The Saints 56 total missed tackles rank tied for the ninth-highest total in the NFL. You can see the entire league’s missed tackles totals below. But focusing on New Orleans, that’s a Top 10 ranking in not being able to finish plays when defenders come in contact with a ball-carrier. The rapidly increasing number has been a concerning trend for the team.
“I think execution has been a big issue,” Saints head coach Dennis Allen said on Monday. “And then yeah, tackling has been an issue. So that’s something we’ve got to figure out, and we’ve got to figure it out in a hurry.”
How the Saints go about doing that in practices where teams are not allowed to tackle will be interesting to learn more about if they do curb the habit. Allen is right, the team does have to get this figured out in a hurry. They have the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football in two short days.
While New Orleans does not have the most missed tackles in the league, the ones they have committed have been particularly costly. The Saints rank No. 1 in the NFL in yards after catch allowed in the passing game with 1,018 surrendered. Going all the way back to Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys, it’s easy to remember how these missed opportunities to get a ball-carrier or pass-catcher to the ground has led to massive impact.
Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s catch-and-run touchdown ended up being an afterthought because New Orleans throttled Dallas in a 35-point blowout. But it ended up being a symptom for what would be a larger issue a matter of weeks later.
In the run game, the Saints defense is one of the best teams in the NFL when it comes to limiting yards after contact. The issue there is different, it’s been the yards before contact, of which they’ve allowed the most (2.6 per attempt), that has caused them much grief in that area.
New Orleans just surrendered its second-highest scoring total in its history on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Defensive end Cameron Jordan estimated a total of “five or six” explosive plays were surrendered. fifteen tackles were missed. All of those numbers combine for a very unpleasant and ineffective showing in what was perhaps the team’s most important game of the year thus far. The Saints do indeed need to get this figured out in a hurry, because if it continues things will only get worse for what has most-recently been the team’s calling card.
Here are the missed tackle totals (and per game averages) around the NFL, per Pro Football Focus:
Las Vegas Raiders – 79 (13.17)
Atlanta Falcons – 70 (11.67)
Indianapolis Colts – 63 (10.5)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 61 (10.17)
Dallas Cowboys – 61 (10.17)
Los Angeles Rams – 60* (12)
New York Jets – 59 (9.83)
Arizona Cardinals – 58 (9.67)
Cleveland Browns – 58 (9.67)
Cincinnati Bengals – 57 (9.5)
Jacksonville Jaguars – 57 (9.5)
New Orleans Saints – 56 (9.33)
San Francisco 49ers – 56 (9.33)
Buffalo Bills – 55 (9.16)
Denver Broncos – 54 (9)
Seattle Seahawks – 53 (8.83)
Carolina Panthers – 52 (8.67)
Washington Commanders – 50 (8.33)
New York Giants – 48 (8)
Green Bay Packers- 47 (7.83)
New England Patriots – 47 (7.83)
Miami Dolphins – 46* (9.2)
Los Angeles Chargers – 43*(8.6)
Houston Texans 43 (7.17)
Minnesota Vikings – 42* (8.4)
Detroit Lions – 40* (8)
Pittsburgh Steelers – 39 (6.5)
Chicago Bears – 38 (6.33)
Philadelphia Eagles – 38* (7.6)
Baltimore Ravens – 36 (6)
Kansas City Chiefs – 34* (6.8)
Tennessee Titans – 33* (6.6)
* – Teams that have already had their bye week.
