We’re at the halfway point of the season. The New Orleans Saints have played 10 games, but other teams with a bye week just hit nine games last week.
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon has isolated a single stat from every team’s season that defines how their season has transpired. For New Orleans, he used 58-136. That’s the Saints scoring margin in October, a month Gagnon believes ruined the season.
When you go on a seven-game losing streak it’s difficult to just point to one month as a season killer. Seven weeks is nearly two months, and technically, the streak went from the end of September to the beginning of November. October is the only month the Saints didn’t win a game.
He compares that stretch to the other six games of the season. The Saints went 3-3 and had a scoring margin of 169-110. That number is exaggerated by blowout victories to start the season.
The Saints have been in close games, but they lost all of their matchups in October by double digits. Comparatively, every other loss has been by three points or less. No team is happier to move into a new month — and get a fresh start — than they are.