These posts about Watson and Kirkwood...Did anyone know who they were prior to them performing this season?. Watson maybe, as he has been around, my point is it doesnt matter. The Saints will have replacements of near equal caliber.
However the key point is who gets the targets in the passing game.The Saints have 532 targets including the post season. That breaks down to the below:
Thomas 162 30.5%
Kamara 102 19.2%
Watson 45 8.4%
t. Smith 44
ginn 36
Ingram 27
Hill 26
Kirkwood 23 4.3%
For comparison--Julio Jones, who lead WRs in targets with 166 earned 28% of the Falcons Targets.
You absolutely need to significantly slow Thomas and Kamara. The Saints may hit some big plays with the other guys but they won't consistently drive the field throwing to Smith and Hill.
I'd be interested in seeing Barron in thomas' grill battling him right at the line with Joyner and Talib bracketing him. Making Thomas' life as difficult as possible is paramount in this game. Thomas' near Hopkins like catching ability saves Brees often. We need to make this game hard for Brees.
