By Nick Underhill | The Advocate
It is always interesting to see how opposing teams decide to approach star players.
Last year, the Carolina Panthers decided they weren’t going to get beat by New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, so they decided to make Drew Brees beat them. It backfired, and the Saints won.
On Sunday, the Giants decided they had to try to stop wide receiver Michael Thomas and defensive end Cam Jordan. They failed on many accounts during the Saints' 31-18 win, but it illustrated the issues teams have when facing New Orleans. Do you stop Brees, Kamara or Thomas?
There still doesn’t appear to be a right answer, but the Saints were happy to learn they can win a game without Thomas racking up 100 yards or Brees throwing a touchdown pass.
“It’s good to know we can do that; it’s good to know we can win like that,” Thomas said. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to win as many games as possible here, play for a championship.”
The first step to slowing down Thomas — who has reached the level where four catches for 47 yards is considered a slow day — was to have cornerback Janoris Jenkins shadow him. Jenkins isn’t what you would call a lockdown cornerback, but he is one of the better players in the NFL. He held opposing quarterbacks to a 65.2 passer rating when they targeting him in 2016 and 81.1 last year, according to Pro Football Focus. ...
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