Washington vs New Orleans: The Saints have to boast their offense

New Orleans is having a tough first season without Drew Brees. The team is struggling to score points and wins solely due to solid defense. Will that trend break after the game in Washington? The Metropolitan team concedes a lot, so the Saints' offense will have a chance to shine. 

Last season, despite a shaky 7-9 overall balance, the lowly Washington team can take credit for its performance. Taking advantage of weakness in their division rivals and capitalizing on their chances, Washington made it to the wild-card round, where they lost to the future champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since the 1991 Super Bowl victory, even 1 game in the playoffs is a celebration for the former Redskins.

Washington began the new season under the same coaches, of course. Head coach Don Rivera, who reached the Super Bowl with the Carolina Panthers; defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, the former Oakland Raiders coach; and offensive coordinator Scott Turner, who worked as quarterbacks coach with Don Rivera at Carolina, are in their second season.

Washington's starting quarterback this season is Taylor Heinicke. The playmaker, whose finest hour was the wild-card game against Tampa, is now the Metropolitan team's starter. Heinicke has 960 passing yards, nearly 70% completion, 8 touchdowns to 3 interceptions in 4 games this season. Overall, Washington has 2 wins, over the Giants and Atlanta, and 2 losses, to the Chargers and Buffalo.

Drew Brees retiring has clearly had the biggest impact on this New Orleans season. In fact, Sean Payton and his staff have had to build a whole new offense this offseason. The experienced specialist has undoubtedly had some success, otherwise, where would the 2 wins in 4 games at the start of the season have come from? On the whole, the Saints are not always effective with the ball.

Jameis Winston is going to replace Brees. He’s the No.1 overall pick of the 2015 draft, who never showed his best qualities in Tampa. The quarterback is off to a good start in New Orleans with 8 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, but only 613 yards per pass in 4 games. The Saints defeated Green Bay at home in Week 1 and pulled away with a tough outing to the New England Patriots in Foxborough. The Saints lost to Carolina and the New York Giants in overtime in Week 4.

• Washington: Deshazor Everett (S), Matt Ioannidis (DT), J. D. McKissic (RB), James Smith-Williams (DE), Logan Thomas (TE) – questionable.
• New Orleans: Terron Armstead (OT), Erik McCoy (C), Tony Jones (RB), Will Lutz (PK) – questionable.

The last time the opponents met was in 2018 when the Saints had a very confident home win.

Washington's defense is 30th in the league at the start of the season. When else are the Saints going to prove themselves offensively? Most likely, Sean Payton's team will not only have a varied and beautiful offense but will also come away with an eventual victory. A 3-2 for Washington in Week 5 would be quite underwhelming given how hard Don Rivera's team has been to win. But 3-2 for New Orleans would reflect their real strength. Remember what this Louisiana team did in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers.

Prediction: Saint’s victory in a quite high-scoring match.

Betting options:

• New Orleans To Win for 1.73;
• Total Over (44.5) for 1.87.