Saints Rookie Impact Report: Week 13

Let’s start the breakdown for the New Orleans Saints Sunday matchup against the Miami Dolphins!

OT Kelvin Banks

Contrary to many social media posts, Kelvin Banks did well against the Falcons. It was always going to be a challenging game, and without Taliese Fuaga on the other side, Banks was really the only great offensive lineman the Saints had. Like last week, New Orleans’ opponents, the Miami Dolphins, are going to have a good pass rush, and Banks will be tested.

QB Tyler Shough

Last week, Shough had a very similar performance to the one against the Rams. It wasn’t excellent, but it wasn’t bad either. Still, if the playcalling had been better, we would have talked about this performance differently. Now, against the Dolphins, hopefully, the addition of Fuaga and potentially Kellen Moore putting more trust in his QB, Shough could have a better performance. The main issue to watch out for is if Chris Olave is out with his injury, because that would get scary for Sunday.

S Jonas Sanker

Jonas Sanker is going to have a massive job on Sunday. Tackling is extremely important against the Dolphins because their players will dominate if they can run freely. The good news is Sanker won’t have to worry about the deep ball as much (but still might happen) due to Tua Tagovailoa’s lack of arm strenght. Also, Tagovailoa is prone to turning the ball over.

CB Quincy Riley

Speaking of players that can take advantage of risky throws, Quincy Riley can get an interception in this game. Obviously, first focusing on coverage is essential, but Riley can be a real ball hawk in this defense, and with how Brandon Staley is having his players play, I could see it happening.

RB Devin Neal

After Kelvin Banks and Tyler Shough, Devin Neal is going to have the most pressure in this game. If he does play (Neal is on the practice injury report right now), Neal will have a massive day. It looks like Alvin Kamara is going to be out with his knee injury, and the Dolphins’ run defense is near league-worst.