NEW ORLEANS — There are no hidden positives in this loss. No silver lining. The Ravens beat the Saints soundly on both sides of the ball.
What was amazing is that after three quarters, the score was 17-6 Ravens. To me, it felt like 35-3.
The first reason, at number four...
#4: Running on empty
The Saints could not run the ball against the Ravens, and what we've learned is when the Saints can't run the ball, Andy Dalton and the passing attack are not good enough to carry the team.
They only ran it 15 times for 48 yards and 3.2 yards per carry. They only picked up two first downs running the ball.
Those are all season-lows. Or...put another way, when they run for 120 yards in a game, they're 3-1. When they don't, they're 0-5.
If this Saints team can't run the ball...they lose. Period.
That 4th quarter touchdown drive after the game was decided skewed some of the stats, but in the first three quarters, the Saints were 1-8 on third down.
Flip that around, and you'll see that the Ravens were 7-10 on third down in the first three quarters.
Why? At number three...
#3: Action Jackson
Lamar Jackson made play after play to frustrate the Saints.
I mentioned how the fourth quarter skewed the stats. Lamar Jackson's quarterback rating for the game was only slightly better than Dalton's, but it felt like Dalton couldn't do anything right, and Jackson couldn't do anything wrong.
With Jackson keeping the Saints' defense off balance, the Ravens ran for 188 yards on 4.7 yards per carry.
Because the Ravens could run the ball and the Saints couldn't, they controlled the ball for 63% of the game, all of which is why the score felt way more lopsided.
This brings us to number two.
#2: Losing patience
The frustrated fan base is losing patience with first-year coach Dennis Allen because this loss didn't feel like the others.
Against the Buccaneers, Panthers, and Cardinals, the Saints felt like the better team but were -10 in turnovers in those three games. But they did a lot of good things in those losses.
Against the Bengals and Vikings, two playoff teams, the Saints were in it. And Joe Burrow and Kirk Cousins just made fourth-quarter plays to beat them. Two close games that could have gone either way.
This game was the first in which the Saints just got beaten badly in all phases.
And I know people don't want to hear this...
#1: The path exists
But at number one, the path still exists. Yes, I'm talking about playoffs. No, 2001 Jim Mora, I'm actually not kidding.
As long as the playoffs are a possibility, I'm going to keep talking about it.
The trainwreck known as the NFC South is winnable. I think 9-8 wins the division.
To get to nine wins, the Saints have to win six of their last eight games.
I think the season is absolutely on the line Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Lose and it's over.
Win, and there's still life, despite getting hammered Monday night against the Ravens.
And that's my 4 takeaways.