By Ross Jackson
NEW ORLEANS — After opening up with an electrifying two-game win stream, the New Orleans Saints have now dropped five straight contests, capped off Thursday night by a 33-to-10 loss to their former head coach Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos. Their recent losses make their 91-point combined outing to open the year feel like a distant memory and the team’s health, or lack thereof, may make it hard to get things back on track.
Simply put, the Saints are a shell of themselves.
They took the field Thursday night down six starters on offense (depending on how you classify Taysom Hill) as well as three on defense. By the end of the night they were down another two starters on defense, cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo. The latter of which is likely done for the season with a very serious injury. Adebo has a broken femur, per head coach Dennis Allen, an injury that required emergency surgery.
The Saints also lost another backup offensive lineman, Nick Saldiveri to a shoulder injury. The team that was lighting up the scoreboard to open the season dropped just 10 points, including a garbage-time score and the defense that was once feared was again thrashed for more than 220 rushing yards for the second game in four days.
Allen said that the team is not playing good football. But the concern is that this simply is not a good football team. The Saints changed their offseason approach this past summer and through their approach, did not build the depth necessary to withstand the onslaught of availability issues the team has had.
Beyond that, the defense has come loose at the seams and the team can’t seem to win the line of scrimmage on either side. Add in tackling issues, a lack of reliable pass rush and an inability to finish plays on both sides of the ball and the Saints went from the belle of the ball to a funeral bell toll.
A night that was supposed to be an exciting one that included honoring their newly-inducted team Hall of Famer, quarterback Drew Brees. But instead, it became a mass exodus amidst an embarrassing blowout.
To hand them their respect, the Saints most certainly do not see it that way. At least not publicly. When asked if Allen is concerned about his job security, he simply replied, “No.” Running back Alvin Kamara said that he has never navigated a stretch of football that feels like this five-game losing streak that sent Saints fans to the Caesars Superdome exits after halftime. Kamara sympathized with the fans saying that he too would have left early.
Rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler again struggled to manage opposing pressure and said that the team has to play better, putting a lot of accountability upon himself.
But until the results on the field match the words of desire for improvement, none of it will mean anything. The team hopes to get healthier over their “mini-bye,” but will that be enough for a defense that was mostly at full strength over the last few weeks to figure out its tackling issues? Will health on the offensive line be enough to help the offense be the electrifying unit that was seen to open the season without wide receiver Rashid Shaheed for the remainder of the year?
It’s idealistic to believe that this team, with all the struggles and challenges it has shown over the last five weeks will somehow find a way to turn it around. If they do, they’ll be the biggest story in the NFL. But time after time, the expectation for a turnaround is either not realized or it is, but far too late.
Over the last two seasons, the Saints have finished strong. But they’ve done so against bad teams. Only one of their late-season wins has been against a team with a winning record. While New Orleans does have the easiest strength of schedule remaining in the league, it just doesn’t feel like another last-second push is going to be enough to ward off what now feels inevitable: embracing the rebuild of this franchise.
Sure, the Saints should continue to compete as best they can this year. There is absolutely no doubt about that. But with a thin roster and one with so many question marks as it stands, it’s hard to believe that the organization is just going to stand pat and run it all back in 2025. Whether it’s a head coaching change, a roster rebuild or a combination of both, it all feels like the time is coming for wide-swathing and impactful changes.
Accountability at a podium is important. But what this team needs feels more like consequence. Who bears the consequences of a season nearly lost after such a promising start? Right now, that onus seems to fall on the fans more than anyone else. But this offseason that responsibility, or accountability, has to be exercised elsewhere. And loudly.
Allen has been given three solid years that included inheriting what was supposed to be an advantageous setup. He then got the chance to revamp his defensive coaching staff going into 2023 while also landing his chosen quarterback Derek Carr. Now in 2024, he was able to revamp his offensive coaching staff including landing a big fish offensive coordinator in Klint Kubiak who brought with him the highly-desired wide zone system that is sweeping the NFL. And with all that, a five game plummet is about all that’s presently available to show for it.
