Saints run defense may get exposed by Giants' offensive scheme
Demario Davis and the New Orleans Saints defensive line are under pressure more than any group on defense. The New York Giants like to spread you out more than any team in the NFL. Expect a heavy dosage of run in these situations from both Cam Skattebo and Jaxson Dart.
The Giants saw Malik Nabers unfortunately go down with a torn ACL last week. It’ll be hard to replace Nabers’ production in the passing game, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Giants put more emphasis on Dart and Skattebo in the run game against the New Orleans Saints.
No team uses spread formation more than the Giants at 39.7 percent of snaps. Their usage has dropped in the last two weeks, but they had their most successful rushing day out of this formation in Dart's first start last week. This formation will often take Pete Werner off the field or out of the box giving New York another advantage.
The Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo prototypes are two of the Saints biggest challenges
New Orleans has been decent at stopping the run in terms of yards per carry and yards allowed, but it’s hard to call them stout. The biggest issue they’ve had is finishing the play. Missed tackles have plagued them all season. You can't be a team that misses tackles and be confident you'll stop Skattebo. He breaks tackles on a consistent basis, and the Saints miss them consistently. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
With the Giants tendency to use spread formation, there will be less players in the box to stop the run. The defensive front can't get pushed back constantly. It'll be on them to stand their ground, or even better, get off blocks. If the defensive line allows for offensive linemen to get to the second level quickly it's going to be a long day for the Saints. Ideally, the defensive front keeps the linebackers clean enough to go make plays.
Another issue is stopping the quarterback run. You could marry the issues and point to Josh Allen's monster run from just last week. Not only was that a quarterback running, he was running through tacklers as well. We've seen Mac Jones look athletic when running against this defense. He shook Pete Werner out of his shoes.
It may not be consistent runs throughout the game, but the Saints are allowing quarterbacks to run when it's needed the most, such as third downs. Both of these issues become more prevalent when the defense is spread out.
Red Sox Expert Calls for Team to Get Padres Star This Offseason
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Alex Cora will have two new pitchers to work with starting Tuesday.
The Boston Red Sox pushed their rivals, the New York Yankees, to the brink in the ALWS, but the team ran out of healthy pitchers. Boston lost starting pitcher Lucas Giolito right before the start of the postseason.
His injury and team outlook likely put the team in a rough position for this offseason. Tanner Houck also had to undergo Tommy John surgery in early August and will likely miss the entire season next year. The Red Sox will be forced to make some moves regarding their pitching this offseason.
How the Red Sox Can Find Their New Pitching Star
This season was a big season for the Red Sox, as it showed their potential to contend for a World Series title
There are several options Boston can turn to for their next star. The San Diego Padres have two of their more reliable and expensive pitchers, Dylan Cease and Michael King, who are about to be free agents. Like the Red Sox, the Padres lost in their respective division round of the playoffs on Wednesday.
Section 10 Podcast host Tyler Milliken talked about what pitching options the Red Sox should go for this offseason on 98.5 the day after the Red Sox were knocked out of the playoffs:
“Dylan Cease, Michael King, if you hear me right there now, I want one of you. Bring me one of them. Dylan Cease, you already went after him. They already checked with him during the offseason. They checked with him at the regular season at the trade deadline with the (Jarren) Duran packages. Yes, the ERA is in the 4’s, I understand. You look underneath the hood. The fit, the K/9; all the things they love. He’s exactly their type. I do think if you need to trade assets, you’re probably doing it for a bat or a pitcher. Just pick one of them.”
Likelihood of Dylan Cease or Michael King joining the Red Sox
Cease came into the 2025 season as one of the top two pitching options for the Padres. In 168 innings and 32 games started, Cease allowed 152 hits, 85 runs, with 21 of them being home runs, and 71 walks while delivering 215 strikeouts. He finished with one of the highest ERAs on the team (4.55), who pitched more than 43 innings this season, excluding Yu Darvish (5.38). Cease had a difficult season but had some great moments.
Cease was traded from the Chicago White Sox in mid-March of 2024. During that time, the only new contract he received from Padres‘ management was to avoid arbitration this past January for a one-year $13.75 million contract. Cease will likely move on in hopes of playing for a World Series contender and potentially get a long-term contract. The Red Sox could be right there for Cease to lock up long-term.
King might be looking to get more opportunities behind the mound next season. He might be able to accomplish this with a team outside of the Padres organization. The Padres have utilized King as a backend starting pitcher this season, starting in 15 games and
