By Ross Jackson
A tough loss is always a hard pill to swallow. The New Orleans Saints were faced with just that on Sunday afternoon as the Philadelphia Eagles came to town with a perfect game plan to hand the Saints their first loss of the season.
After a historic output of 91 points through the first two games, New Orleans’ offense was limited to just 12 points in what was comparatively a measly performance. There are a few excuses that could be levied. The Saints did not have one of their most important players in do-it-all tight end Taysom Hill and lost starting center Erik McCoy on the third offensive play of the game.
While those excuses are available, you won’t hear the Saints using them. Saints tight end Foster Moreau acknowledged that the loss of McCoy had an impact.
“It’s no secret Erik McCoy is a fantastic player,” he said. “And when we lose him on the third play of the game, that’s going to be tougher for any offense.”
Moreau quickly turned the attention back to the offense as a whole, rather than the loss of one player.
“But it just wasn’t good enough,” Moreau continued. “And it wasn’t up to our standard from all 11 players.”
That kind of accountability is what fans called for all throughout the offseason. And the demeanor of the locker room was very different from the environment after last year’s Week 3 loss. Of course, in that loss against the Green Bay Packers quarterback Derek Carr was taken to a local hospital for a shoulder injury, so of course the environment was much more solemn. But the attitude in the Saints’ locker room? Getting back to the drawing board.
Saints offensive lineman Landon Young spoke exclusively with LouisianaSports.Net and shared his insight on what the Eagles did well. He highlighted the Eagle’s six-man front and aggression with stunts and twists as being some of the key factors. When Young was asked whether it is valuable to have this on tape so early in the season so that they have time to adjust, he was clear on the team’s intent.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said.” We can see where we kind of failed in execution, and what things we did good and we can keep building on that.”
This is not a down-trodden team even though this game was so highly-anticipated. Expectations were very high not just locally, but from the national viewpoint as well. The Saints simply got beat on Sunday. But don’t expect them to run with their tails tucked between their legs. It’s not time to hit the panic button on this team.
Last year, after the team’s Week 3 loss, things felt just that: lost. Carr had taken a brutal hit that lead to an injury that plagued him all season, the Saints offense never really looked particularly threatening despite their 2-and-0 start, and they were not coming off of the second-most points scored in the opening pair of games.
This year, none of those things are true. The issue for the 2023 Saints is that in order for things to turn around for them in a hurry, the team would need to look like something it had not ever presented before. This time, the Saints are one loss off of historic play. It’s one thing to have to be something you have never been in order to rebound. It is an entirely different requirement to be something you have already proved you are. The Saints are in the latter category.
In the NFL regular season, the game is just as much about how you respond to adversity as it is about the adversity faced in the first place. Up against a division opponent next week, the team has the chance to open their season 3-and-1 with a win at the Atlanta Falcons.
Their run game on both sides of the ball will have to make major strides from what the team showed this week. But again, it would not be something that has not been seen from them before. Next week’s matchup is a pivotal one for the Saints to maintain their status as one of the league’s best teams. Getting it done will take every player moving on from this loss and looking to improve before Week 4. And that is already what some of the team’s most important assets are saying.
“We’ve just got to come back next week,” wide receiver Rashid Shaheed said. “And prepared a little better… Play with our hair on fire.”
