It’s no secret that the New Orleans Saints offense didn’t do enough with the opportunities they were given on Thursday night — especially in the first half, when they managed to score just six points against a couple of Jacksonville Jaguars touchdowns.
They went into halftime facing a steep deficit in a high-stakes situation. The team needed leaders to step up. And Saints head coach Dennis Allen shared a message from passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry after the break.
“It’s all about execution,” Allen told Amazon Prime Video sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung. “It’s like R.C. said in the locker room to the offense, ‘Let’s go out there and make plays that we’re capable of making.’ That’s what it’s about.”
Now, that doesn’t exactly sound like a big rah-rah speech or fire-and-brimstone sermon, but it’s notable that Curry was so vocally involved. Saints fans have been calling for Curry to have a shot calling plays instead of offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael early and often this season. Curry has been repeatedly spoken of highly by other members of the coaching staff and he’s called plays in each of the last two preseason series, so he has some experience.
The offense might not be better with Curry at the controls, it’s theorized, but it can’t be worse. Maybe Curry is more involved already than we’d be led to believe. Or maybe Allen’s comments shouldn’t warrant such a deep dive.
What’s important is that the team do what they can to win this Jaguars game, and Allen has a list of areas they can improve in the second half: “We’ve got to win situational football. Third down, red zone, we’ve got to be able to score points. We’ve got to be able to convert on third down, we’ve got to be able to kick a field goal. I mean, it’s the little things like that we’ve got to be able to do to give ourselves an opportunity to win a game.”
Facing a two-score deficit and the threat of a losing record for the first time this season, it’s obvious that pressure is building for Allen and his staff. This isn’t the outcome the Saints expected when they hired him last year or pursued his choice of quarterback this offseason. He’s running out of time to return the results they anticipated.
