NEW ORLEANS — Call this one misery in Minnesota: way too much TJ Hockenson and way too little effective offense.
The bright spot is the Saints somehow remain first in the NFC South.
Here's my 4 takeaways::
#4 QB0
With QB zero, the Saints played two. Neither played well.
When the Saints paid Derek Carr $150 million over four years, the hope was they were getting one of the NFL's better quarterbacks.
Using quarterback ratings to rank them. We'll call the top five in the NFL "elite", six through ten "very good" 11 through 16.. "above average." There are 32 teams, so 17 through 20 Is "below average" and 21 down is "poor"
In nine previous seasons, Derek Carr has only been above average or better in three seasons.
He's been below average or worse in two-thirds of his previous seasons. This year he's 17th in the NFL.
The point is Carr isn't having a bad season by his standards. This is who he is. Sunday, he engineered five drives for a grand total of three points. I understand why some Saints fans might want a change at quarterback.
But Jameis Winston threw two bad interceptions. Winston has only thrown enough passes in five seasons to qualify. In one of those, he was above average. And in Drew Brees's 15 seasons as Saints quarterback, he was never below average.
Brees was elite Nine times.
Here's the point of all this. If you've followed the Saints over the last 20 years, you're used to great quarterback play.
Derek Carr has never delivered that and isn't delivering that now. But if you'd rather the team switch to jameis Winston the numbers don't back it up.
Here's the thing: even if they did Dennis Allen is not changing quarterbacks. You can argue it if you want, but it's a moot point.
If Derek Carr is healthy, he's the quarterback. The third quarterback Taysom Hill got one carry in this game and didn't throw a pass..
Why the Saints won't consistently commit to banging the one offensive drum that's worked for them all season I don't get it.
#3 Mobility challenged
The Saints continue to have problems with mobile quarterbacks. Josh Dobbs ate the Saints alive in the first half. He threw for a career-high in yards Sunday and his passer rating was way above his career average.
It's disturbing that in the last three weeks Trevor Lawrence, Tyson Bagent, and Josh Dobbs ran all over the Saints in the first half.
New Orleans did a much better job in the second half in all three games. But the inability to handle mobile quarterbacks is a perpetual problem with no real answer in sight.
#2 No quit
At number two one of the big reasons I still believe the Saints will make the playoffs.
Dennis Allen has not lost this team. There are no stats to illustrate this but even down 24 the Saints showed no sign of quitting. They played hard in the second half. They were emotionally invested and it didn't help 'em win Sunday but it will matter down the stretch.
#1 Average Joes
And number one we now know who the 2023 Saints are they're an average team.
So far this season they've played three teams that right now would make the playoffs the saints are 0-3 against those teams.
On the flipside, they've played three teams among the bottom five of the NFL and are 3 -0 against the league's worst.
They're not as good as the playoff teams, but they're better than scrubs, they're average.
But here's the thing: They'll play just one playoff team and six teams with losing records in the final seven games.
The Saints don't have to beat all the bad teams to make the playoffs. If they lose to the Lions and go 4-2 against this group they'd finish 9-8, which will likely be good enough to win the NFC South.
It's not Drew Brees era expectations but that era is clearly over. Get to the playoffs and see what happens. That's the goal now.
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