Did the Saints turn a corner with their pass rush?

The New Orleans Saints are one of the worst teams in the NFL when it comes to getting to the quarterback this season. Their 30 sacks are tied for fifth-fewest in the league this season.

That’s changed over the past two weeks. The Saints (7-7) took down the quarterback 11 times in their past two games, tied for the most in the NFL. Over a third of their sacks through 14 games are from the last two.

In New Orleans’ 24-6 win over the New York Giants on Sunday, the Saints had a season-high seven sacks and allowed 193 total yards. Defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon had a career-high three sacks; rookie defensive tackle Bryan Bresee had two. Linebacker Zack Baun didn’t record a sack, but he was the first player acknowledged by New Orleans coach Dennis Allen when he was asked about the improved pass rush.

“I think Zack Baun being involved in some of our sub-package rush stuff, I think he’s helped out a lot,” Allen said Monday. “Specifically last week, Tanoh working inside, he did a really nice job rushing inside. And we’ve changed some things up. We’ve had some four-man rush, we’ve had some three-man rush, just changing up the looks in terms of what we’re giving them. And I think that’s all been beneficial.”

The last time the Saints had seven sacks in a game was Jan. 2, 2022. It’s something most don’t have the ability of doing that often; only 11 teams have had a game with at least seven sacks this season. But the opponent might be a bigger factor in the sacks Sunday than New Orleans’ pass rush improvement.

The Giants are having a historically bad year trying to protect their quarterback. They’ve allowed 76 sacks through 14 games, which is already the third-most amount of sacks allowed in any season all time. Four of the six highest single-game sack performances from a defense this season came against New York. The Giants are allowing over five sacks a game this season.