4 Biggest Areas of Need the New Orleans Saints Must Still Address

In hindsight, there are many things New Orleans would like to have back from its opening-season loss to the defending champion Green Bay Packers. Likely numero uno on that list is the play-call and the execution of two short-yardage plays in the 2nd half—each of which being converted could have totally changed the result of the game.

While those two plays are what most people seem to be focusing on from the Packers game, there are two other key areas I believe the Saints can, and must, improve in Week 2 and beyond to become the championship football team we all believe they are capable of becoming.

Consider this a film review of the Packers' game, and a preview not of the Bears game, but of the rest of the season.

Get off the Field on Third Down

In Thursday night's 42-34 loss, most of the Packers' big plays on offense took place on third down. I don't have the exact numbers, but it seemed that Green Bay converted all but one third down in the first half. In the second half, the defense improved greatly in this area, but the damage had been good and done by that time.

Two things stood out for why the Saints struggled so mightily on third down. First, Roman Harper ended up matched up on tight end Jermichael Finley or another player in the slot. I've never considered myself a defensive genius, but clearly Harper's strength is playing close to the line of scrimmage or as a deep safety where he can roam.

Having him cover man-to-man isn't using his talents. And when you consider Malcolm Jenkins was a corner when he was drafted, and he began his career with New Orleans at that position, wouldn't it make more sense to have him cover the slot receiver or tight end?

Second, because the Saints corners match up with whoever comes to their side of the field, the offense can choose the matchup pre-snap. That's fine if you truly believe your corners are 1a and 1b. And I think among Tracy Porter and Jabari Greer, Gregg Williams would make that claim. But when the Saints go to the nickel package, Patrick Robinson is a significant drop-off in coverage ability.

I would consider moving Malcolm to cover that spot, especially since backup safety Jonathan Amaya supposedly is a Williams favorite and can rotate in at safety. Doing this also frees up Jenkins to do something else he is very good at—blitz.

Perhaps I'm biased, but I honestly believe Jenkins is the best player on this defense—and certainly the most versatile. Let him do a multitude of things since he is so multi-skilled. You might be able to tell I'm a little frustrated with the third down defensive plan. I'm also upset with the execution though, make no mistake about it.

Create Turnovers

Every Saints fan knows that in 2009 Darren Sharper had nine interceptions, three of which he returned for touchdowns. Well Malcolm Jenkins is playing that same spot in this defense. In 2010, Jenkins made things happens and frankly saved the Saints' butt a few times, when he made those big plays.

Part of him, and the rest of the defense, making big plays is to be put in the right position to do so by Gregg Williams. But there's only so much any coach can do. Ultimately it comes down to the players executing—which the Saints defense mostly failed to do Thursday.

Sure Aaron Rodgers is a responsible and intelligent QB. And that was one of those rare games, where turnovers just weren't going to happen—sometimes that happens. But this defense is built on getting off the field, either by forcing the offense into three-and-outs, or by stripping them of the ball, or intercepting passes.

That's why Gregg Williams blitzes so much—he wants to force the QB to throw too quick, or get to him before he can throw and take the ball from him. The Saints don't necessarily need to score a ton of defensive touchdowns like they did in 2009, but they need to be creating more opportunities for their offense with good field position than they did in 2010 or on Thursday.

Having Will Smith back in Week 3 should help, and this week playing against a quarterback who can get careless with the ball should help as well. Williams must continue to attack, perhaps even more than he did a week ago. Make Cutler and subsequent quarterbacks force throws quickly or risk getting stripped. The Saints can do it, they just gotta do it!

Pass Protection

It's not so much that the offensive line did a horrible job protecting Brees on Thursday night, it's more that they struggled. It's not that anything else should have been expected, considering the Packers love to bring pressure and the Saints were debuting two new starters on the offensive line.

Nonetheless, a team such as the Bears are going to sit back and play tough coverage much like the Packers did last week. If the Saints can't hold up against a four-man rush, the offensive onslaught I expect from the Saints may not take place.

It is up to Zach Strief, Jahri Evans, Olin Kreutz, Carl Nicks, and Jermon Bushrod to keep Mr. Brees upright and at least give him enough time to climb the pocket or get out and scramble. There were a few times Thursday night, he wasn't even able to do that.

Of course many instances were on 3rd-and-medium, or long. On those downs I've always maintained that the play call must give the QB a chance to get the ball out quickly, knowing that the defense is going to bring heavy amounts of pressure.

The Saints like to hold onto the football on many 3rd-and-longs in order to give deep routes time to develop. This is of course causes pressure to become a greater hindrance to the offense, and makes Brees flee or get crushed on many downs. I look for Payton and Brees to try to minimize the time he's holding onto the ball back there in long-yardage situations, especially against good pressure teams like Chicago.

Offensive Short-Yardage Conversions

I know everyone wants to talk about the two short-yardage plays in the second half. And to an extent I want to as well. But truthfully, in real-time, and still in hindsight I agree with Sean Payton's choice of plays. The execution I disagree with, if you will.

I hate to say it's all the offensive line's fault. They're a decent unit, but it was once the most proud unit on the team, and now seems to have taken a bit of a dip in terms of production. They've always identified as more of a finesse unit, since they are more apt to protect Brees than open huge holes in the running game.

But as detailed previously, they really didn't do that Thursday, nor did they open any huge holes when they most needed to. On the final play, the guards got blown up, the tackles too, and Mark Ingram really had no chance, though he could have attacked the end zone a bit stronger and quicker.

On the 3rd-and-short going the other way in the third quarter, the offensive line couldn't seal the edges on a rollout. Sealing the edges is essential to a good rollout pass, but they failed to do that effectively. And they failed to provide any significant protection on the 4th-and-1 in that same quarter.

I've never been a big fan of throwing the ball in short-yardage situations, unless it's off play-action. That's part of what I like about the way Sean Payton tends to play short-yardage situations. But if the line can't open any kind of hole in said situations, spreading the field and putting Darren Sproles back there to hit a quick dive play or draw may be the best way to get a few conversions.

Obviously the reason I bring up throwing the ball is because as an offense you'd have to actually throw the ball a couple times out of these looks as well.

If the Saints can make these fixes and become good in all these areas, then I fully expect them to be the best team in the league. 0-1 isn't that big of a deal, especially given the circumstances surrounding that loss. 14-2, or 13-3 is still very much in play for this team.