Dennis Allen believes these one-score games eventually have to go the New Orleans Saints’ way. The key, he says, is to keep fighting.
It would be nice if that were true. The thing about manifestation is it requires action. Otherwise, it’s just a wish. The action needed here is having better first halves. Good teams win close games great teams leave no doubt and avoid them in the first place with dominant wins.
The improvements must be seen on both sides of the ball. The defense tends to play so well in the second half that it’s confusing how they start the game so poorly. The offense has struggles throughout the game so it’s not hard to believe they struggle to start games. New Orleans has found themselves trying to climb out of holes in multiple games that ended in one-score defeats.
Losses to the Jaguars, Lions, and Vikings are all perfect examples of this exact issue. The Saints were able to make the games close, but the hole dug in the first half were too deep to climb out of. The Saints must stop forcing themselves to need mistake free football in the second half. This has been the score at halftime of the Saints one score losses:
- Packers: 17-0 (Saints led at halftime prior to Carr’s injury)
- Texans: 17-10
- Jaguars: 17-6
- Vikings 24-3
- Lions: 24-7
Start faster on defense and get more stops. Put more points on the board sooner and avoid early deficits. The Saints are a great second-half team, but they must stop taking so long to get up to speed. If that doesn’t change, they’ll just keep getting into close one-score games and coming up short.
