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Did the Saints defense find its mojo in New York? 'We got our swagger back'

By Luke Johnson, NOLA.com
The Times-Picayune

There was a key member of the New Orleans Saints defense who dared to use that key word in the aftermath of an impressive 33-18 road win against the New York Giants.

"We came out here and we were playing for each other today," defensive back Marshon Lattimore said. "That's what I love to see. We got our swagger back, that's step one."

Swagger had been on short supply for the Saints defense in the first three weeks. The only thing it seemed consistently capable of doing was getting beat deep down field. But the Saints defenders kept insisting they would get it figured out, and they showed progress in that regard Sunday (Sept. 30).

The Saints refused to allow Eli Manning and his explosive Giants receivers to beat them over the top (New York's longest play was a 28-yard Saquon Barkley rush), and they finally forced some of the turnovers that had been missing the first three games.

It was the Saints defense working hand-in-hand with the offense -- even having the offense's back as it failed to turn red-zone opportunities into touchdowns early -- to give New Orleans its most complete game of the season.

"I thought we played one of our better complementary games," said Saints coach Sean Payton. "Time of possession, turnovers , all those things kind of went in our favor, and when you do that, you are probably going to win more than you lose."

Coming into Sunday, the only turnover the Saints had forced was a Marcus Williams interception against Cleveland. In the week leading up to the Giants game, Payton lamented the fact that his team had not recovered a single fumble all season.

"We know we got to get turnovers and we got to get our offense back the ball and stuff like that, so that was definitely a big thing this week," said defensive back P.J. Williams.

And it was P.J. Williams who broke that spell when he jarred the ball free from running back Wayne Gallman's grip in the first half. Lattimore scooped it up and returned it deep into Giants territory, setting up a Saints field goal.

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“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill