalos and Miller. Lutz and Grupe were solid, making all five field goal attempts combined. Of course, you have to finish drives when the games matter and not settle for field goals.

The Saints conclude the preseason slate next Sunday night at home against Houston. The two teams have canceled the joint workouts scheduled for this week.

The key is to get those not playing back healthy and ready to go Sept. 10 and to avoid any others getting hurt prior to then.

[contentcards url=”https://crescentcitysports.com/saints-2-0-in-preseason-after-overcoming-weather-challenges/”]

  • < PREV East Jefferson starts over under Glover
  • NEXT > Saints, Texans cancel joint practices

Ken Trahan

CEO/Owner

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE CEO Ken Trahan has been a sports media fixture in the community for nearly four decades. Ken started NewOrleans.com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA.com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports.com. Having accumulated national awards/recognition (National Sports Media Association, National Football…

Read more >

LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK FOLLOW ME ON X CONTACT ME