3 bold predictions for Seahawks versus Saints in Week 5
By Lee Vowell
Prediction 2: The Seahawks get 5 sacks
Seattle’s edge rushers are capable of doing much better. Darrell Taylor just seems to be playing with the yips right now. He is horrible against the run right now, though. This makes him a pure pass rusher and he showed in 2021 that he can chase down quarterbacks. Taylor might even be having some confidence issues currently as Seattle basically replaced him heading into Week 4 with Boye Mafe.
But I think Taylor, specifically, and the pass rushers as a whole, are much more productive in Week 5. New Orleans has allowed 13 sacks in four games. Some of that should be blamed on Jameis Winston who doesn’t make decisions quickly enough. But Andy Dalton will start in Week 5 and he did get sacked twice in Week 4.
I think Taylor gets a sack versus the Saints (New Orleans does allow 8.3 sacks per dropback, 9th-most in the league), Mafe gets another, Uchenna Nwosu gets two and Shelby Harris gets one as well. Dalton will still pick up a lot of yards as the pass rush won’t be consistent but it will be enough to disrupt drives.
The defensive backs have been hit-and-miss this year (except for rookie Tariq Woolen who has been extremely good) and part of the reason is the Seahawks haven’t had a good sustained pass rush. They will in Week 5.