Tag: allowed

Saints should make a big change at cornerback after blowout loss

The Saints must make big changes to end their losing streak. They should start by benching Paulson Adebo for rookie draft pick Kool-Aid McKinstry:

The New Orleans Saints must make big changes to end their four-game losing streak, but where should they start? Head coach Dennis Allen isn’t going anywhere so the changes need to begin on the field. And with starting cornerback Paulson Adebo setting a new career-high in penalty yards, it’s time rookie second-round draft pick Kool-Aid McKinstry get a shot.

Adebo’s 101 penalty yards this season are a career-high, and that’s with two of his penalties being declined (he’s never had multiple fouls declined in a single season before). He gave up 76 penalty yards as a rookie in 2021, 73 penalty yards in 2022, and just 27 penalty yards in 2023, but now he’s fallen back into bad habits. That regression must come with consequences.

And the team can’t afford his boom-or-bust play style. It’s a great thing that Adebo leads the defense with 3 interceptions and 10 pass breakups. On top of the penalties, he’s getting beat in coverage. Pro Football Reference charting has him with 30 receptions and 527 yards allowed. Only one other defender has given up more than 400 yards this year, and that’s Benjamin St-Juste at 402. The gap between Adebo and St-Juste is as wide as that between St-Juste and DeMarvion Overshown, whose yards allowed rank 16th-most.

Let’s check another outlet. Pro Football Focus has Adebo with 33 catches and 426 yards, so they’ve charged some big gains to other players. But Adebo’s 426 yards allowed are still the most in the league. Even if you assign blame to another defender in the secondary here or there, he’s still getting beaten far too often and for too many big gains.

Those mistakes extend to other phases, too. PFF charged Adebo with missing four tackles against the Buccaneers last Sunday, putting him at six misses on the season. PFR was more forgiving and had him with just one missed tackle this year, but there are often disagreements on stats like these. Either way the image of Chris Godwin shoving a stiff arm into Adebo’s face mask so he could pick up 7 more yards from deep inside Tampa Bay territory stands out.

Will McKinstry be a better fit? Maybe, maybe not. It’s worth finding out. Adebo was given a big opportunity to help himself in a contract year, coming off his best season as a pro, but he blew it and the Saints’ season is going down with him. They can’t keep doing what they’re doing after giving up 594 yards from scrimmage and allowing 51 points to be scored on their heads, extending a losing streak to four miserable weeks. The Saints drafted McKinstry for a reason. See if he can hold his own and let Adebo earn back his spot in the lineup after being at fault on so many negative plays.

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Dennis Allen’s Saints rank last in total defense through 6 weeks

The New Orleans Saints currently rank last in yards allowed. They’ve given up 1,000 yards in the last two games, but their issues go further back:

The New Orleans Saints have given up over 1,000 yards over the course of the past two games, and now there’s no team in the NFL who gives up more yards per game. The Kansas City Chiefs game was bad, but the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dismantled Dennis Allen’s unit was a special type of beating.

Yardage has been an issue for the Saints’ defense. It was masked by the fact New Orleans played “bend but don’t break” defense. The lack of points scored against the team has held off some criticism. That can no longer be done after seeing 50 points on the scoreboard.

The Philadelphia Eagles game is a perfect example of this. The Eagles regularly drove down the field against the Saints. Nick Sirianni went for it on multiple fourth downs and failed.

New Orleans forced two turnovers, and both were in Saints territory. When you end the game only giving up 15 points and forcing two turnovers, it’s easy to not pay attention to the 460 yards.

The defense hasn’t been stonewalling teams, and now they’re allowing points on top of that. Turnovers couldn’t save them this week. They forced multiple interceptions, but still gave up over 500 yards and 50 points.

Defense used to be the backbone of this team. Now, it’s a hindrance.

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Trevor Penning is developing into the player the Saints knew he could be

Trevor Penning is developing into the player the Saints knew he could be. The young left tackle is getting better each week:

There weren’t many positives to write about in the wake of the New Orleans Saints’ big loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, but left tackle Trevor Penning deserves some praise. The second-year pro was a rare bright spot on offense, allowing just two pressures on 47 snaps in pass protection and dominating as a run blocker — the Saints averaged 5.3 yards per carry running behind the left side of their line but just 3.1 yards per attempt when running to the right.

Sure, Derek Carr didn’t get great use out of the time Penning bought for him. At the end of the day the offense only put 9 points on the board. But we’ll take wins where we can get them, and Penning won most of his reps against a talented Buccaneers rotation at right end. Neither Shaquil Barrett nor Joe Tryon-Shoyinka made much headway against him. Most of their pressures came from the other end of the line.

Penning has gotten better each week. Here are the pressures he’s allowed in each of the Saints’ first four games, per Pro Football Focus charting:

  • Week 1 vs. Titans: 6 pressures (2 sacks)
  • Week 2 at Panthers: 4 pressures (1 sack)
  • Week 3 at Packers: 1 pressure (0 sacks)
  • Week 4 vs. Bucs: 2 pressures (0 sacks)

That’s progress. He’s had two solid games in back-to-back weeks, and that’s exactly what the Saints hoped to see from him. Penning needs to keep up the good work and hone his craft while stacking up wins in the trenches.

One more thing: Penning was forecast to be a penalty magnet in the NFL, owing to his violent style of play in college, and that seemed to be the case in the offseason when he was sidelined at a couple of practices for fighting with his teammates. But he’s kept himself clean in games while avoiding hurting the team with penalties. Penning has been fouled just twice on 268 snaps this season, and one of those (a holding penalty) was declined. The other was a false start. He isn’t racking up personal fouls and giving opponents chunks of yardage the way some analysts predicted.

But we’re only going into Week 5. This is encouraging progress, and we need to see more of it. Here’s hoping Penning keeps it up. We’ll take our wins where we can find them.

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