By Ross Jackson
Ugly football.
That’s the best way to explain the start of this Monday Night Football matchup for the New Orleans Saints. After winning the coin toss and electing to receive against the Kansas City Chiefs, Saints quarterback Derek Carr started off his night with a panicked pass that ended in a first-drive turnover. That was the first time the Saints failed to score on an opening drive and the first time that Kansas City didn’t allow a score on an opening drive. It felt like that would set the tone for this game.
But New Orleans did show a brief sign of life off of a 43-yard strike from Carr to speedy wide receiver Rashid Shaheed that got them on the board after quickly going down by 10 points to quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
The Saints’ defense has been particularly concerning. The team’s unit that was supposed to be its strongest going into the season has struggled to stop the run due to a lack of push at the line of scrimmage. That, paired with a ton of space being surrendered, has been tough to overcome on the defensive side. Especially with Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce finding their groove early.
Unfortunately, the Saints were not able to build on the momentum they started to capture. The Chiefs put together a 15-play scoring drive that included eventually converting a fresh set of downs after facing 2nd and 34. Kansas City also successfully strung together two 10-play scoring drives as well.
New Orleans has failed to finish plays on Mahomes in the backfield, aside from one combined sack by defensive ends Chase Young and Carl Granderson, and have continued their trend of surrendering yards over the middle of the field in the passing game.
It’s simply been an ugly game throughout the first half for New Orleans and it may quickly get even worse with the Chiefs starting the second half with both a multi-score lead and the ball. This one could get out of hand quickly if the Saints can’t find a way to get back on track. They have found success on third downs and in the red zone on defense, which has kept this game from immediately reaching blowout status. But the second half has brought a lot of concern in recent weeks. We’ll see if New Orleans can keep that at bay in this one and fight their way back into range.
Limiting panicked mistakes, closing space on defense and getting a push are all improvements New Orleans desperately needs. Another key to watch will be the run game on offense. The Saints are currently averaging 3.4 yards per rush against a tough run defense in Kansas City. Thus, they have only put together two drives of more than three minutes. New Orleans is currently losing the time of possession battle 10:31 to 19:29.
