The New Orleans Saints travel to Houston on Saturday night to take on the Texans in the preseason opener for both teams. Both teams begin new regimes as they both start the campaign with a new head coach. Dennis Allen takes over for the Saints after the departure of their long-time head coach Sean Payton this offseason. Meanwhile, the Texans welcome the defensive-minded Lovie Smith as their new head coach this season. The kickoff is set for 8pm.
The Dennis Allen regime in New Orleans kicks off in earnest on Saturday night against the Houston Texans. This will be Allen's second stint as a head coach after a failed two+ year run as the head coach of the then Oakland Raiders. Allen went just 8-28 in his first stint as a head coach but now takes over a team he is much more familiar with after serving as defensive coordinator of the Saints since 2015 under former coach Sean Payton. Allen has a good understanding of his personnel and the Saints usual style of offense. New Orleans welcomes back Jameis Winston this season after he had a season-ending knee injury last year. Under Payton, Winston began to tap into the potential he had coming out of Florida State, particularly with his decision making. This season, Winston will be backed up by veteran Andy Dalton and former Notre Dame star QB Ian Book. Dalton represents an upgrade for a Saints team that struggled at the quarterback positi on last season after Winston went down.
The Saints offseason was rather tumultuous starting with the resignation of Payton. The team then went out and made some key acquisitions that seem to fit the style of their new head coach. Primary among their acquisitions is safety Tyrann Mathieu. The former LSU standout returns home to play for the Saints which should be critical since the Saints parted ways with both of their starting safeties from 2021. The Saints also moved up in the draft to take Ohio State WR Chris Olave to give Winston an added weapon in the Saints pass-first offense. WR Jarvis Landry, another former LSU Tiger, came home as well to give the Saints and Winston a very reliable target in the slot. The Saints also took an offensive lineman with a first round pick for the second time in three years when they selected LT Trevor Penning out of Northern Iowa. Penning has a very good chance to start right away for the Saints offense. Two other key Saints draft picks were on the defensive side of the ball: Alontae Taylor, a cornerback out of Tennessee and D'Marco Jackson a linebacker out of Appalachian State. Both should be contributors right away in Allen's defense.
Here are @NTGraff's observations from the first day of week 3 ??
– Comings & Goings
– Rock Solid Lutz
– Mr. Official #SaintsCamp | @JohnFayardhttps://t.co/xnfNiDFoLB— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 8, 2022
In Allen's first go-round as a head coach, his teams went just 4-8 in the preseason. He inherits a veteran team that has a lot of bumps and bruises that will likely impact the lineup throughout the preseason. It is unlikely that Winston will take a snap in the first game of the preseason, fresh off of knee surgery. If he does, it will be for one series at most. It is also likely that veterans like Landry, Mathieu and former Pro-Bowl receiver Michael Thomas are kept on the sidelines in the season opener. Veteran QB Andy Dalton will probably get a long look in the first half as he acclimates himself to the Saints offense and the second half will likely belong to Book. The Saints finished last season at 1-1 in the preseason but were also in the midst of a quarterback battle between Winston and Taysom Hill. With the job firmly established to be Winston's, there may not be the same sense of urgency this summer.