NEW ORLEANS — It turns out NFL teams need full coaching staffs and relatively healthy rosters to function. The New Orleans Saints learned this lesson in the most brutal way possible during a 26-7 defeat to the Carolina Panthers.
The Saints were missing 9 starters because of injuries or suspensions and 8 assistant coaches, how else was Sunday going to go other than badly? The NFL isn't filled with a bunch of Miltons from the movie Office Space, where no one knows exactly why they are there and might not even miss them if they disappeared. Turns out all those assistant coaches can be quite essential.
Sunday was like a horrible B-side to the #1 hit record from last Sunday. We are only 2 weeks into the 2021 Saints season and our emotions have swung from Super Bowl dreams to despair. The Saints looked exactly like you'd expect a comically short-handed team playing its first game in front of opposing fans since 2019 would look. Sean Payton refused to use all the Saints current adversity as an excuse. "All of those would be excuses. They played better than us today and deserved to win the football game."
Payton is never going to make excuses because he knows at the end of the day no one cares and the Saints either fix the issues or they'll have more Sundays like yesterday. The 2021 Saints strength is their offensive line, and when they get completely incinerated from start to finish like Carolina did to them, they aren't winning. Jameis Winston got sacked 4 times and even on the rare occasions the Saints offensive line protected him he was inaccurate. The Saints had their worst ever total yardage output ever under Sean Payton. Carolina decided they were going to dial up blitzes until the Saints made them pay for it. Carolina never paid a dime.
Did you notice at the end of the first half Carolina blitzing the Saints 3 straight times? The final one ended with a Jameis Winston interception but the sequence revealed a complete lack of respect for the Saints in a way we've rarely seen under Sean Payton. The Saints had an inexperienced center in Cesar Ruiz making the protection calls and it showed.
Drew Brees handled all the offensive line protections and I guarantee you no team would have dared blitzing him 3 straight times. Even 2020 dead arm Drew would have made a team pay for such disrespect. Replacing Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks is hard. Who knew?
I'm confident the Saints will get the offensive line issues from Sunday corrected. Having a full offensive staff to help players make in-game adjustments will help.
My biggest concern on offense is the Saints receivers don't look to be up to NFL quality. Marquez Callaway has yet to turn his fantastic preseason into anything real, Deonte Harris is a specialty gadget player, and the rest of the receivers were invisible except for 1 Lil' Jordan Humphrey 27-yard grab.
Until Saints receivers can get open consistently or even occasionally, the avalanche of blitzes the Panthers smashed the Saints with will be standard operating procedure. With Bill Belichick, the Godfather of exotic defenses waiting for Sean Payton, I'm going to calculate the Patriots blitzing 110% of the time next Sunday.
As bleak as Sunday was for the Saints offense, the defense actually played pretty darn well considering they were missing 5 starters. The Saints run defense was as fierce as ever in limiting Carolina to 89 yards on 33 carries. The Saints couldn't get to Sam Darnold early but defensive coordinator Dennis Allen began dialing up pressure and the Saints created a turnover and limited the Panthers to 9 second half points. 1st round draft pick Payton Turner even had 5 tackles and a sack filling in for an injured Marcus Davenport. The Saints defense if it can get some health will be very good.
In the July when we learned the Saints would be without Michael Thomas, David Onyemata and Wil Lutz until October, my question was could they remain in contention until those players returned? Add getting relocated because of hurricane Ida and a laundry list of injuries and suddenly the New Orleans Saints are being swallowed in chaos. Can they keep their heads above water until they get healthy?
Alvin Kamara knows what they face.
“You've got some adversity and you've gotta find a way to react and respond. It's on us. It's our responsibility to do better."
The NFL doesn't give wounded animals a break, it eats them for lunch. The Saints are wounded and the NFL's appetite never subsides.
Ralph Malbrough is a contributing writer and Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at @SaintsForecast or download the Saints Happy Hour Podcast.
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