The New Orleans Saints defense has been extremely hit or miss this season, as early on they were getting gashed on many different types of plays and struggled to maintain any resemblance of protection against the run. However, in recent weeks they have stepped up in not allowing points, but still giving up an obscene amount of yards.
This has been one of the killing points of the Saints’ defense this season, as they allow significant time of possession defensively due to their struggles against the run game and against third down scenarios.
As of the end of Week 15, the Saints rank 30th in yards allowed this season, behind only the Jacksonville Jaguars (5,549) and Carolina Panthers (5,407), where the Saints have given up 5,272. However, the intriguing part of this comes when you look at the point differential of these teams, where the Jaguars have a -114 and the Panthers have a -171, while the Saints have only a -3, showing how effective they are in the red zone.
Unfortunately, yards do matter however, especially when it comes to time of possession which the Washington Commanders dominated in the most recent game, where they held the ball for a whopping 40 minutes and 50 seconds to the Saints’ 19 minutes and 10 seconds.
Who knows if this really has had a major impact overall, as the offense has been a key factor in why the Saints have been such a net negative team this season. But regardless, it is eye popping, considering the Saints have not ranked this low in the yards allowed category since 2015.
