By Ross Jackson
After a 34-0 thumping at the hands of the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football, the New Orleans Saints must embrace widespread change this offseason.
The Saints looked like a team with little-to-no redeeming qualities in their Week 16 loss. In the embarrassing performance, everything that New Orleans had set up to achieve, came up short.
The team wanted to win the turnover battle and lost it 2-0.
They wanted to improve on third down and converted just four of their 11 chances.
The Saints were intent on limiting the Packers’ run game by winning the line of scrimmage and instead allowed five different rushers to gain 4.7 or more rushing yards per carry.
Several players and coaches spoke of getting off to a fast start and instead were held scoreless for 60 minutes and ran only 23 plays in the first half, six in the first quarter.
New Orleans had also hoped to work the Packers into third-and-long situations, but when they did, they committed penalties on multiple occasions which created third-and-short chances instead.
New Orleans flat out failed on Monday night, despite competing in a game that no one expected the team to win.
There was at least hope that the young players could stand out and prove that they could be a part of the future in the Big Easy. But underwhelming performances, a lack of protection and even some curious clock management by the officials all limited that opportunity.
If the focus in this game was to show promise, to show that there was something to build the future around in New Orleans, that will be hard to find on the tape. From the execution on the field to the coaching, this performance will raise major questions around what the team has in the building.
Those major questions should not center around just one Week 16 loss either. Looking at this organization since the 2020 season, this is merely a rock bottom moment that has long been in the works. The focus on continuity was often a good choice in the moment, but four consecutive postseason absences later, it’s clear that it’s time to completely change direction.
The Saints should take their offseason opportunity to look at what is unfamiliar, what is new and what will bring about the most change in the coming years. New Orleans is in need of much more than just a “free agency by getting healthy players back” kind of approach. They are in need of an overhaul.
