NEW ORLEANS -- How's that for closing out a victory?
After failing to preserve leads in the final seconds during the first two games of the season, the New Orleans Saints defense shut out the Minnesota Vikings over the final 25 minutes instead on Sunday, securing a 20-9 victory.
The Saints held Minnesota to a total of 247 yards and zero touchdowns in the victory, never letting the Vikings cross midfield on their final two drives.
“When everyone does their jobs and executes, that’s what this defense is supposed to look like,” said linebacker Curtis Lofton, who was arguably the Saints’ MVP of the game with a team-high eight tackles, including a handful of impressive open-field stops -- one of them against dangerous playmaker Cordarrelle Patterson for a 7-yard loss.
The defensive performance was admittedly not perfect. The Saints did not force a turnover, and they gave up too many big plays throughout the game (three plays of 28 yards or more).
However, the Saints defense tightened up every time. Minnesota made three trips inside the Saints’ 22-yard line during the first 35 minutes but settled for field goals.
“That’s huge,” Saints coach Sean Payton said of New Orleans’ red-zone defense. “That’s one thing we did when we were playing well last year, and we did it today.”
The Saints made some changes after suffering too many breakdowns in the secondary last week.
They demoted former starting cornerback Patrick Robinson, relegating him to special teams. Corey White started at cornerback, with safety Rafael Bush coming in as the fifth defensive back and rookie cornerback Brian Dixon coming in on dime packages (though Robinson played that role briefly after Dixon suffered a minor injury).
The Saints also referenced simplifying some of their schemes a bit, as well as studying hard all week with an emphasis on knowing the game plan “inside and out.”
That game plan was thrown for a bit of a loop when the Vikings switched to rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater following Matt Cassel’s foot injury in the second quarter. Bridgewater was much more dangerous with his feet, scrambling to keep plays alive -- even when the Saints started using five rushers more to contain him.
But Payton praised the Saints’ secondary for keeping tight coverage even when Bridgewater made plays last longer.
“He’s scrambling, we’re scrambling,” said Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro, who was also pleased with the Saints’ improved performance -- but not getting carried away with it.
“You gotta be real about situation, we’re at home, where we’ve been great forever,” Vaccaro said. “We gotta keep working, and we’ve gotta become more of a complete team on the road and at home.”
