What did we learn about the New Orleans Saints on Sunday? Their defeat at the hands of their oldest rivals was insightful — but that’s not much of a silver lining to take away from a 24-15 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Here are our notes and observations after Week 12’s loss:
1
Red zone offense still struggling
It’s been a recurring theme this season that the Saints are able to work their way down the field with relative ease, but fall apart once they get they get to the redzone. This was another case of that as they went without a touchdown in this one, despite making it to the redzone five times. From play calling to decision making, enough time has gone by to be able to say that this team is just not good enough in key situations. It’ll have to be addressed after the season, hard to imagine how a team still this poor this far into the season can flip a switch.
2
Blake Grupe has a nice day
Grupe entered the game on somewhat shaky ground after a rough patch in the past few weeks. He was 8-of-12 on his field goals since the game against the Houston Texans, with fans starting to feel uneasy with him. On a day that the offense failed to close, Grupe showed up. He was 5/6 on the day with his miss coming up short on a 54-yarder while the game felt out of reach already. It was a much needed performance from the rookie.
3
Run defense falls apart
The Falcons have a strong run game, but that is no excuse for the performance that the Saints run defense had today. Every Falcons runner had a nice day, as the team had 228 yards on the ground in this one. Bijan Robinson led the way with 91 yards and a score. All four rushers, Desmond Ridder included, had rushes of 12 yards or more. The middle of the Saints defense will need to go back to the drawing board after this one. Some speed across the line should be a priority in the offseason.
4
Derek Carr must be better
If you just look at box scores, Carr’s week-to-week performance might look better than it has been. He’s been able to cross 300 passing yards a few times this season, but has just 10 passing touchdowns to show for it. There are 20 players with more than that this season, including multiple quarterbacks with seasons that are over and/or missed significant time.
His accuracy was all over the place in this one, with both Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed getting injured having to contort their bodies to try and come down with catches.
5
Chris Olave still has star potential
Olave had a rough stretch this season, but it is still clear that he can be a team’s star receiver. With the pressure on in this one, he came down with 7 catches for 114 yards before he left early with a concussion. It was his first game with over 100 yards since Week 3 against Green Bay, but it was also the first time since then that he felt like a key piece of the gameplan and not just a safety valve. It’s clear that the talent is there, the Saints offense just needs to figure out what to do with him.
6
New Orleans no longer has the lead on the NFC South
The NFC South has been bad all year, and every win is important. The importance of a victory heightens when it’s a divisional game. New Orleans just lost a divisional game and the lead of the division. The Falcons have the head to head tie breaker until the two face off later in the season. With both teams sitting at 5-6, Atlanta is at the top of the NFC South.
7
The injury bug has finally hit
New Orleans was one of the healthiest teams in the NFL through 10 weeks. That is not the case any longer. Over the last two games, New Orleans has seen multiple players go down due to injury. Michael Thomas and Marshon Lattimore are currently on injury reserve.
In this game, Chris Olave left with a concussion that’ll likely keep him out of next week’s contest. Rashid Shaheed, Cameron Jordan and Jamaal Williams went down and didn’t return to the contest. Erik McCoy and Ryan Ramczyk also were injured but returned to the game.
8
The defense still knows how to force turnovers
The Saints had their first game of the season without forcing a turnover, a week ago, against the Minnesota Vikings. The Saints defense roared back by intercepting Desmond Ridder twice, both by Tyrann Mathieu. New Orleans has been great at forcing the opposing quarterback into turnovers all season. This game was no exception. The first interception kept points off the board before halftime. New Orleans wasn’t able to capitalize off the second interception, despite getting the ball near midfield.
