New Orleans Saints key ingredients to victory against Cardinals

There wasn’t much time to backtrack and address what went wrong in the New Orleans Saints’ 30-26 loss to Cincinnati. That’s the good and bad of a short week. Forge ahead and prepare for the next opponent, which happens to be Arizona at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

Either the Saints (2-4) or Cardinals (2-4) are going to move ahead to 3-4. Here are a few ways that it can be the Saints:

1. DEE UP: On offense, the Saints have averaged 30 points per game over the last three, but only have a 1-2 record to show for it. Frankly, if this defense had been what it has been and believes it still is, that record would be flipped at worse, clean at best. Instead, New Orleans allowed a 53-yard drive that led to Minnesota’s game-winning field goal, six explosive plays in a win against Seattle, then a crucial explosive play and was unable to get a red zone stop in a loss to Cincinnati. The defense has had stretches where the cleat was on the other foot – 13 points allowed in a loss to Tampa Bay, 15 allowed in a loss to Carolina. That unit really needs to step up against Arizona, especially with receiver De’Andre Hopkins making his season debut after serving a league suspension. Twelve sacks in the last four games is a good sign for New Orleans’ defense, and linebacker Demario Davis gets to the quarterback as well as anyone when he blitzes. But New Orleans has to be disciplined in its rush against Kyler Murray. He’ll hurt you with the run, he’ll buy time and the secondary will have to plaster longer because of it.