This is as bad as it’s ever been for Sean Payton’s New Orleans Saints teams. Their 27-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night extended their losing streak to five games — the longest losing streak of Payton’s tenure. New Orleans had lost four games in a row a few times before but this is breaking new, unpleasant ground. He’s snapped a 235-game streak without dropping five consecutive losses (the fifth-longest streak in league history), which stretches all the way back to the ignominious five-loss end to Jim Haslett’s Saints head coaching career.
So how did we get here? A flurry of injuries to assumed positions of strength like the offensive line (Terron Armstead, Ryan Ramczyk, and Andrus Peat were all unavailable, and have each earned Pro Bowl or All-Pro recognition) and the defensive ends rotation (with former first round picks Marcus Davenport and Payton Turner out of action, and free agent pickup Tanoh Kpassagnon sidelined) went a long way. Alvin Kamara is the team’s best player and he hasn’t been active for a game since Nov. 7. Those are tough hurdles to overcome.
It’s more difficult when other position groups aren’t pulling their weight. Marquez Callaway, Kenny Stills, and Tre’Quan Smith saw a combined 16 targets in the Cowboys game and converted them into 3 catches for 28 yards. Stills in particular gave a poor effort on a shot at the goal line that was deflected off his hands and intercepted by the defense. Maybe the Saints waited too long to give him another shot — either way, he doesn’t add anything to the offense at this point in his career. The receiving corps as a whole is talent-deficient.
And that impacts the offense at large. It doesn’t matter which quarterback the Saints put under center; Jameis Winston, Trevor Siemian, and Taysom Hill have all struggled to work with such a weak set of pass-catchers. Rookie draft pick Ian Book wouldn’t do any better. This is a problem Payton created by years of neglectful drafting, and now all we can do is grind our teeth and hope he finally gets around to addressing the issue in the spring.
Will it be too late? Probably. The Saints have five games left on their schedule and all but two (Week 14 against the New York Jets and Week 16 versus the Miami Dolphins) are against teams that either have a winning record (Week 15 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) or have already beaten New Orleans this year (rematches in Weeks 17 and 18 with the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons).
Sure, the Saints could miraculously cure their woes and go on a five-game winning streak, starting off against the Jets next week. But that just doesn’t feel realistic. This team is too flawed and too snakebit to pull off a feat like that. You just won’t hear that pessimism from Payton or anyone else on his staff. They have a lot of work to do and plenty left to play for. Don’t look for him to throw in the towel.
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