Tag: Record

Predicting the Saints’ 5 remaining games and final record

Where do we go after a three-game losing skid? Predicting the New Orleans Saints’ 5 remaining games and final record:

Where do you go after a three-game losing skid? That’s the question the New Orleans Saints are asking themselves, and head coach Dennis Allen’s answer is simple: just focus on going 1-0 this week. Win Sunday’s game over the Carolina Panthers, take stock of the division title race, and keep moving.

But it’s not that simple. The Saints are rapidly losing ground in the competition for the NFC South crown, and losses to division opponents like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons.

With that in mind, here are our updated score predictions for the Saints’ five remaining games in the 2023 regular season:

The Saints won’t start winning one-score games unless…

The Saints can’t keep doing the same thing and hope one game ways will swing their way. They have to fix the root of the problem.

Dennis Allen believes these one-score games eventually have to go the New Orleans Saints’ way. The key, he says, is to keep fighting.

It would be nice if that were true. The thing about manifestation is it requires action. Otherwise, it’s just a wish. The action needed here is having better first halves. Good teams win close games  great teams leave no doubt and avoid them in the first place with dominant wins.

The improvements must be seen on both sides of the ball. The defense tends to play so well in the second half that it’s confusing how they start the game so poorly. The offense has struggles throughout the game so it’s not hard to believe they struggle to start games. New Orleans has found themselves trying to climb out of holes in multiple games that ended in one-score defeats.

Losses to the Jaguars, Lions, and Vikings are all perfect examples of this exact issue. The Saints were able to make the games close, but the hole dug in the first half were too deep to climb out of. The Saints must stop forcing themselves to need mistake free football in the second half. This has been the score at halftime of the Saints one score losses:

  • Packers: 17-0 (Saints led at halftime prior to Carr’s injury)
  • Texans: 17-10
  • Jaguars: 17-6
  • Vikings 24-3
  • Lions: 24-7

Start faster on defense and get more stops. Put more points on the board sooner and avoid early deficits. The Saints are a great second-half team, but they must stop taking so long to get up to speed. If that doesn’t change, they’ll just keep getting into close one-score games and coming up short.
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Once famous, the Saints’ ‘Domefield advantage’ is a thing of the past

Once famous, the Saints’ ‘Domefield advantage’ is a thing of the past. New Orleans doesn’t have a team worth showing up for:

There was a lot of Detroit Lions blue in the stands for Sunday’s game at the Caesars Superdome, which saw cheers for the New Orleans Saints drowned out by visiting fans.

It’s a real shame. The Saints cultivated a strong “Domefield advantage” for years when Sean Payton and Drew Brees were running the show, making the historic venue one of the NFL’s toughest environments to play in. Derek Carr and Dennis Allen don’t bring the same inspiring presences those two future Hall of Famers once did.

That strong and reliable home crowd is no longer here. And no one knows that better than veterans with local ties like Tyrann Mathieu, who noted the boos from Saints fans when Carr took the field after an early interception. That kind of negative feedback is unpleasant, but it’s what they’ve earned by playing poorly.

“Obviously it’s disappointing. I think we all need to play better. I think growing up in this city, it’s no secret that we’re all invested. Obviously they have a right to apply pressure, so to speak, but at the end of the day we’re one family. One community. It’s going to take all of us,” Mathieu said in his postgame press conference.

He later added, “Obviously we have to play better. We have to give them something to cheer for. We have to give them something to be proud of. And so I think that responsibility falls on us as players.”

Mathieu is right. The Saints haven’t defended their home turf well enough in recent years; they won nearly as many games in 2020 alone (6) as in the last three years combined (8). And that’s creating opportunities for visiting fans to take over games and make their presence felt. Check out the sights and sounds from the game for yourself:

Dennis Allen’s 5-7 record is the best he’s ever had after Week 13

Dennis Allen’s 5-7 record is the best he’s ever had after Week 13. The Saints must acknowledge that this is his ceiling and take meaningful action, but will they?

The latest New Orleans Saints losing streak extended to three games after the black and gold fell short to the Detroit Lions. It’s disappointing, but not surprising: this is what a Dennis Allen-led team looks like. The Saints’ 5-7 record is the best Allen has ever had after Week 13 in his five years as an NFL head coach.

Look at his resume. The Saints were 4-9 at this point last season. Allen went 3-9 and 4-8 in his first two years with the Raiders, who dismissed him before he could reach this point in his third season. Five wins in a dozen games is the ceiling for what Allen is capable of.

So much of that is due to an underperforming offense, but Allen has to take the blame for that. He made the decision to go get Derek Carr as his quarterback. He wasn’t able to recruit an upgrade at play caller and believed Pete Carmichael could get the job done. That hasn’t been the case. This year’s offense is not appreciably better than the product the Saints rolled out last year.

And Allen’s defense, the reason he was promoted to this job, has fallen off. They can’t stop the run or pressure the quarterback. It’s a unit relying on too many aging veterans without enough up-and-coming young players ready to sustain success. They’ve lost defenders who were drafted and developed year after year, replacing them with subpar free agent pickups. Allen hasn’t accomplished what he was trusted to do.

So where does that leave the Saints? It’s never easy to fire a coach midseason, and it’s not something they’ve done in decades, not since the Tom Benson bought the team. Odds are Allen will remain in position for these last five games. If the Saints keep fighting (and they will), there’s a good chance general manager Mickey Loomis and team president Dennis Lauscha will make excuses for him and bring Allen back for 2024 to ride out the second year of Carr’s contract, which was already guaranteed against the salary cap when he signed it.

That isn’t what they should do, though. If the Saints were committed to long-term success they’d pull the plug on this experiment now. It’s beyond clear that Allen won’t take them where they want to go. What they should do is thank him for what he’s done in the past, show him the door so he can get a jump on job hunting in the next hiring cycle, and focus on what’s next: locking in a top-10 draft pick (if not top-5) to spend on a real quarterback to lure a new coach who can run an offense in the spring.

But don’t count on it. The efforts of proud veterans and the still-weak schedule left this season mean the Saints aren’t about to go in a new direction. They would rather project patience and stability than take action to give fans something to cheer about. It’s going to take more than a close loss to a better team (coached by a popular former Saints assistant they let get away…) to spur Loomis, Lauscha, and team owner Gayle Benson into changing course now.

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Alvin Kamara claims the Saints franchise rushing touchdowns record

With two scores in the second half against the Detroit Lions, Alvin Kamara broke the Saints franchise record for most career rushing touchdowns:

Alvin Kamara now holds the record for most rushing touchdowns in New Orleans Saints history. This season has been full of record breaking moments for Alvin Kamara. He has broken the team record for most total touchdowns, 2 point conversions and now rushing touchdowns. He took the title from his old running mate, Mark Ingram, for those last two records. He also tied the lead for the most 2-point conversions in league history this year.

Kamara scored two touchdowns in the second half against the Detroit Lions, both of which were scores at the goal line. These scores helped New Orleans be more efficient in the red zone. Despite Kamara playing well, these were his first touchdowns since Oct. 29 versus the Indianapolis Colts.

It didn’t take long for Kamara to establish himself as one of the best running backs in the league. Through his career, his versatility and dynamic skill set has set him apart from his peers. He’s used that to establish himself as a Saints legend.

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Saints’ second-half heroics can’t make up for mistakes in loss to Lions

Saints’ second-half heroics can’t make up for too many early mistakes in a devastating loss to the Lions

You can’t say the New Orleans Saints don’t have any fight in them. They rallied from a 21-0 deficit to keep it close with the Detroit Lions in the second half, but it wasn’t enough: that late-game effort couldn’t make up for their mistakes early on. The Lions left as victors with a 33-28 final score.

What went wrong? Derek Carr missed an open receiver to force the ball to his tight end on the first play from scrimmage, which was dropped and intercepted by the Detroit defense, setting up a short field on their next touchdown-scoring drive. Things got worse before they got better.

The Lions ran for 142 yards as a team and Jared Goff didn’t turn the ball over after giving it away six times in his last two games. Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta was unstoppable, finishing with 9 receptions (on 9 targets) and 140 receiving yards plus a touchdown catch.

It wasn’t all bad. Carr was surprisingly efficient after the end of the first quarter, though he threw too many off-target passes that asked a lot of his receivers. Fortunately Chris Olave (5 catches for 119 yards) was up to the task. Alvin Kamara ended the afternoon with 58 receiving yards and 51 rushing yards with two scoring runs. Taysom Hill impacted both phases, leading the team with 59 rushing yards and catching two passes for 15 receiving yards. Pete Carmichael made some clever play calls, picking up chunks of yardage on play action passes to Olave and Foster Moreau. They went 4-for-4 in the red zone.

But, again, it wasn’t enough. The offense showed too little too late to make a difference. Dennis Allen’s handmade defense was shredded. A 5-7 record is the best showing Allen has ever had after Week 13. This is his ceiling, and the Saints shouldn’t mistake it for anything else.

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Alvin Kamara ties Mark Ingram II’s Saints rushing touchdowns record

Alvin Kamara tied the Saints rushing touchdowns record set by his old friend Mark Ingram II on Sunday against the Lions:

Another week, another record for Alvin Kamara. The star running back tied the New Orleans Saints rushing touchdowns record set by his old friend Mark Ingram II on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

Kamara rumbled into the end zone for his 52nd career touchdown run in a Saints uniform from just 2 yards out, following a great play by Chris Olave. The second-year wide receiver gained 33 yards to get Kamara in scoring position by working back to adjust for an off-target throw from Derek Carr. Call it a team effort.

And Kamara nearly broke the record later on. He initially seemed to fall into the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown run, but booth review found that his knee hit the turf short of the goal line. Taysom Hill got the next carry and pushed through the pile to cut into the Lions’ lead. Kamara has to wait a little longer to take the record from his former teammate.

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Saints announce uniform combo for Week 13 game vs. Lions

Saints announce uniform combo for Week 13 game vs. Lions

The  New Orleans Saints announced they will be wearing their black home jerseys and matching black pants for Week 13’s game with the Detroit Lions. It’s been their most-popular uniform combinations over the years, being worn in 89 games dating back to 2006. The Saints have a 52-37 record in this kit during that span. They’ll be hoping to add another win on Sunday in front of a home crowd that might need some convincing these Saints are worth rooting for.

Here’s how the Saints’ winning percentage in this combination stacks up to the other uniforms in their wardrobe, if you’re curious (not including the controversial gold jerseys used in a loss back in 2003):

Saints vs. Lions: Who has the edge in all-time series history?

The Saints have a slight edge over the Lions in their all-time series, and they’re riding a two-game win streak over Detroit. Can they extend it to three in a row?

Can the New Orleans Saints extend their win streak over the Detroit Lions to three games in a row? The Saints have a 14-12-1 lead in the all-time series history between these two teams, but that’s helped by back-to-back wins in 2017 (52-38 in New Orleans) and 2020 (35-29 in Detroit).

And those games were won by Sean Payton and Drew Brees. Dennis Allen and Derek Carr haven’t done enough to give fans confidence they can beat anyone this year, much less the 8-3 Lions led by Dan Campbell and Jared Goff, with a future head coach calling plays on offense in Ben Johnson. This is the toughest game on the Saints’ schedule to this point and, by all expectations, of the matchups to follow.

So a win would mean a lot. It wouldn’t just extend New Orleans’ grip on the all-time series with Detroit, it would prove that these Saints do have some fight in them and that they can punch above their weight class. The 2023 season to this point has been a disappointment. Maybe they can pull off a win and prove their doubters (including those on staff here at Saints Wire) wrong in the process. Kickoff is scheduled for Noon CT/1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 3 from the Caesars Superdome.

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Third time’s the charm? Derek Carr seeking first career win vs. Falcons

Third time’s the charm? Derek Carr is seeking his first career win against the Falcons after two previous defeats:

Derek Carr accomplished a lot in his nine years with the Raiders, but the quarterback has yet to beat every team in the NFL. Now with the New Orleans Saints, he’ll have an opportunity to notch his first win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday after twice coming up short.

Carr’s first loss to Atlanta came back in 2016, when he threw for 299 yards with 3 touchdown passes without a turnover, but it wasn’t enough (the Falcons triumphed 35-28, pulling away with a big fourth-quarter scoring output). It was an admirable performance in a losing effort.

Things weren’t as impressive in his second outing. The Falcons bulldozed Carr’s Raiders 43-6 in 2020, nearly three years ago to the day of their last meeting (Nov. 29). Carr was sacked three times and threw an interception to Falcons linebacker Deion Jones which was returned 67 yards for a touchdown, also losing three fumbles. It wasn’t much to write home about.

So hopefully Carr can bounce back and take care of the Falcons on Sunday for the Saints. He’s had two opportunities to get his first-ever wins over other teams earlier this season, but he exited both games with injuries. He left the Green Bay Packers game after taking the lead but was pulled from the Minnesota Vikings matchup while facing a steep deficit. Let’s hope for smoother sailing on Sunday in Atlanta.

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