Tag: Eagles

Saints have lost 5 of their last 6 games without Taysom Hill

Don’t let anyone tell you Taysom Hill isn’t an important part of the Saints’ success. They have lost 5 of their last 6 games without him:

Don’t let anyone tell you Taysom Hill isn’t an important part of the New Orleans Saints’ success. After Sunday’s defeat at the hands of the  Philadelphia Eagles, they have lost 5 of their last 6 games without him, putting up just 15.3 points per game. Hill has missed just 8 regular season matchups since he became a regular piece of the offense back in 2018, and the Saints are 3-5 in those matchups.

The numbers don’t lie, but they can be manipulated. And we should consider all angles here. After all, we’re comparing the 94 regular season games the Saints have played with Hill in the lineup to 8 games he’s had to watch from the sideline. And a couple of those happened during the team’s disastrous 2021 COVID outbreak that put dozens of players out of commission. That context matters.

Still, here’s what we found. With Hill active and taking snaps on offense (he only played special teams as a rookie in 2017), the Saints averaged 26.6 points per game across 94 matchups. That number falls to 17.6 points  per game in the eight kickoffs he’s had to miss, including Sunday’s loss to the Eagles. That’s a major swing. You can take away outliers like their 2021 losses to the Miami Dolphins (20-3) and Buffalo Bills (31-6), and they’re still averaging 4 fewer points per game without Hill.

And it matches what we’ve seen in these games. The offense lacks an element of physicality when Hill isn’t out there. They don’t have many players who are willing to bowl over a defender in the open field and set the tone. Hill’s versatility is missed, too; Alvin Kamara’s doomed wildcat rushing attempt against Philly was a textbook short-yardage play for Hill that he typically converts.

Just having Hill out there as a chess piece who can help keep the defense honest and dictate coverage matchups is valuable. Dennis Allen isn’t  alone in hoping Hill can play next week. The Saints need him. We didn’t count playoff games for this exercise, but the Saints lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 without Hill on the field, too (30-20). He led the team in rushing yards a year  earlier in their playoff exit against the Minnesota Vikings. They missed him then too.

But they have to learn to win without him someday. They’ve been lucky to get as much mileage out of Hill as they have. He just turned 34. He suffered season-ending injuries three times in four years at BYU, including a knee injury, a broken leg, and a fracture in his foot. His last game of college football ended with an elbow injury before he turned pro. He’d probably be the first to tell you he’s grateful for dressing out in 99 games with the Saints (and counting). Other players need to step up and fill his niche on offense as tone-setters who can fight for tough yardage. Until that happens, every absence is going to continue to make an outsized impact on the scoreboard.

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James Hurst on why Erik McCoy is almost impossible to replace mid-game

Losing Erik McCoy early against the Eagles was almost a worst-case scenario. Former Saints offensive lineman James Hurst explains why:

The New Orleans Saints lost Erik McCoy shortly into their game with the Philadelphia Eagles, and the impact of his absence was felt early and often. His injury forced Lucas Patrick to move from left guard to center, with Olisaemeka Udoh stepping in. The entirety of the interior offensive line struggled, including right guard Cesar Ruiz. Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter proved too much for them to handle.

But the ramifications of McCoy’s absence went beyond those battles at the point of attack. Former Saints offensive lineman and current WDSU analyst James Hurst explained why this was the case. Hurst was a member of the team just last year, so he saw McCoy’s abilities first hand. And he says the Saints’ struggles go deeper than McCoy’s skills.

McCoy’s position is as important as his talent. Hurst relayed the importance of a quality center: “It’s really tough to lose a center in the middle of the game. He does so much with identifying the defense, communicating with the quarterback, setting the blocking schemes for the offensive line and tight ends.”

Losing McCoy in the midst of a game amplifies the impact because the player who fills in hasn’t gone through any of the week’s preparation. He’ll naturally be behind on much that contributes to the success of the offensive line. Patrick being a guard means he didn’t even get many second-team reps doing this.

So many other players are dependent on the center (both guards next to him, the quarterback receiving the snap, and everyone else he’s protecting in the backfield), which is why the position impacts the entire offensive line. This gives hope that some of the issues can be smoothed over with practice reps.

It’s like Hurst said at the end of his explanation, though. He added, “(McCoy is) a very, very good football player on top of that.” Those talents are just hard to replace. Hopefully McCoy can get back in the lineup sooner rather than later.

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After 3 games, it’s clear Saints are reducing Cameron Jordan’s role

After three games, it’s clear the New Orleans Saints coaching staff are reducing Cameron Jordan’s role. It just comes down to who can make the most plays:

Did you know Cameron Jordan played the second-fewest snaps in a game of his career on Sunday? The New Orleans Saints defensive end was on the field for just 20 snaps while taking a backseat to younger teammates Carl Granderson (55) and Chase Young (53) against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jordan managed just 17 snaps in last year’s game with the Detroit Lions — his first since suffering a serious ankle injury, and that remains his career-low. He played 27 snaps in Week 1 (46% of the total) and 34 reps in Week 2 (49%), but that count dropped to 20 (28%) in Week 3.

Jordan was the best player on his side of the ball in New Orleans for more than a decade. But those days are behind us, and the Saints are making adjustments to cope with their new reality. Just ask head coach Dennis Allen.

“I think you’re gonna see more of Chase and Carl,” Allen said Monday, pointing out that those two have been too effective to keep off the field. The other side of that coin is that Jordan hasn’t been effective enough to take snaps from them.

Father Time is undefeated. He’s beaten Drew Brees and Jordan’s own father Steve Jordan, who found great success in 13 years with the Minnesota Vikings. Anyone who has watched Jordan play in recent years has known this day was coming. He only had two sacks last season. Jordan had 8.5 sacks the year before but five of them came in two games.

The signs of his decline have been there for those willing to acknowledge them. It’s why the Saints have poured so many resources into defensive end searching for his successor — signing Young in free agency, developing and extending Granderson, and spending high draft picks on guys like Marcus Davenport, Payton Turner, and Isaiah Foskey. It’s just a shame so few of those players have stepped up into the vacuum created by Jordan’s decline.

Between rotating in other players more heavily and moving him inside to defensive tackle occasionally, the Saints are trying to find ways for Jordan to continue helping the team. He’s under contract through 2025 but we’re clearly approaching the end of the line. And whenever Jordan hangs up his cleats to pick up a microphone for a job in the media, we’ll be ready to support his Hall of Fame candidacy.

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C.J. Gardner Johnson calls out Saints for taking a ‘cheap shot’ on DeVonta Smith

C.J. Gardner Johnson called the play that injured DeVonta Smith the “dirtiest (expletive) I ever saw in football,” but his teammates took a more measured stance:

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith left Sunday’s game early with a concussion after a hit from New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd. Former Saints standout C.J. Gardner-Johnson, since traded to Philly, didn’t hold back after the game.

Gardner-Johnson called that play the “the dirtiest (expletive) I ever saw in football, bro. Y’all obviously saw forward progression was stopped. For them to take a cheap shot on one of our key players, it goes to show what type of team that is.”

Gardner-Johnson has his own history with the New Orleans Saints that likely plays a part into at least his assessment of the team as a whole.

Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata was more measured in his response, though like his teammate he called it a dirty play. Mailata was admittedly conflicted on whether Boyd was setting out to deliver a cheap shot: “Did I think it was dirty? Yeah. Did I think it was intentional? No — ah, I don’t (expletive) know. I’ve got to watch it.” Boyd, of course, maintained he was just playing football and not looking to injure Smith. Mailata acknowledged that the defensive tackle was trying to make a play.

The truth of it all is the play could have been avoided, but it was a bang-bang play. Boyd shouldn’t be considered dirty for this play. It looked like he was genuinely trying to deliver a big hit to close out the play. It wasn’t necessary, but it didn’t appear to be malicious either. You obviously wish Boyd would have pulled up, because it would have kept Smith from suffering this injury.

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Falcons may be without starting OL Kaleb McGary, Drew Dalman vs. Saints

The Falcons could be without starting right tackle Kaleb McGary and center Drew Dalman for their Week 4 matchup with the Saints:

A couple of key Atlanta Falcons offensive linemen could miss Week 4’s game with the New Orleans Saints. Right tackle Kaleb McGary went down in Week 3’s matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs with what is believed to  be  a sprained MCL, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The severity of that knee injury is to be determined, but McGary’s status for next week’s game against the Saints is very much in doubt.

That’s also true of Falcons center Drew Dalman, who Rapoport reports is going to miss some time with a high-ankle sprain. So that’s two starters down from an offensive line tasked with protecting Kirk Cousins, one of the least-mobile quarterbacks in the NFL this year. Who could replace them?

Backup tackle Elijah Wilkinson filled in for McGary on the right side in Sunday night’s loss, however McGary is a premier player and will most definitely be missed if he ends up sitting out on a few games. So far this season he only allowed one sack and five pressures with no penalties against him, which is pretty impressive given he played against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles.

As for the center? It was Ryan Neuzil stepping in for Dalman. The fourth-year pro has only started four games at the NFL level, so that could be a matchup Bryan Bresee and the Saints’ interior rotation can take advantage of. The Falcons will be hoping to lean on Bijan Robinson just like the Eagles relied on Saquon Barkley against thee Saints, so it’s vital that Dennis Allen’s defensive line win their battles up front, no matter who is in front of them.

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Dennis Allen still hasn’t won three games in a row

New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen still hasn’t won three games in a row. And after an ugly showing in Week 3, it’s time to reset the counter:

It’s time to reset the counter. New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen still hasn’t won three games in a row after an ugly showing in Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles. There was a lot of optimism going into this game that Allen’s team had turned the corner — blowout wins over the division-rival Carolina Panthers and much-hyped Dallas Cowboys in the first two weeks teed up what should’ve been a narrative-busting win with Philly.

But it wasn’t to be. Allen’s defense bent until it broke and couldn’t keep up with Saquon Barkley and Dallas Goedert late in regulation. The offense had no answers for the aggressive Eagles defense, and now the Saints have fallen back to 2-1.

Still, that’s tied for the best record Allen has ever had after Week 3. The Saints went 2-1 last year, too, but before that Allen’s teams were either 1-2 or 0-3 in his first four years as a head coach. The challenge now becomes staying over .500. Last season they fell back to Earth at 2-2. Now they have an opportunity to improve to 3-1 with a win on the road against the Atlanta Falcons. A 3-1 record would be Allen’s highest win total after Week 4.

Last week we praised Allen for getting back to .500 as the Saints’ head coach, but now he’s fallen back under that threshold with an 18-19 record. Just breaking even can’t be enough for this team if they want to get back to the playoffs. Win three in a row, and then four. Keep it going until you’re in a playoff game. If Allen is going to lead the Saints back to national relevance he’ll have to sustain success week in and week out. But that’s easier said than done. The last three or four years of Saints football are proof of it.

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Alvin Kamara moved up to second among Saints’ all-time rushing yards leaders

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara surpassed Deuce McAllister in Week 3 to rank second among the Saints’ all-time rushing yards leaders:

The New Orleans Saints’ 15-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3 somewhat overshadowed some of the positive things that had happened, including Tyrann Mathieu tying for second place with his 35th interception among active players. It’s tough to say much was positive for the offense when they only scored a dozen points, but some individuals did pass important milestones.

One of them was Alvin Kamara surpassing Deuce McAllister in career rushing yards with the Saints, moving him up to second behind his old teammate Mark Ingram II. Kamara entered the game trailing McAllister  by 69 rushing yards, and with 87 yards on the ground, he ended the day 18 yards ahead.

Even more impressively, Kamara did this on 53 fewer rushing attempts than McAllister. He has a decent margin remaining to get up to first place, however, with Ingram sitting at exactly 6,500 rushing yards for New Orleans, while Kamara checks in at 6,114. For Kamara to reach Ingram on the same amount of rushing attempts, he would need to average around 5.1 yards per carry on his next 75 attempts, which is pretty unreasonable given his hot start to the season. With only 386 more yards to go, he could feasibly find his way to the top of the list this season however, which is a fun stat to keep an eye on throughout the year.

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Drew Brees fires back at heckling Eagles fans after Week 3 Saints game

Drew Brees fired back at heckling Eagles fans after Week 3 Saints game, pointing out that he eliminated them in three different playoff games:

Don’t spit into the wind. Don’t tug on Superman’s cape. And don’t heckle Drew Brees after a New Orleans Saints game. That’s what one Philadelphia Eagles fan learned the hard way after Sunday’s matchup at the Caesars Superdome.

“Drew Brees, Go Birds,” the Eagles fan called out, having spotted Brees in a  crowd leaving the stadium.

To which Brees turned back and responded: “I’ve got a pretty good record against you guys.”

Brees went 4-3 against the Eagles in regular season games, but he was 4-2 against them as quarterback of the Saints (one of those losses came when he was still with the Chargers), by a combined margin of 191-143. On top of that, Brees and the Saints ended three different Eagles Super Bowl bids in 2006 (winning 27-24 in the wild-card round), 2013 (26-24, the first Saints road playoff win in franchise history), and 2018 (20-14). So if you combine  regular season starts with postgame matchups when Brees was quarterbacking the Saints, he’s 7-2 against the Eagles.

And that caused this Eagles fan to falter. “Oh really?” they managed, surprised by Brees’ rebuttal, but that’s where the video ends. We’re guessing they didn’t have much more to say after that.

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Dennis Allen gives update on Taysom Hill’s status heading into Week 4

Dennis Allen said he’s ‘hopeful’ Taysom Hill can return from a bruised lung as the Saints prepare to face the Falcons in Week 4:

Dennis Allen and the New Orleans Saints were without one of their biggest weapons during Sunday’s 15-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, and it showed. They badly missed Swiss army knife Taysom Hill after setting such a high scoring output the first two weeks.

The Saints knew they were facing a tough task in filling the void. Hill has a unique and versatile skillset that can’t exactly be replicated by any single player… or even group of players for that matter.

And not having him in the fold for next week’s road matchup against the Atlanta Falcons could make a world of difference. Fortunately for the Saints’ case moving forward, Allen offered an optimistic update on Hill in his postgame press conference Sunday.

“We ended up deciding to rule him out. I’m hopeful that he’ll be ready to go next week,” Allen said.

Hill was ruled out on the Week 3 injury report with a chest injury, which was reported by Jay Glazer of FOX Sports to be a bruised lung. Whether or not Hill takes the field when the Saints face the Falcons at Noon CT/1 p.m. ET in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday will be something to keep an eye on.

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Same old Saints: Banged-up offense blows opportunities in loss to Eagles

The banged-up Saints offense blew their opportunities in Week 3’s loss to the Eagles. Klint Kubiak can’t hide Derek Carr forever:

The honeymoon phase is over. The New Orleans Saints didn’t look anything like the team that became the talk of the NFL through the first two weeks in Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Klint Kubiak can’t hide Derek Carr forever, and even if they had some key injuries, the offense just looked completely out of sorts. No wonder they lost 15-12.

Already without their best chess piece in Taysom Hill, the Saints had to play without Erik McCoy after just a couple of snaps, which disrupted communication on offense throughout the afternoon. But much of the blame falls on Carr. He threw too many bad balls in this game. Two touchdown passes to Rashid Shaheed were dropped because his placement was off. He foolishly turned the ball over on a game-losing interception in the final minute by biting off more than he could chew attacking the deep middle of the field.

Kubiak did a great job limiting Carr’s responsibilities through the first two weeks by leaning on play action and sliding his release point around in the pocket. But the Eagles defensive line played with a lot of discipline and didn’t give Carr any time to move and read the field. Not every defense can do that. Those that can have proven Carr can’t carry this team to a win.

And ultimately this all falls on the head coach. Dennis Allen’s defense created a lot of opportunities for the offense, including a couple of turnovers and a first-half shutout, but they folded late. Tight end Dallas Goedert had a  career day against them (10 catches for 170 yards), including a pivotal field-flipping reception when three Saints defenders collided with each other on third-and-long. Allen has preached that bigger defensive linemen are better too stop the run but his defense gave up 6.9 yards per carry on Sunday. Saquon Barkley had his best game in years.

This was a humbling loss for the Saints. It brought many of their flaws back into the light, and we’ve gotten back to asking uncomfortable questions about them. Can Allen win three games in a row? He hasn’t yet. Can his team compete with good teams? Results are mixed. Can Carr guide them to the playoffs? Not if he plays like this, going 14-of-25 for just 142 yards.

It doesn’t get easier from here. The Saints need to regroup and prepare for a divisional matchup with the Atlanta Falcons next week. If they had won they could’ve seized the top spot in the NFC South after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got spanked by the Denver Broncos. Instead they’re praying on the Falcons’ downfall, but they were doing that anyway.

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