During the 2025 season, the New Orleans Saints didn’t hold on to the football often with a lead. In fact, the team ranked No. 31 in plays run while winning a contest with just 126 total snaps.
104 of those snaps came between Weeks 10 and 18.
New Orleans wasn’t just limited with opportunities to hold a lead last year, they were also an inefficient run team in those rare occurrences. Of their 126 plays with a lead, the Saints ran the ball 62 times.
Unsurprisingly, volume stats are low. Despite one 32-yard rush by running back Audric Estime, the team only amassed 215 rushing yards, also ranking No. 31 in the league.
But their per-run numbers were also low, showing an inefficiency in being able to run the clock out and control leads late.
While the NFL average for rushes with a lead sits at 4.2 yards per carry, per TruMedia, the Saints picked up an average of just 3.5 per rushing attempt while winning games.
NFL teams also picked up first downs on 23.2% of their rushing attempts with a lead across the league while the Saints did so only 19.4% of the time, No. 27 in the league.
The good news for New Orleans is that their fourth quarter production in these situations was much closer to the NFL average. 3.0 yards per carry to the league’s 3.4 average and a 15.9% first down rate as compared to the NFL’s 18.7% average.
This shows that when the game was in position to be closed out, the team was much closer to the league average than in earlier portions of the game. Much like the volume stats, these numbers are vastly improved over the final eight games as compared to the earlier portion of the schedule.
Regardless of the opponents during those matchups, this at least shows a position trajectory for the team, which will be looking to get off to faster starts in 2026. In doing so, the Saints can put themselves in a much better position to close out games late.
In order to completely realize their potential, however, their per-down efficiency will have to make a turn in the right direction. The Saints’ offseason moves point to expected improvements that can help New Orleans more effectively seal the victories they hope to build more consistently in 2026.
