SmashMouth

It’s a concern statistic if you look at without context.

During the preseason, the New Orleans Saints scored touchdowns on only 40 percent of their trips inside the red zone. That figure placed the Saints 24th in the NFL. After scoring on 53.3 percent of their red-zone trips last season, one might be inclined to look at what’s changed, realize Jimmy Graham is no longer in town and conclude that the season is in peril.

How are the Saints reacting to those numbers? There must be some panic, right?

“I think in the preseason, honestly when the stat packets come out each week, we throw them in the garbage because they don’t apply to any one group,” coach Sean Payton said. “It applies maybe overall to 90 players specifically to one statistic.”




That’s probably the right approach. Start boiling it down, and you’ll see that Drew Brees led the Saints to touchdowns on two of his four trips inside the red zone during the preseason. That number could have been higher if Brandon Coleman had protected the football on a pass that was punched away by Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty.

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