This is who they are. The New Orleans Saints got what they deserved in a mistake-filled 20-13 loss to the Houston Texans. It was an afternoon full of self-inflicted wounds, unnecessary penalties, bad decisions in critical situations, and poorly-coached players failing to execute basic assignments.
Dennis Allen was given the quarterback he wanted, the assistant coaches he wanted, and the NFL’s easiest schedule and he’s lucky to exit Week 6 with a 3-3 record. Sunday’s loss in Houston epitomized many of the complaints fans have had for the team over the first 23 games of his tenure.
Allen’s decision to settle for field goals came back to bite him when rookie kicker Blake Grupe missed twice, from distances of 52 and 29 yards. Things didn’t go much better when the offense was in scoring position with Pete Carmichael’s play calling leaving little margin for error — it’s just one example, but Carr’s final pass attempt to the end zone fell incomplete as an off-target lob to Michael Thomas with two defenders covering him.
That same poor situational decision-making popped up earlier on fourth down. The Saints needed just four yards for a conversion but they made it a longer down-and-distance situation by dialing up a pass to Alvin Kamara that asked him to cover eight yards and shake two defenders loose. It didn’t work.
Carmichael is who Allen was most comfortable calling plays. Carr is the quarterback he coveted in free agency. Doug Marrone is the offensive line coach he hired to develop Trevor Penning and Cesar Ruiz, both of whom were liabilities in this game. As a team the Saints were penalized seven times for 83 yards, with four of those fouls coming against the offensive line.
This is the team Allen wanted to go into the season with. This loss is on him and the people he’s empowered. At the end of the day they’re a team that’s fortunate to have won as many games as they’ve lost, because it could be much worse.
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