Saints Defense can Respectfully Shutdown Christian McCaffrey's Big Plays

The New Orleans Saints will have the difficult task of stopping Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey on Sunday in the Mercerdes-Benz Superdome.

Despite a stellar 3-year, 37 game collegiate career that saw him amass over 5100 yards and 31 touchdowns, I admittedly was not high on Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey going into the draft process.  Neither did I believe he would have been selected with the eighth overall pick of the 2017 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers.  He was, now Christian "RUN-CMC" McCaffrey is a NFC South foe of New Orleans.   The Saints defense must face him at least twice a year with respect for his talent and big play ability.  One of the best defenses against the run will focus on limiting McCaffrey and notch another casualty to their "Under 100 yard" runner club.   Currently, their streak stands at 39.

My [now misinformed] logic at the time was that he enjoyed a mauling Stanford Cardinal offensive line, and I felt he would lack the strength and size to be a between-the-tackles every down back at the next level. Sure, McCaffrey is fast and shifty and an excellent receiver out of the backfield. Can he be that guy, though, on a Carolina Panthers team featuring an elite dual threat QB in Cam Newton?  I asked myself that question and I am asking myself that question again now.

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Yes.  Absolutely he Can

The thing with McCaffrey is that while he is not best used between the tackles, his outside speed and playmaking abilities are elite.  His street moniker, RUM CMC, has transformed his career into being one of the premier receiving backs in the NFL.   So far in 2019, McCaffrey is second only to Los Angeles Chargers’ RB Austin Ekeler (65) in total RB receptions with 59 (on about 7 targets/game).  He leads all running backs in rushing yards/game (105.9), is the current leader with an excellent 5.32 rushing yards/attempts for all RBs with at least 10 carries (he averages almost 20 a game).  Mccaffrey is tied with only Green Bay’s Aaron Jones for 14 total TDs this season (each have 3 receiving TDs). 

Humble Pie is Humbling 

What’s the point, you might wonder, as you read an article gushing about a division rival RB ahead of an important Week 12 match-up with postseason considerations?  Simply put, you don’t have to like McCaffrey, but you ought to respect him.  I can promise Payton and his staff are poring over “All-22” of #22 ahead of the first of two contests with the Panthers this season.  Coming into this season, McCaffrey has yet to score a rushing TD against the Saints, neither in Charlotte nor the Big Easy.  You would have to go back to December 2017, to tally his lone score against the Saints in his rookie season.

.@run__cmc is the FIRST player in NFL HISTORY to rush for at least 1000 yards AND have at least 500 receiving yards in the first 10 games of a season. 💪 pic.twitter.com/C2anxZnrje

— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) November 17, 2019

Relative to the rest of his ascent, highly promising ascension to among the RB elites in the NFL, McCaffrey’s somewhat stifled outings against the Saints are a product of the time spent to prepare for the man himself. 

My intention this week was to write an article about the promise Saints LB Kiko Alonso has really begun displaying, especially last week in Tampa.  And, what an all-around playmaker Demario Davis has been basically all season.  I was reticent to earmark these guys’ respective performances however, ahead of this Week 12 tilt with a gritty Panthers team and their star RB for fear of bad juju.

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The entire Saints LB group–from Davis, to Alonso and A. J. Klein - will need to be “on point” in this one to spell the potency of McCaffrey’s screens and mid-range receiving game.  This game will not be decided at the linebacking corps level either.  McCaffrey will show looks lined up on the outside and as slot receiver.  The Saints secondary will have some difficult assignments if they plan to guard on-on one.  Oh, and yes, the Saints defensive front will need to maintain their assignments throughout the game.  The defensive ends have the unenviable task of setting the edge on the Panthers offense and containing a potentially devastating chunk yardage runner in McCaffrey.

It is truly a testament to a Panthers team featuring several talented playmakers on either side of the ball that McCaffrey is far and away their most obvious X-Factor.  The #3 ranked Saints’ run defense will need to be in lockstep with the #13 ranked Saints pass defense to make life difficult for the Panthers offense.  Only if the Saints continue to respect McCaffrey and everything he’s capable of, they ought to take this first one against the Panthers at home.