Saints Lose 8 to 26 Against Chargers
Long ago were the glory days of the New Orleans Saints, where they would march down the field and torch their opponents, leading to blowout victories where they scored over 40 points. In reality, "long ago" wasn't actually that far away, not even referring to Brees's later years. It was actually Week Two where Derek Carr under this same coaching staff led the most potent offense in the NFL at the time.
Despite being six weeks ago, this already seems like a far distant memory. This past Sunday on October 27 against the Chargers, the Saints struggled to put any points up offensively until the final drive of the first half, where they settled for a field goal. Prior to that, each drive consisted of only five plays or less, with the Saints only points coming from a safety.
The Chargers were letting the Saints hang around all day, with miscues especially on special teams leading to both the safety and a missed extra point, causing the score to stall at 9-5 until midway through the third. When the Chargers extended the lead, the Saints turned away from rookie Spencer Rattler to Jake Haener, who led the team to a field goal drive cutting the lead to 16-8. A few drives later, down 19-8, Haener once again led the team down the field. However, this time, a poor kick from Blake Grupe led to no points being chased in for an otherwise positive drive.
The Saints offense, or lack thereof, has put them in a corner, with minimal room for error from their defensive and special teams' units. It doesn't help when the offense keeps giving the ball back to the defense. The Saints have been atrocious on third down, regardless of who is in at quarterback, going 2-16 against LA. While they have remained solid running the football, lack of effective quarterback play has made their offense look too predictable, causing defenses to stack up the box, especially on early downs.
If
there was any time for the Saints to get back in the win column, it is next
week against the Carolina Panthers. Coming out of Carolina without a victory
may put pressure on the front office to start looking internally. The Saints
have an expensive roster that should be built to win now, especially
considering the personnel defensively. That expensive of a roster requires
production at the key positions, particularly quarterback and even coaching.
