NEW ORLEANS — I’m not sure what was worse, the Saints falling to 2-4 in heartbreaking fashion or watching LSU fans and former Tigers Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase rub the Saints fans faces in it.
Winners get to talk the talk and the Saints 30-26 loss was as brutal as it gets. This one cuts especially deep because the Cincinnati Bengals laid all the Saints defensive flaws out for the world to see. Terrible tackling and a defensive line with a reputation for excellence but performances that after 6 weeks tell a tale of mediocrity are sinking the Saints.
For the first time since Dennis Allen took charge of the defense in 2015, we are seeing major regression.
The Saints have been in every game this year and in every game, in critical moments the defense is a child playing with matches -- something is going to catch fire – the only question is will the flames burn the entire house to the ground? 4 times in 2022 the defense has burned the chance at victory to the ground. Even in wins against Atlanta and Seattle the defense wasn't exactly covered in glory late in the game.
The tackling was comically bad against the Bengals. While you read this the Saints defense missed 4 more tackles. The Saints since 2017 had been exceptional at safety, but in 2022 they are dreadful.
Tyrann Mathieu signing with the Saints was the most excited I’ve ever seen the fan base about a free agent signing, myself included. I’m not even mad at the Saints for signing him. WE ALL WANTED IT. It just isn’t working out. I’m sad, let’s just move along, and not talk about it further.
All things considered, the Saints offense played as well as could be hoped for since they were without their top 4 receivers, starting QB, lost their starting guard Andrus Peat during the game, and still had 399 yards of offense, including 228 rushing.
The Saints ran the ball 34 times and at times looked like a 1970s football coach's dream. It was just power football straight down the Bengals throats.
The Saints offense only problem Sunday was an inability to score touchdowns, and while lots of fans might blame offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr.’s play calls, it was mostly due to injuries putting a hard ceiling on what Saints could do Sunday. Offenses inside the 20-yard line need players to win one-on-one match-ups to score touchdowns. Michael Thomas, Chris Olave, and Jarvis Landry are good at that sort of thing. They'd have helped a lot. Throw in tight end Adam Trautman's injury, likely limiting what Saints could run with Taysom, and the Saints red zone problems shouldn’t have been a surprise at all.
Pete Carmichael’s plan was really good. The end-around touchdown to rookie Rashid Shaheed was perfectly called and executed.
Carmichael is clearly leaning heavy into the “let’s get Taysom the ball” offense and it works. Taysom Hill is unlike anything NFL defenses see. He’s a 230-pound wrecking ball, who’s a nightmare to tackle, AND he can throw. I wish they'd have done more Sunday but did injuries limit them? Hard to know.
The more Taysom the better. It works and it’s fun, which are 2 things the 2022 Saints are in short supply of.
They’d never do it but an Andy Dalton and Taysom Hill dual QB party would be fun as heck. Let’s get weird, it’s all we have left in 2022.
The quarterback question for the Saints is irrelevant at the moment. Neither Jameis Winston nor Andy Dalton are winning lots of games without an elite defense. The Saints defense isn't even good.
The 2022 Saints are the most frustrating kind of bad team. They do some things well but not enough of them consistently. And the things they do poorly will appear at the worst possible time like a giant pimple on family picture day. Sunday it was poor tackling and a stink bomb of a punt late to give the Bengals great field position for the win.
If the Saints season needed to be boiled down to a slogan for a t-shirt it’d be “The 2022 Saints…it’s always #%|{ Something."
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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