It’s tough to win your division when you can’t beat the other teams that reside in it. The New Orleans Saints haven’t stacked up well against their NFC South rivals this season: they’ve been outscored 67-44 so far, with three rematches yet to go. And much of the blame falls on Derek Carr and Pete Carmichael’s underperforming offense.
The Saints had 11 possessions in their Week 2 game with the Carolina Panthers, resulting in two touchdowns, two field goals, an interception, and five punts, plus the end of game kneel-down.
In Week 4, New Orleans again had 11 drives, which ended with three field goals, an interception, two fumbles, and four punts along with an end of half kneel-down. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense was never seriously threatened by the Saints.
And in Week 12 against the Falcons, Carr’s unit had the ball on 10 series and ended the day without much to write home about: six field goals (one unsuccessful), an interception, and a fumble, but just one punt, again kneeling the clock out before halftime.
So let’s tally that up. Across three games with the specific teams the Saints must defeat the win the NFC South, New Orleans has had the ball 32 times and managed just two touchdowns — both scored by running back Tony Jones Jr., who isn’t on the team anymore.
Now, these divisional matchups are always tough. Because the teams face each other twice each season, they become common opponents with known tendencies and vulnerabilities that can be exploited. When the Saints are still running the same plays that Drew Brees perfected half a decade ago with vastly inferior personnel, mistakes are going to get magnified and the teams that know those plays best are going to feast. That’s exactly what we’re seeing.
The good news is that the Saints still have time to fight back. They’ll have rematches coming up with the Panthers (in Week 14), the Buccaneers (in Week 17), and the Falcons (in Week 18). They must quickly hammer out what’s tripping them up offensively and find ways to put points on the board. Settling for field goals over and over again isn’t cutting it. For all the star talent on the roster and all the hundreds of millions of dollars on payroll, they don’t have much to show for it.
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