Had any of us been told – off the back of the Saints’ Week 2 win in Baltimore that followed a refereeing injustice in Detroit – that New Orleans would sit 2-5 going into the bye week, it’s a safe assumption the reaction would be one of shock.
But that’s indeed where we are, as we enter a week head coach Kellen Moore has branded a chance for evaluation.
Some deficiencies are well-defined at this stage of the campaign: a failure to run the football matched by a failure to stop opponents from running
at will. When Aaron Rodgers outruns your backs, it’s a bad sign. When Tyler Shough was also your leading rusher on the day in France with 7 yards, it emphasises the point.
The offense still shows flashes in the passing game; Shough continues to throw the ball all over the field to a talented receiving room, one that will only become more potent as Jordyn Tyson nears his NFL debut.
Even the defense has remained relatively able to keep teams out of the end zone, particularly if one exempts the fourth quarter in New York.
The Raiders and Lions games were two that Kellen Moore’s team absolutely could’ve had. Either one of them would’ve been enough to see the black and gold currently tied for first in the win column in the NFC South. And that’s where the current debate lies: are the Saints headed for the league’s basement, or still in with a chance at hosting a playoff game?
The optimist in me refuses to throw in the towel just yet. One has every right to feel despondent about this coaching staff and to deem another top pick, alongside large-scale organizational changes, to be the most desirable outcome as the season moves along.
But there’s no part of me that’s convinced by any of Carolina, Tampa Bay, or Atlanta, even as the latter found a win over a depleted 49ers roster that was coming off a short week.
Should Daniel Carlson have converted both field goal attempts or Shough not have thrown a key momentum-shifting interception in the third quarter against Pittsburgh, the Saints probably would have won a game in which the run game was a complete nonfactor. There are two ways to look at that, but the positive outlook says that New Orleans has the capacity to win games; they just need to find a way to start doing it.
So, if you’ll excuse my short-termism, which I can explain away by my desperation to watch my team return to the playoffs for the first time post-Brees, I’ll continue to believe that the Saints can find their way to the NFC South crown.
Do you share a level of optimism here in the bye week? Or did the black and gold’s dashing playoff hopes officially get left in Paris? Let us know how you’re feeling in the comments!
