Tag: Score

49ers ended the Saints’ streak of 332 games without a shutout

The 49ers ended the Saints’ streak of 332 games played without a shutout loss on Sunday. It had been the longest active streak in the NFL:

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It’s been a long, long time since the New Orleans Saints were last shut out. They put points on the board in 332 consecutive games — which had been the longest active streak in the NFL. But the San Francisco 49ers snapped that streak on Sunday, and now the Saints are left to pick up the pieces. Annoyingly, that isn’t even an NFL record. The 49ers themselves set it with 420 games played without a shutout.

So what happened in New Orleans’ last shutout? To give you some context, it happened on Jan. 6, 2002 at the end of the 2001 regular season. Jim Haslett coached the team, and Aaron Brooks was the Saints quarterback at the time, with Drew Brees closing out his rookie year with the Chargers (who played in San Diego at the time). At the time, this was a game between two rivals in the old NFC West; the NFC South would be founded a year later. Sean Payton was finishing out his second season as the New York Giants offensive coordinator and Dennis Allen was busy working the secondary at Tulsa, his first full-time coaching job. It capped a four-game losing streak that put the Saints at 7-9, eliminating them from the playoffs.

And of course it was the same 49ers team who beat them in a 38-nothing shutout at home. Terrell Owens started the game with two long touchdown catches from Jeff Garcia (of 56 and 60 yards, both in the first quarter) and things didn’t get much easier from there. The Niners racked up 407 yards of offense while limiting New Orleans to just 126 yards, intercepting Brooks four times and jarring loose four fumbles (three of them from Ricky Williams). San Francisco improved to 12-4 on the year but got knocked out of the playoffs a week later.

Things might be headed in a similar direction all these years later. The Saints are long shots of reaching the playoffs, while the 49ers look like a possible Super Bowl contender. There are still games left to play and decisions to make, but that’s where we are. History doesn’t always repeat itself  — but it often rhymes.

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National reactions: Saints’ shutout by 49ers draws plenty of criticism

National reactions: Saints’ shutout by 49ers draws plenty of criticism

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Here are the latest national media reactions to the New Orleans Saints’ 13-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12, ending the longest active streak of games played without being shut out:

Instant analysis from the Saints’ 27-20 win vs. Rams

Instant analysis from the Saints’ 27-20 win vs. Rams: What went right, what went wrong, and what’s the bottom line?

That was badly-needed. The New Orleans Saints knocked off the Los Angles Rams on Sunday to improve to 4-7 on the season, outlasting the Rams in a 27-20 win at home. There’s a lot to say about this game and what it means (and it doesn’t mean), so let’s get right to it. We’re looking to answer three major questions: What went right, what went wrong, and what’s the bottom line?

7 takeaways from the Saints’ tough loss vs. Steelers

Andy Dalton, Saints offense looked hapless on Sunday. 7 takeaways from the 20-10 loss vs. the Steelers, via @RossJacksonNOLA:

Yet another tough loss for the New Orleans Saints, this time on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Saints will drop to 3-7 and therefore their postseason outlook, even in a hapless NFC South division, appears all the more bleak. New Orleans was again out-possessed on offense by more than fifteen minutes for the second week in a row and the same old tune can be sung about their struggles. Penalties, inefficiency on offense, coaching and injuries all share their part of the blame in the team’s seventh loss, leaving them just one loss away from last year’s total.

This is a team that was supposed to be better than last season’s/ A revamped roster, a familiar face at head coach and a schedule packed with inexperienced quarterbacks with their opponent’s teams. Instead, the Saints and head coach Dennis Allen look to be on a crash course to finish well beneath their expectations. What can save their season? A unified approach is a good place to start, but it all starts and ends with coaching and quarterback play. Two areas where the Saints have struggled and that open up our seven takeaways from Sunday’s 20-10 loss to the Steelers.

A flock of stray pigeons stole the show in the Saints’ ugly start vs. Steelers

A flock of stray pigeons stole the show in the Saints’ ugly start against the Steelers. They had the best seat in the house in a game for the birds:

Talk about a game for the birds. The New Orleans Saints stumbled out into a penalty-ridden start against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium, clawing their way back from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game at halftime, but the main topic of conversation was the flock of pigeons picking their way across the field.

Neither team’s pass defense was on top of its game — the Steelers were missing star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick after a sudden case of appendicitis, while the Saints were down big free agent acquisition Marcus Maye with an injury — so the pigeons were able to make plenty of plays of their own through the air.

But, hey, we’ll take the entertainment and funny tweets over focusing on negatives like the Saints logging more penalty yards (40) than net yards gained on offense (32) in the first quarter. Here’s a quick look at some of the best reactions to the birds from fans and observers on Twitter:

Dennis Allen says blowout loss to Ravens won’t lead to another QB change

Dennis Allen says a blowout loss to the Ravens won’t lead to another QB change

Don’t look for the New Orleans Saints to make another change under center after losing to the Baltimore Ravens in front of a national audience. Minutes after a 27-13 blowout loss on Monday night, Saints head coach Dennis Allen spoke with local media at the Caesars Superdome to recap what he called a rough day in the office.

“I think our offense has been pretty good and moved the ball,” Allen said after a game in which his offense averaging 5.0 yards per play, down a full yard from their average on the season so far. He continued, “This was not a good day for us, but I’m looking at this as, this was a bad day at the office for us and we’ve got to improve.”

Neither Andy Dalton nor Jameis Winston are good options; they’re both prone to turning the ball over and, lately in Dalton’s case but consistently with Winston, taking sacks they shouldn’t have. And as Allen pointed out, the Saints were outmuscled by what he called the most-physical team they’ve faced this season. His offensive line was pushed around and the Ravens essentially ran at will on the defense Allen spent most of a decade building by hand.

The offense has been better with Dalton under center, even if they weren’t effective against Baltimore. They’re getting their best playmaker involved with frequent targets to Alvin Kamara (who was underused on Monday night with just 9 carries and 4 targets, but this is well beneath the established standards we’ve seen out of New Orleans after benching Winston). They’re converting third downs at a higher clip. Switching one bad quarterback for another won’t fix their problems. Winston is just as likely as Dalton to throw a backbreaking interception or take a sack on third and long, if not moreso. At this stage in their careers both guys are who their resumes say they are.

And that’s bad news for the Saints. A special quarterback could lift this team. So could a special coach. But they’re stuck with who they chose to put in these positions, and at 3-6, their only options are to stick it out and reevaluate things in the spring. Maybe they’ll get it right next time. But after such a dispiriting loss as this, it’s tough to find much faith.

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Georgia vs. Tennessee: Score predictions from the national media

Georgia vs. Tennessee score predictions from the national media

It’s finally here. The battle of the two remaining undefeateds in the Southeastern Conference. Georgia-Tennessee kicks off Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

With both teams 8-0, the winner punches its ticket to the SEC championship. Georgia is an 8-point favorite to beat the Vols, per BetMGM. The over/under is set at 66.5.

Below we gathered some picks and predictions for the game from the national media.

National media’s picks and predictions…

2022 NFL schedule: Game-by-game predictions for the Saints after bounce-back game against Raiders

2022 NFL schedule: Game-by-game predictions for the Saints after bounce-back game against Raiders, via @DillySanders:

It’s been a season of ups and downs in terms of expectations for Dennis Allen’s first year as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Right now though, after a much-needed win against the Las Vegas Raiders, people are back to being high on the potential of this team.

With a newfound confidence and the benefits of a terrible division, the Saints have the opportunity to come back from the rough start and make the playoffs. They need to do a lot, but the chance is there. Looking at the rest of the schedule, it definitely seems like a tall order.

Where things stand with these teams right now, here’s our week-by-week predictions for the rest of the Saints season:

NFC South collapses in Week 8, but the Saints are still in the basement

The whole NFC South collapsed in Week 8, and the Saints are still in the basement. But this widespread mediocrity gives them a way back to the top:

Let’s start with the good news. There’s absolutely a scenario where a seven-win New Orleans Saints team claims the NFC South title and goes into the postseason looking for an opportunistic win hosting an opponent with a better record — that is a distinctly real possibility. If the Saints can get some key players off of the injury report and onto the field, and if the coaches can do their jobs and cut down on all of the self-inflicted wounds, they’ll have a shot.

Now the bad news. Week 8 is nearly in the books and the Saints are ranked dead-last within the division. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s the reality they’re in.

So we’ll swing back to focus on more good news. The division-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers choked in a big spot against the Carolina Panthers to lose 21-3 and fall to a 3-4 record on the season. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Falcons got shellacked by the Cincinnati Bengals to the tune of 35-17. There’s just a game and a half separating the last-place Saints and first-place Bucs. The whole division is mediocre, which creates an opportunity for the Saints to rally back.

Bad has New Orleans has been, their division hasn’t been much better, and that’s keeping their competitive window open. Let’s take a deeper look at the state of the NFC South after Week 8’s games:

Why did the Saints make Dennis Allen their head coach again?

The Saints are too bad in too many different ways to harbor any more faith in Dennis Allen. Any continuity they hoped to maintain has been overwhelmed by hard-to-watch, mistake-prone football:

This is hard to watch, and it isn’t getting easier. It feels like the New Orleans Saints are discovering new and innovative ways to lose each week the Dennis Allen era stretches out further. They fell 42-34 to the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night, plummeting to a 2-5 start to the season. Allen hasn’t risen to the occasion. Why is he here again?

Any continuity Allen was hired to maintain from the Sean Payton era was eroded over the summer. And the warning signs were there. Team leaders like Terron Armstead and Malcolm Jenkins left the team and were not replaced. There isn’t any sense of accountability — Allen watched Andy Dalton throw three interceptions and then encouraged him to “Keep doing what you’re doing,” coming out of halftime.

The Saints are sloppy. They’re prone to mistakes and missed tackles and turnovers. They’ve got no viable quarterback, no first round pick to look forward to, and they’re over even the most optimistic 2023 salary cap estimates by more than $50 million. Allen took the wheel and immediately steered their ship into the rocks.

Pete Carmichael Jr. asked for a lesser role, but Allen talked him into hanging around as offensive coordinator and gave him play-calling responsibilities. Carmichael’s responded by broadcasting tendencies for all to see and taking his best players off the field. Alvin Kamara hasn’t scored a single touchdown this season after working as a prime red zone threat for years. Allen should be able to hang his hat on the defense he built, but instead he alienated fan-favorite defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson and jettisoned him at a loss of value. Allen’s defense has been a tremendous disappointment. It feels like we haven’t seen Tyrann Mathieu make a tackle in the open field all season.

So why is he here? If Allen is failing to make executive decisions and his specific unit (which he handcrafted over the years, having started out as the defensive backs coach before climbing the ladder) is letting the team down, why is he here? What does he do here?

It’s a question the Saints may struggle to answer. But there’s a resolution. They can look across the street and see what must be done. The New Orleans Pelicans hired the wrong coach, too, bringing in Stan Van Gundy — and when that partnership collapsed in on itself, they pulled the plug. That’s where things are headed for the Saints. They can delay the inevitable, but it’s clear and obvious to anyone watching that, unfortunately, Allen is the same coach now that he was a decade ago, overwhelmed and in charge of the Raiders.

Injuries have been a problem, sure, but so much of his defense is still intact. Cameron Jordan, David Onyemata, Marcus Davenport, Demario Davis, and Pete Werner are all playing the same roles that they filled a year ago (and in many cases for several years). And they’re falling to pieces against opponents they should be manhandling. Maybe Allen is stretched too thin as a head coach and can’t work as hands-on as he’d like with his unit. Maybe it was all a mirage. Either way, there’s no answers the way things stand now, and no sense in continuing them.

Firing Allen eight weeks into the season would be rash. It would be unprecedented. But look at what the expectations were going into the season. The Saints told anyone who would listen that they had Super Bowl aspirations this year. They sold out and made moves to pursue that goal. And they’ve fallen flat on their faces. And as head coach, Allen is chiefly responsible for it. That’s how it works in a leadership position.

They’ll probably wait it out. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis will want to let Allen have a full year, maybe two, so he can say Allen had a fair shake. So long as games are being sold out and the city is obsessively tuning in for games, he won’t feel any pressure from ownership to make major changes. Welcome to NFL Purgatory.

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