New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - The Advocate Sean Payton's decision to go for two after every touchdown against Chargers rooted in evaluation

BY JOEL A. ERICKSON | JERICKSON@THEADVOCATE.COM AUG 25, 2018 - 10:43 PM

CARSON, Calif. — The New Orleans Saints looked like a team on the cutting edge of football strategy on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Chargers.

New Orleans went for two after all four touchdowns, limiting kicker Wil Lutz's night to two made field goals in the second quarter.

But that does not mean Sean Payton is planning to revolutionize football by going for two after every score in the regular season.

For the Saints, the preseason is about evaluation, and although it wasn't part of the game plan going into Saturday night, Payton chose to get a few more looks at players competing for roles against Los Angeles than a kicker he already trusts.

"I felt like just getting some work, changing up some looks, run and pass," Payton said. "You're trying to get snaps for the quarterbacks, which we're trying to do here, there's just more opportunities to look at that position, more opportunities to look at the running back position, just more snaps to evaluate."

Lutz, headed into his third season in the NFL, has been perfect on all kicks in the preseason so far.

"I'm confident enough with our PAT operation," Payton said.

New Orleans scored on three of its four conversion attempts. Drew Brees hit Michael Thomas on a tunnel screen for the first, Taysom Hill kept the ball on a zone read to convert the second and rookie Boston Scott powered in the third, although Jonathan Williams failed to make it a perfect night after the fourth touchdown.

Going for the two also gave the Saints a chance to work on a situation that could help them win a game once the regular season begins.

"There's certainly a time and a place to go for two," Hill said. "I can go back to last season, when we're playing the Washington Redskins and we need a big two-point conversion, so that was a ton of really good practice."