Usually after a preseason game, it makes sense to comb through the performance to see which players rose to the occasion and established themselves as standouts.
That feels like a disingenuous practice following the New Orleans Saints’ 34-0 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the team’s second preseason matchup.
While it’s commonly said that the preseason doesn’t matter, a performance as widely inept as the one the Saints displayed on Saturday is always going to draw concern.
With a full-on failure to launch now in the books for New Orleans, instead of standout players, here are three standout issues the team couldn’t shake, some of which are eerily familiar to last year’s struggles.
Penalties
After the game, head coach Kellen Moore highlighted a “lack of discipline” as a core issue for the team Saturday.
“A lack of discipline, lack of detail,” Moore said when asked about the team’s 12 penalties. “A lot of them are under our control. 12 penalties in a football game is not going to win football games. And we talked a lot about that, and it was obviously a step back from the progress that we felt like we’ve made.”
After committing eight penalties against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, the Saints cracked double-digits in the second.
The penalties were the run-of-mill holding penalties here and there, but most concerning were the pre-snap and operation issues.
New Orleans committed two 12 men on the field penalties on defense and had an illegal formation penalty called on offense, despite coming out of their own called timeout.
New Orleans finished with one fewer penalty (12) then it finished with first downs (13) by the time the day was done.
The Saints struggled in this category last year, finishing No. 10 in total penalties against last year and No. 4 in pre-snap penalties. This continuation is a frustrating one for the Saints.
Red Zone Offense
The Saints drove to or inside the Rams’ 20-yard line three times in their exhibition matchup.
Despite their trio of opportunities, the team came up empty on all three drives.
The first, which reached the Rams’ six-yard line turned into a 100-yard pick-six by Los Angeles safety Alex Cook, thrown by Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler, who led all three red zone drives.
The second ended in a fumble and turnover at the Los Angeles two-yard line when Saints running back Ty Chandler put the ball on the ground on a second down run.
The final drive resulted in a missed 39-yard field goal attempt by kicker Tanner Brown when a drive stalled out at the Los Angeles 20. It’s technically not a red zone drive, but fits the bill of the issues approaching or entering the area.
The Saints’ offense was the worst in the NFL last year in red zone possession to touchdown percentage, converting on just 44.4% of opportunities in 2025.
This game may not have had starters playing, but seemed to reflect some of the struggles of the past in a concerning way.
Injuries
The Saints have clearly struggled to stay healthy this offseason with a number of players missing time due to injury.
While some of the injuries can be attributed to the team’s cautious approach, seeing six players leave the game only adds to the concern. The majority of them were taken to the locker room for further evaluation.
- RB Devin Neal (hamstring)
- TE Moliki Matavao (knee)
- OL Torricelli Simpkins III (concussion)
- DL Brien Taylor Jr. (stinger)
- WR Bub Means (hamstring)
- S Lorenzo Styles Jr. (calf)
Any hope that the Saints had finally escaped their injury woes will have to wait.
The team may just be experiencing the bumps and bruises of training camp and the preseason, but there’s little promise for improvement as the numbers continue to pile up and key contributors and depth are frequently added to the list.
