Max Unger faced a mountain of a task last Sunday against the Rams.
Well, two actually.
Unger — a 2004 Hawaii Preparatory Academy graduate — was responsible for blocking two of the NFL’s least-stoppable interior linemen last weekend in the Rams’ Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh.
Unger and his offensive line cohorts were game for the task, limiting the powerful duo to just three combined tackles and no sacks, helping pave the way for New Orleans’ 45-35 victory.
“Interior defensive lineman like Aaron (Donald) and Ndamukong Suh are pretty rare players in the league,” Unger said in a conference call earlier this week. “It’s a tough challenge stopping those guys and I think that we did a good job kind of staying out of really unmanageable passing situations and we knew that was kind of critical going into this game.”
Despite the success, Unger was quick to note that Donald — the reigning defensive player of the year — is as advertised.
“He is an elite player in this league,” Unger said. “He is a legitimate game plan threat that is disruptive. He’s the best right now. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better defensive player in the league.”
For most of the first half, the Saints offense looked absolutely unstoppable. And outside of a lost fumble, they were, finding the end zone on five of six first half drives and taking a 35-17 lead into the break against the previously undefeated Rams.
In the game, New Orleans punted just twice and racked up 487 yards of total offense — the most this season against L.A. And for a second consecutive game, the Saints did not allow a sack.
The victory also changed the narrative surrounding the NFC, firmly establishing the Saints as a top-tier Super Bowl contenders.
Unger, 32, who won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks in 2014, would be happy to get back.
“I think that we’ve been able to stick to the game plan that we’ve all wanted to and we’ve been able to execute it and that is running the ball effectively on early downs and sticking to it throughout the game,” Unger said. “We are getting enough production early on to be able to carry the momentum and being able to run the ball later in the game as a positive.”
Unger came over to the Saints in a 2015 trade that sent Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seahawks — a deal that is still a sensitive topic for fans in the Pacific Northwest.
Graham never replicated his success as a 1,000-yard pass-catcher while in the Seahawks system and Seattle’s offensive line still hasn’t recovered from shipping away its centerpiece.
Meanwhile, Unger has continued his stellar play in the Big Easy, extending his reputation as one of the league’s top centers while snapping the ball to the league’s all-time passing leader, Drew Brees.
Unger sees Brees — who’s on pace for an MVP-caliber season with 2,336 yards and 18 TDs to just one interception — as a big reason the O-line’s numbers have top-notch this year.
“Just a good protection plan coming into these last couple weeks,” Unger said. “We’ve played some pretty good D-lines, so it’s something we’ve been focusing on. Drew is getting us in the right situation and he’s gotten the ball out of his hands on time and that’s pretty big for us.”
Unger is a more reserved player and won’t soon be found doing a synchronized dance in the end zone or yanking a flip-phone out of the goal post for a celebration. He can save those moments for wide receiver Michael Thomas and running back Alvin Kamara, who continues to impress Unger in his second year.
“I’ve been caught standing around a pile when I thought Alvin (Kamara) was down and got blown up,” Unger said. “Anytime he has the ball in his hands and until I hear the whistle it’s full tilt go because he has continued to show that he can get out of some pretty insane situations. That’s kind of whenever he has the ball — it’s go until you hear the whistle.”
Where Unger said the team needs to improve going forward is on third down. An X-factor of sorts in those situations has been do-it-all hybrid QB Taysom Hill, who has done everything from running the option to returning kicks.
“I’m continuously amazed with Taysom and what he’s been able to do,” Unger said. “You’re talking about a guy that played exclusively quarterback at the beginning of last year and special teams. Now he’s like a cog in the machine. The sky’s the limit for him. It certainly is an interesting wrinkle in our game plan and I think that it definitely is shown to be pretty effective.”
The task for Unger and the O-line doesn’t get easier this week, facing a 5-3 Cincinnati Bengals team that features Carlos Dunlap (71.5 career sacks) and Geno Atkins (67 career sacks) up front.
“Their reputation around the league is that they are a very, very physical defense,” Unger said. “Obviously, Geno (Atkins) is another challenge in a string of insane defensive lines that we’ve had to play this year in a row. Another very difficult challenge and we’ll go check the film out and kind of see what we want to do.”