By Ross Jackson
The expectations were already low as the New Orleans Saints traveled to take on the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football.
But the result was still underwhelming.
The Saints are now 5-10 after a 34-0 blowout loss at the hands of the Green Bay Packers (11-4). New Orleans was simply outmatched in this game, but the Packers are a team that the Saints once saw themselves competing with. Monday night was a dreadful wake up call of how much that has changed.
Yes, New Orleans was banged up. No experts expected they would win. But New Orleans came up short in its change to showcase its young talent and its future building blocks. Here are some of the numbers that show how it all went down.
0 – The Saints became the first team to be shut out in the 2024 season, held to zero points for the first time since their 2022 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
1.9 – Running back Kendre Miller averaged just 1.9 yards per rush, recording only eight carries in the game.
2.5 – New Orleans possessed the ball nine times, and averaged just 2.5 minutes per possession. The Packers averaged just over four minutes, including a kneeldown possession to run off the final 1 minute, 11 seconds.
4 – Takeaways have not come easy for the Saints. They are now minus-4 in turnover differential in the last six weeks. They have committed six giveaways while only forcing two turnovers on defense.
6 – Green Bay scored on six of their eight non-kneeldown possessions.
7 – Center Erik McCoy was only on the field for seven snaps.
23 – Young passers Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener have been sacked a combined 23 times this season. Starting quarterback Derek Carr has only been sacked 8 times despite having twice as many starts as Rattler and Haener combined.
52.6 – Rattler was under pressure on 52.6% of his dropbacks, per Next Gen Stats.
57 – New Orleans suffered the first Monday Night Football shutout of their 57-year history.
188 – The Saints’ run defense was again gashed this week. The unit allowed 188 rushing yards and 4.5 yards per carry. This was despite stacking the box on 48.6 percent of defensive stats, the second-most in the NFL for Week 16.
Lagniappe – The offense for New Orleans has been beat up all season. In this game, the team was without five key contributors to start the game: quarterback Derek Carr, running back Alvin Kamara, wide receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed and tight end Taysom Hill. The Saints also lost starting center Erik McCoy early.
