Monday night was a downright disaster for the New Orleans Saints as they fell to the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 45-24 in front of their Superdome crowd. The loss dropped the Saints to 1-3 with an 0-2 record at home. Incredibly, the Saints have lost 13 of their last 19 games inside the Caesars Superdome.
New Orleans suffered their worst loss to their bitter rival since a 35-12 defeat to the Falcons in 1999. This deficit wasn't even as close as the score. The Saints couldn't run the ball again, at all, allowing Atlanta to tee off on Tyler Shough and sit on shorter routes. Defensively, New Orleans couldn't stop the Falcons offense from doing anything they wanted at will. Here's the good, bad, and ugly from a loss that can only be best described
as embarrassing.
The Good: Chris Olave and Tyler Shough
Without a running game or any semblance of pass protection, Shough was under heavy duress all night and took quite a bit of punishment. He only was sacked twice, but took an astonishing 12 QB hits while completing 30 of 48 throws for 286 yards and a score without a turnover. Shough continues to show nice poise, an ability to escape pressure, and accuracy even in the face of constant pressure. The concern now is the amount of hits that the young quarterback is taking.
Juwan Johnson, Devaughn Vele, and Chris Olave were again Shough's primary targets. While Johnson and Vele had some moments, it was Olave who provided the consistent source of offense most of the evening. He caught 8 of his 12 targets for 116 yards, proving again that he can remain productive despite coverages designed to contain him.
The Bad: Saints secondary
New Orleans corners continue to give an absurd amount of cushion to opposing receivers. Kool-Aid McKinstry and Quincy Riley each had their worst outings of the year. Both were beaten repeatedly, with McKinstry committing two costly penalties. It's safe to say that moving Jonas Sanker into Alontae Taylor's old role has not worked out well. At safety, neither Julian Blackmon or Justin Reid have made any game-changing plays while the entire unit has tackled poorly. At least the Saints kept tight end Kyle Pitts (3 catches, 47 yards) somewhat in check. However, Drake London caught 5 of his 6 targets for 96 yards as Falcons quarterback Michael Penix played easy pitch-and-catch all night with 15 completions on just 20 attempts for 223 yards and a score. The lack of a pass rush outside of Chase Young doesn't help coverage, but the New Orleans secondary has done nothing to challenge opposing receivers or quarterbacks.
The Bad: Kellen Moore and Brandon Staley
On Monday, as with the first four games and most of Moore's tenure, the Saints got off to an excruciatingly slow start. Opening Monday night's game like that was inexcusable. After all, this was the 20th anniversary of the Superdome reopening against your most hated rival less than a week after blowing an opportunity for a win at home. Of course a major responsibility for these failures lie on the players, but coaches also bear a big brunt of this blame.
Neither Moore (offense) nor Staley (defense) have come out in any of the first four games with effective game plans. Moore's offense has at least made some nice halftime adjustments, even on Monday, but the lack of a running game and woeful offensive line have been major ongoing issues. Staley's defense has regressed badly from it's 2025 version with the inability to fix any of their many problems.
The Ugly: Saints run defense
Like with the running game, slow starts, and poor coverage, this is an issue that's only change is that it has gotten worse. Atlanta ran for 205 yards while averaging a ridiculous six yards per carry. Yes, the Saints were without linebacker Kaden Elliss and end Carl Granderson. However, the Falcons did nothing more than run the football straight downhill into the teeth of the defense. Poor tackling, poor gap discipline, and the inability to even stalemate at the point of attack has plagued this defense since the first snap of the 2026 season. On Monday against rival Atlanta, those inefficiencies were ripped wide open and exposed like the fatal wound they are.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Good, bad, and ugly: Analysis from Saints' disaster against Falcons
