There’s not much working well for the New Orleans Saints. They’re 1-3 after losing to the Minnesota Vikings, and they rank among league leaders in penalties. Their offense and special teams units are two of the least effective squads around the league. The defense can’t do everything on its own. It’s a really frustrating spot to be in after just four weeks, but it’s the hole they’ve dug for themselves. Let’s ask and answer three key questions: what went right, what went wrong, and what’s the bottom line?
What went right?
Good things continued to happen almost every time Chris Olave was targeted. The rookie wide receiver caught 4 passes for 67 yards, converting a first down or scoring a touchdown each time. He rose to the occasion in a couple of high-stakes situations and looks like someone who will soon enter the conversation surrounding the league’s best receivers. Hopefully his late-game leg injury isn’t serious; he returned to play through it.
And the defense had some really bright moments. Their third down package was on point, yielding just 5 conversions on 14 tries — a success rate of only 35.7% The pass rush was active throughout the afternoon, sacking Cousins 3 times and totaling 8 hits, with nearly as many knockdowns. Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport were ridiculous mismatches for the Vikings bookend tackles and controlled the line of scrimmage. They’re heating up at the right time.
It wasn’t flashy, and at times he made some serious mistakes in two-minute situations (like clutching up just before halftime and fumbling inside New Orleans territory, and later losing 12 seconds on the final drive by being slow to line up the offense pre-snap) but Dalton turned in an efficient 20-of-28 passing line for 236 yards. Maybe he uncorks more big plays with Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, and Calvin Throckmorton in the lineup. We still didn’t see enough to suggest he should start over Jameis Winston in the long term.
What went wrong?
Let’s start with the penalties. There were a ton of questionable fouls on the secondary late in regulation, giving Minnesota 50 yards and two first downs on a critical drive to retake the lead. A flag on Tyrann Mathieu’s supposed illegal use of hands didn’t hold up under replay, and Adam Thielen successfully lobbied to have a pass interference foul called against Marshon Lattimore later on the same possession.
But there are dubious penalties against the Saints in every game. You can’t control that. What you can control is a young, handsy defensive back like Paulson Adebo being fouled twice for holding (a problem he also had last year). You can coach a jumpy backup guard like Calvin Throckmorton out of drawing multiple false starts (which was an issue for him last season, too). You can drill reliable tackling technique and iron out procedural issues. This Saints team is sloppy and prone to mistakes and mental errors, and a week in London didn’t change that. Dennis Allen and his coaching staff are failing their players and costing them games.
We saw another instance of Allen’s issues with Marshon Lattimore lined up against Justin Jefferson without any help; Jefferson ended the day by catching 10 passes for 147 yards and a score, dropping another would-be touchdown. Jefferson won that matchup and the Saints failed to adjust to it. I get it — Allen wants to trust Lattimore to hold down his side of the field so help can be sent elsewhere. But when the chips were down in the game’s last minutes, he left Lattimore stranded on an island and allowed Jefferson to set up a game-winning field goal try.
Back to the offense. They experienced the same slow, sloppy start as we’ve seen with Winston under center and only managed 7 points in the first half. Dalton threw several risky passes that should have been intercepted by the Vikings defense. Again, maybe things run more smoothly with more hands on deck, but this was proof of what we’ve been saying about the Saints having two mediocre quarterbacks rather than any upgrades behind a struggling starter.
And what's the bottom line?
The Saints are a seriously flawed football team. Their coaching staff lacks an eye for detail and it’s led to too many penalties in too many critical situations. They’re asking too many guys on the wrong side of 30 to do too much and make up for a poor draft strategy over the last few years. And there isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel: their 2023 first round pick is going to the Philadelphia Eagles after an aggressive trade earlier this year. They went all in on 2022 and are getting burned for it.
That’s not to say things can’t turn around. The NFC South is still a competitive division, and it’s a long season. They sat Kamara and Thomas and Winston this week to protect their health and rest them up for the long haul. We’ve seen New Orleans hit its stride and win six, seven, eight games in a row before. It’s not impossible.
But that happened with Sean Payton on top of the organization. We can say pretty definitively by now that Allen isn’t Payton. And he doesn’t have to be — he can absolutely lead this team to success in his own way. But too often this year we’ve heard that drumbeat that the Saints want to maintain continuity and do things Payton’s way. If things don’t change soon, we’re closer to deciding Allen was the wrong guy for the job rather than someone who might be able to turn it all around.
