2 weeks Ago
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Sean Tucker (44) get by New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis (56) during the first half at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, October 13, 2024. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save It’s a tough time to be a New Orleans Saints fan. The team has lost five straight games for only the second time in 19 years.
Many of the team’s star players have been injured or rendered ineffective. The losing skid has sunk the Saints from first to third in the NFC South Division and fueled unprecedented frustration among the team’s loyal fan base. As the losses mount, so, too, do the injuries.
Receiver Rashid Shaheed and cornerback Paulson Adebo were recently lost to season-ending injuries. When things go south like this, reductionism tends to run rampant. Everyone wants to simplify the situation, to identify one scapegoat to blame or find one solution to cure all.
It’s never that simple. Several issues have conspired to sink the Saints. It’s not one thing.
It’s everything. Let’s take a look at what’s gone wrong and how the Saints arrived here after such a promising 2-0 start: Injury attrition Injuries are a fact of life in the NFL, but the Saints have recently experienced an epidemic. Colleague Matt Paras did an excellent job of breaking down the walking wounded earlier this week.
The Saints played the Broncos without seven offensive starters from their opening day lineup, including the team’s top passer (Derek Carr), two best pass catchers (Shaheed and Chris Olave) and best all-around playmaker (Taysom Hill). They lost starting cornerbacks Adebo and Marshon Lattimore during the game, meaning they finished the game without half of their opening day starting lineup. No team can overcome such attrition.
Grounded run game The loss of Hill and three interior offensive line starters has decimated the running game. The Saints rushed for an average of 185 yards in wins against the Panthers and Cowboys to start the season. Ball carriers averaged a robust 4.
8 yards a carry in those games. Since then, the Saints have averaged 88.8 yards a game and 3.
7 yards a carry. In that span, Alvin Kamara has averaged only 3.1 yards a carry.
The rushing attack is the foundation of offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s system. Everything starts there. And right now, it’s almost non-existent.
The good news: Hill and veteran guards Cesar Ruiz and Lucas Patrick could return to action this week. “Our ability to control the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball right now is not where it needs to be,” Allen said. I think that was a strength of ours earlier in the season.
It's not a strength of ours right now.” No more home runs When the running game is effective, it forces defenses to attack the line of scrimmage and leaves them vulnerable to big plays downfield in the passing game. It also keeps the pass rush on its heels.
When the rushing attack sputters, defenses can commit more defenders to the back end and take away the deep passing game. Remember those bombs to Shaheed in the first few weeks? They’ve disappeared, as have the rest of the explosive plays. No Saints running back has a run of more than 17 yards.
The team’s longest run is a 28-yard scramble by rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler against Denver. The Saints had three plays of 50 or more yards in the first two games. They haven’t had one since.
In fact, they’ve had only 15 plays of 20 more yards all season. Their opponents have had 35, including 16 combined by the Bucs and Broncos the past two weeks. Grounded and pounded As bad as the rushing offense has been, it looks like a juggernaut compared to the Saints’ run defense.
A stingy front seven has suddenly become one of the softest and most undisciplined in the league.The Saints are allowing a league-high 5.4 yards a carry, which, if it holds, would be the worst in franchise history.
From 2017 to 2020, the Saints did not allow a 100-yard rusher in 55 consecutive games. They have allowed three 100-yard rushers already this season: Saquon Barkley, Kareem Hunt and Sean Tucker. The Bucs and Broncos combined for 502 rushing yards, with an eye-opening 332 of them coming before first contact.
In those games, eight different ballcarriers had at least one run of 10 or more yards. So everyone is eating against the Saints. “We're going to see it until we stop it,” Allen said of his run defense.
“We're going to have to do a better job of striking blocks. We're going to have to do a better job of getting off the blocks and we're going to have to do a better job of tackling when we get in those positions.” Tawdry tackling The stats say the Saints are a mediocre tackling team.
Pro Football Focus ranks them 21st in tackling with 63 missed tackles. Pro Football Reference credits them with 41 missed tackles, which ranks 15th. The Saints’ problems are that many of their misses have occurred in the secondary, leading to big plays for the opponent.
Five of the seven players with three or more missed tackles are defensive backs. This helps explain how the Saints have allowed a staggering 1,140 yards after the catch this season, most in the league by a wide margin. By comparison, the Falcons have allowed just one fewer catch than the Saints (158 to 159) but 591 fewer yards after the completion (549).
What’s going on here? Two things, possibly. One, the Saints defense is the fifth oldest in the NFL. Four starters (Demario Davis, Cam Jordan, Tyrann Mathieu and Nathan Shepherd) are in their 30s.
Overall team speed is an issue and has been noticeable on tape. Two, defenders are not always rallying to the ball carrier, especially late in games as they tire. “There’s a couple of elements here that are involved,” Allen said.
“One is the technique of tackling, in terms of closing the space, in terms of understanding the angles, in terms of taking away the cutback. And then there's the second element of, how do we create more population to the ball? Because missed tackles do happen in our league. But when you create more and more population to the ball, they don't become as costly because you know have somebody else that's backing you up.
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