The Recap- Saints Vs Falcons Well, wasn’t that fun? By far the most fun I’ve had watching the Saints this season. Anytime you drop nearly 50 points on the Falcons there’s no way not to find that enjoyable, regardless of how the rest of the season has gone. Possibly for the last time in the 2023/2024 let's break down this epic Saints win. Team Stats (Saints/Falcons) Final Score: 48-17 First downs: 27-14 3rd down efficiency: 3/10- 4/11 Total yards: 400-389 RedZone Efficiency:4 of 6 - 1 of 3 Penalties: 3 for 15 yards- 8 for 75 yards Turnovers- 0-3 Time of possession- 26:10 - 33:50 Takeaways Offense Feels like I’ve typed this a lot over the past 5 weeks but here we go again, this was Carr’s best game as the Saints QB. He finished 22/28 (79%) 264 yards 4 Touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He spread the ball out well with 4 players finishing with over 40 receiving yards receiving. His ball placement was excellent, especially on 2 contested throws to A.T. Perry both back shoulder types of throws, one for a TD. The biggest change that has led the way in Carr’s late-season resurgence? His improved play in the RedZone. He threw 2 TD passes in the RedZone today with the team finishing 4/6 in the red area ( granted 1 of those was the fake kneel at the end, more on that later). Perry continued his late-season progression, finishing with 3 catches for 56 yards and 2 touchdowns. With it seeming unlikely that Mike Thomas will be back with the Saints for next season, Perry developing into a legit WR with a highly contested catch upside is crucial. With his first regular season now over he finished with 12 catches for 246 yards and 4 TDs in only 10 games. Perry was a 6th-round pick in the 2023 draft, and the 3rd-round pick from that draft Kendre Miller showed a lot of promise today too. Finishing with 73 rushing yards from 13 carries (5.6 YPC) and 1 catch for 6 yards. Miller had noticeable juice and elusiveness which we haven't seen much from the Saints RBs this season, the difference in burst between him and Jamaal Williams today was huge. On his touchdown run Per Nick Underhill, he was touched by 6 different Falcons defenders and he still managed to punch it from 3 yards out. It was a very encouraging end to the season for the rookie runner. Other offensive notes Jamaal Williams, unfortunately, continued his struggles averaging 1.9 YPC on 14 carries, he did end his season on a small high thought scoring his first TD of the year on the fake kneel down. Chris Olave’s TD catch almost seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of this game but it was an incredible play, great concentration to catch it after it bounced off the defender, and after some early struggles, he ended up having a great year. Rashid Shaheed caught another TD bomb, yes we’ve all heard that before, however, something we don’t talk about enough is how many tough catches he makes. The catch today wasn't easy the throw was a touch late and he had to adjust and make a strongly contested catch and that's exactly what he did. Defense A tale of two halves for the defense, 226 yards and 17 points given up in the first half, 163 yards and no points in the second. They held the Falcons to only 3.1 YPC which is a big change from the first meeting and rookie sensation Bijan Robinson was held to only 2.5 YPC. That's certainly encouraging for the Saints run defense which has struggled. The Saints struggled early, mainly due to 2 busted coverages, the first resulted in a 56-yard pass to Scotty Miller setting up the first Falcons TD, and the other resulted in a 71-yard catch and run TB by Bijan Robinson. This resulted in Alontae Taylor being benched for the 2nd time in 3 weeks (as the slot CB). From here the Saints flipped a switch, in the second half, the Saints forced 3 turnovers, 2 INTs and fumble recovery off a botched snap. Taylor, who as mentioned was benched was back in the game with Ike Yiadom out with a concussion, Had the first INT whilst playing outside CB, a role I think he will move back to next season when/if the Marshon trade happens. Unfortunately, the Saints pass rush still looks inept, if the Saints do trade star CB Marshon Lattimore this off-season (which sadly looks likely) the coverage will regress, especially against a harder schedule. For this defense to not regress mightily they have to improve the pass rush, if they can’t I expect the defense to struggle much more than they did this year. Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody) Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players/staff have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down: Stock Up Derek Carr Kendre Miller Jameis Winston Great way for Carr to finish the season, with his best game as a Saint and a great game by anyone's standards. His final season stat line: 68.4% completion % 3878 yards passing, 25 TDs and 8 Ints, It's a pretty good year, considering the o-line play and the injuries he’s sustained, if not for the early season conduct issues I think Saints fans would be talking about Carr very differently. Miller finally got on the field and was finally given some opportunities and he showed why the Saints drafted him, really excited to watch him next season. I think he could be the future at RB health permitting. Finally, Jameis Winston, for 2 reasons for changing the play at the line to give Jamaal his first and only TD of the season and 2 for owning that decision postgame. For being a great teammate and for being accountable for his decisions. DA could learn a lot from his players and their comments following today's game. Stock Down  Dennis James Allen I was going to ride into the sunset on a wave of positivity and have nobody in the down but frankly, Dennis Allen ruined it. All he had to do was back his players publicly that's it, even if he couldn't do that just don't mention anything at all about the last play and handle the fact that the players chose to directly go against him and run the ball instead of kneeling in private. He didn't and because of that, he’s driven yet another wedge between him, the team and the fans. He could have said the players felt strongly about it, so I agreed and then handled it behind closed doors. Sadly, again he called his players out in public when there was no need to, which again shows what a poor communicator and leader he is and why he will never be a successful HC. My final conclusion from this whole debacle is the most damming of all. I'm sure we will hear this off-season how the Saints credit DA for how the team stayed together to win 4 of their last 5 games, as one of the reasons why the Saints chose to keep DA, the issue with that idea is it's pretty clear that's not true. The players kept this team together, they chose not to quit and banded together to make sure everyone in the locker room stayed the course, not DA. The players chose today to do something for one of their own, despite their coaches' orders to not do it. That shows they don’t respect DA and that they decide how this season ends not the HC and theirs no way to spin that positively for DA. The Saints will be making a mistake by keeping DA, not because he’s a bad defensive coach but because the players don’t respect him, he has no idea how to hold his players accountable and no idea how to be the coach his team and its fans need him to be. Conclusion Another Saints season comes to an end, in only the way a DA coached can in a mess. They waxed the Falcons by scoring the most points a Saints team had against the Falcons and won by the 2nd largest margin of victory in the history and yet we still have to end on the same conclusion #fireDennisAllen. They won’t but they should, for the good of the players and for the good of the fans. Thank you to all those who have read even one of these recaps this season and if there are any of you reading this that have read that have enjoyed my content this year please let me know. Another interesting off-season ahead and honestly I can't wait. Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @SaintsReportUK, for much more Saints content and discussion throughout the 2023 season and beyond.

The Recap- Saints Vs Bucs The Saints played probably their best game of the season on Sunday, a case of too little to late? Maybe but at this stage with Dennis Allen’s job almost certainly safe its important to see improvements on what we’ve seen from this team for most of the season. Team Stats (Saints/Bucs) Final Score: 23-13 First downs: 20-13 3rd down efficiency: 8/18- 2/8 Total yards: 310-349 Red Zone Efficiency:1 of 3 - 0 of 0 Penalties: 5 for 31 yards- 5 for 38 yards Turnovers- 0-4 Time of possession- 36:38 - 23:22 Takeaways Offense Derek Carr continued his late season improvements Carr has now posted a 105.5 passer rating on better in 4 of his last 5 games, he’s only managed to 3 such games in the 11 games prior. Again, Carr wasn’t anything otherworldly, but he was efficient, was very good on third down and crucially handled pressure better than he probably has all season. Carr was only under pressure on 7 dropbacks but unlike throughout the season he managed those dropbacks well, he completed 4 passes on 6 attempts (66.7%) for 47 yards and a Touchdown. On the season Carr has only completed 48% of his passes under pressure. So, a significant improvement in this game, but like most things with Carr and this offense we need to see this on a consistent basis for this offense to be what it needs to be. Finally, we saw Carr connect with his TEs in the way we expected before the season. TE’s accounted for 8 of Carr’s 25 completions and 122 of Carr’s 197 passing yards. They also caught both Touchdown passes that Carr threw. The TE group has been one of the biggest disappointments for the offense all year. Taysom Hill has been okay; Foster Moreau has been mainly a blocker after showing good promise as a receiver with Carr in Las Vegas. Juwan Johnson has been the biggest disappointment of the group, I thought he was ascending into a Pro-Bowl caliber player this year I’ve been wrong but performances like Sunday (8 catches for 90 yards and a TD) is the types play of play I expected to see much more often. Again, as with everything on offense we need to see it consistently for it to mean much but it’s encouraging to see. The o-line has shown really solid improvement in pass protection throughout the season especially since Andrus Peat has taken over at LT. They only gave up 6 pressures against the Bucs per PFF, considering the Bucs blitzed on 51.5% of drop backs this is impressive, when earlier in the season if a team blitzed it almost guaranteed pressure. Despite the improvements we’ve seen in pass protection we have not seen the same in run blocking. The run game again, outside of Alvin Kamara again struggled against a good Bucs front 7. Kamara was running well before leaving the game with an Ankle sprain, DA would not specify on the severity of the injury when he spoke to the media today. Outside of Kamara Saints RBs and Taysom averaged 3 YPC on 22 carries. This is right up there for me as one the biggest issues that has to be fixed on offense this off-season. A new O-line coach could be something that the Saints need to consider. Defense This was an important comeback game for the Saints defense, Baker Mayfield and this Bucs offense torched them in the first meeting. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, yes if you look at the stats you may think that it wasn’t a particularly strong outing but there’s some important context. With 10:30 left in the 4th quarter the Saints were up 20-0, at this stage the Bucs had 150 yards of total offense. The Saints took their foot of the gas and the Bucs next three drives accounted for 199 yards and 2 TDs. Now, the Saints still gave these plays up but it’s reasonable to think that the plan that was in place earlier in the game wasn’t quite what was called at this point in the game. The Saints sacked Mayfield twice and forced 4 turnovers (well, forced 3 and were gifted 1) Johnathan Abram accounted for 2 of those turnovers with an interception on a tipped pass by Tanoh Kpassgnon and forced a fumble on a textbook strip on Bucs RB Rachaad White. Whilst Alontae Taylor snagged his first career INT when he high pointed an underthrown pass from Mayfield. The final turnover was a play very reminiscent of a play involving Chris Olave against the Bucs last season. A completed deep ball, where the receiver in this case was Trey Palmer who caught it, went down untouched and fumbled, Isaac Yiadom recovered, this was actually a pretty crucial mistake as this would have set the Bucs up down with 1st and 10 from the Saints 21 with 03:48 to go, yes still down 16 so a comeback would have been unlikely but this allowed the Saints to get the ball back and drain a further 01:44 of the clock, almost assuring the victory. Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody) Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players/staff have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down: Stock Up Johnathan Abram Alontae Taylor Juwan Johnson Abrams for most of the season has been a reserve/practice squad player, he was given the start at Safety for 2 reasons, rookie Jordan Howden missed practice in the build up due to illness and Abrams has put in the work behind the scenes all season to have earned the opportunity, DA commented that Abrams has logged the most time on the team issued iPads watching film. Taylor bounced back well after being benched against the Rams last week and earned his first career INT, that warrants a place on this list 9 times out of 10. Final place on the ‘Ups’ this week goes to Juwan Johnson; he was dominant in this game accounting for 90 of the teams 208 passing yards. Hope to see another strong game to close out the season. Stock Down Cam Jordan Paulson Adebo Cam Jordan won’t find his name here often, clearly, he’s still hampered by the ankle injury as despite his sack numbers being very low, he was pressuring the QB still at a close to elite level. That’s not really been happening since the injury. On Sunday Cam didn’t register a single QB pressure or any defensive stops in the run game per PFF (Defensive Stops - tackles that constitute a "failure" for the offense). My final down for this game is Adebo a player who has featured heavily in the ‘Ups’ list throughout the year. He struggled a bit in this game, per PFF he gave up 3 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown on 8 targets. The 2 catches for 68 yards he gave up to Mike Evans, Adebo was not close in coverage. He was credited by PFF as giving up the 47-yard TD to Chris Godwin from watching the play back I am not sure how so that might not be fair. Conclusion The Saints showed up when they had to this was lose and go home and they produced their most complete game of the season, against a team that isn’t a bottom dweller. That deserves credit. The lion's share of that credit should go to the veteran leadership on this team for keeping everyone together rather than the coaching staff. With DA almost assured to keep his job, all I’m looking for in the season finale is to see some more positive play to lead us into the off-season and most importantly to end the seasons with a win to avoid being swept by the Falcons. Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @SaintsReportUK, for much more Saints content and discussion throughout the 2023 season and beyond.

The Recap- Saints Vs Giants Well... it's certainly fun to watch the Saints win. Does this change my opinion of them as a team? A win against this Giants team does not. However, in a season where we (Saints fans) have been doused in negativity, I'll take any component performance and frankly, I'm going to enjoy it. Team Stats (Saints/Giants) Final Score: 24-6 First downs: 20-12 3rd down efficiency: 6/12- 2/16 Total yards: 296-193 RedZone Efficiency:2 of 2 - 0 of 0 Penalties: 6 for 58 yards- 5 for 32 yards Turnovers- 0-0 Time of possession- 33:27 - 26:33 Takeaways Offense If this wasn't Car’s best game as a Saint it’s pretty close. Carr finished 23-28 218 Yards and 3 Touchdowns. The stats aren't crazy but they didn't need to be today, down his top 2 WRs Carr was incredibly efficient and took what the defense gave him. His pocket movement was the best I've seen from Carr this year, he regularly stepped up to avoid pressure and completed passes. Crucially avoiding the negative plays, something we haven’t seen Carr do well as a Saint. His O-line did step up and not allow a huge amount of pressure which certainly helps, as we’ve clearly seen Carr hasn't been able to handle pressure well and his game takes a distinctly negative turn when he faces it regularly. The line was also solid in the run game, although we did see some frustrating holding penalties, we can’t have it all I guess. I thought this was a really well-called game by Pete Carmicheal, we saw plenty of play-action, which I and many other Saints fans have called for all season. He mixed in the run and pass well, we even saw a well-executed screen pass. I’ve never questioned if Pete could call a a good game. We’ve even seen him do it this year. He, like Carr, has struggled to perform well consistently. Other offensive notes: Jimmy Graham is up to 6 catches on the year, 4 have gone for touchdowns and the other 2 have been first-down conversions. The fact he was a healthy scratch for multiple weeks was absolute coaching malpractice. A.T. Perry is starting to make plays every week, he had an excellent contested catch today to convert a 3rd and 16. He caught the ball about 3 yards short of the stick and bullied his way forward for a first down. Defense The Saints defense close out their second straight game without conceding a Touchdown. This game was different though than the game against the Panthers. If Bryce Young had better accuracy the score in that game would have been a lot closer. Today the Saints defense was dominant finishing with 7 sacks, 9 TFLs and 8 QB hits (Per ESPN). Crucially they also held the Giants RBs to 2 YPC. The last two weeks the Saints have supplemented their poor pass rush with a killer blitz and stunt game. Surprise surprise Zack Baun has been really good when rushing off the edge, he was very good again today. Baun is finally being used as he always should have been a mix of LB and Edge, unfortunately, he is a FA in the off-season just as Kaden Elliss was after this emergence in a similar role last season. Alongside Baun, Tanoh Kpassagnon and Bryan Bresee had really solid days rushing the passer. Bresee had a season-high 7 pressures (Per PFF) but no sacks this week he converted with 2 sacks, 2 TFLs and 2 QB hits. Kpassagnon finished with 3 sacks, 3 TFLs and 4 QB hits, before last season when writing for a different site I predicated a Tanoh breakout season (I believe I predicted 7.5 sacks), but that prediction was based on the Saints using Tanoh inside more, they didn't. This year they have and he has been a far more disruptive player for this defense. The secondary was really strong again Yiadom gave up one big catch early to Waller but otherwise was really good again as a relief starter, Yiadom entered this season as a core special teams player and has emerged as a more than solid starter at outside CB. The Saints would be wise to try and Yiadom around long-term to keep this strong depth in their secondary. Jordan Howden is proving to be a 5th-round steal at Safety and has emerged as a solid Blitzer, I think his play makes Marcus Maye expendable this off-season. Demario Davis continues to defy Father Time he was dominant today. Finishing with a team-leading 10 total tackles (8 solo) 1 sack, 1 QB hit and 2 TFLs. His sack puts him at 6.5 on the season which ties his career best, with 3 games left you have to think he betters that. Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody) Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players/staff have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down: Stock Up Derek Carr Bryan Bresee Tanoh Kpassagnon Carr deserves to be on this list after one of his better games as a Saint. IF Carr can play this way consistently down the stretch I think the Saints win 2 of their next 3 maybe all 3. Bresee and Kpassagnon deserve to come together here they were dominant on the inside of the Saints pass rush today, again some consistency here from these two down the stretch would go a long way to helping the struggling Saints pass rush (struggling before today). Stock Down Andrus Peat I nearly had nobody on the down list, I thought I'd ride the positivity train for this week but… then I remembered that Peat was called for 2 holding penalties at some quite inopportune times. Granted it didn't impact this game but not ideal for an offense that is craving consistency. So a little harsh to have him here alone but i'm going with it. . Conclusion Should this game change anyone's mind about the Saints coaching staff or QB…. no it shouldn't the Giants are not a good football team, the Saints should have beat them and they did but. Credit where credit is due that was the most complete performance we’ve seen from all three phases in the 2023 season and if they continue that level of play the next 3 weeks, will I be bought all the way back in for a home playoff game? You’re goddamn right I will be. Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @SaintsReportUK, for much more Saints content and discussion throughout the 2023 season and beyond.

The Recap- Saints Vs Falcons This game felt like the nail in the coffin for the 2023 Saints and hopefully the Dennis Allen era. Any loss to the Falcons is unacceptable, but this wasn't just any loss, this was a gut-punch loss to a Desmond Ridder-led Falcons team. Saints Therapy is back in session, let's break it down. Team Stats (Saints/Falcons) Final Score: 15-24 First downs: 22-25 3rd down efficiency: 6/14- 4/8 Total yards: 444-396 RedZone Efficiency:0 of 5 - 1 of 2 Penalties: 6 for 50 yards- 5 for 35 yards Turnovers- 2- 2 Time of possession- 31:34-28:26 Takeaways Offense This was the complete Derek Carr experience, he finished 24/38 for 364 yards, looked good moving the ball between the 20s, and connected well with Chris Olave (7 for 114) but could do anything inside the redzone. The Saints ended 0-5 in the redzone settling for 5 field goals. That is never going to be a consistent winning formula in the NFL if it was ever going to be this would be the year given the schedule the Saints have played and they now sit 5-6 so that shows you cannot win that way unless you have an elite defense which sadly the Saints do not have. The Saints offense possessed the ball 9 times ( not including the kneel down just before the half) 7 of those drives advanced to at least the Falcon’s 35-yard line and they somehow came away with 15 points. Carr threw a hideous pick 6 on the Falcons 12-yard line, Taysom Hill fumbled inside the 10 and Grupe missed a 53-yarder. Hill’s fumble and Grupe’s late miss still don't excuse a 150 million dollar QB with over 150 career starts being this bad at scoring touchdowns inside the 20. I wish someone could explain to me why Carr is so inept in this part of the field, sure, some of it is probably play-calling but it’s well-documented that Carr has been pretty much this bad throughout his career. There’s no other way to put it this offense sucks and the responsibility for that falls directly on the coaches and the QB that they handpicked and paid to be the saviour. A miss-fire that should cost the coaches their jobs and has set the Saints back. They are going to have to ride it out with Carr’s contract the way they always do (by restructuring) until they find a better answer or take their medicine and start fresh after this year ( we all know the option they will choose) Other offensive notes: Chris Olave looked back to his best which was encouraging to see before Carr threw a poor deep ball that Olave did his best to catch but it ended up getting him concussed. Kamara looked really good again in both the passing and run game, he finished with 119 yards from scrimmage on 19 touches (6.2 YPT) he doesn't deserve to have been stuck on the offenses he has for the last 3 seasons, AK could have been a gold jacket player and the Saints have wasted his last 3 years. Lynn Bowden was good today and had a great block on Calais Campbell to seal the perimeter on an AK run, please bear in mind Campell is a 6ft 8” DE and Bowden is a WR. Bowden also had 2 rushes for 40 yards, including a 29-yarder which Is the Saints longest rush of the season (YUCK) and also had a crucial catch out of the backfield for a first down in the redzone that was called back by penalty. Rashid Shaheed also left this game with a thigh injury, so the Saints may well be down their top 3 WRs ( Thomas definitely) this week against the 8-3 Lions. Defense I said earlier that the defense wasn't elite, that comment wasn't aimed at the secondary even without All-Pro CB Marshon Lattimore was still very good. Ridder finished 13/21 for 168 yards 1 TD and 2 INTs (Both by Tyrann Mathieu). To add context, the secondary performed this well against the pass even though the Saints had ZERO pass rush. I started with some good because everything else from the defense was demoralising. I’ve said for weeks now the run defense is bad, not just against rushing QBs but everyone today proved that theory. The Falcons could run the ball anytime they wanted with however they wanted. They finished with 228 yards rushing on 41 carries with all 3 RBs averaging at least 5.4 YPC. If you need any further proof that the Falcons could run whenever they wanted, let's look at the final drive. Up 6 with 06:24 left, they ran 10 straight times for 54 yards took 04:37 off the clock and got themselves in FG range to ice the game. That’s about as clear as it gets that your run defense is not good, especially the D-line. Speaking of the d-line yet again absolutely no pass rush, a trend we’ve seen all year against any team that doesn't have a bottom 5 o-line, this is a huge concern for the future of the team with all the picks the resources ( draft picks and FA’s) to still be in this hole is concerning especially as the Saints can’t see to hit on the position in the draft. Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody) Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players/staff have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down: Stock Up Chris Olave Tyrann Mathieu Alvin Kamara Olave filled the WR1 shoes, Mathieu had 2 picks and Kamara is still a monster. Also shoutout Blake Grupe for being the whole offense. Short and sweet I'm not in a positive mood. Stock Down  Derek Carr Dennis Allen Taysom Hill Yes, Carr moved the ball well, yes he was playing without WR1, 2 and 3 but he’s been and the worst redzone QB in the league with them, keeps getting his WRs hurt with bad passes, threw a ghastly pick 6 and cant score touchdowns it doesn't get any simpler than that. Dennis Allen, I don't need to explain myself here its time to go Dennis. Finally, this absolutely pains me as one of the leaders of the Taysom Hill fan club but fumbling inside the 10 has to put you on the down list. Conclusion To conclude this team is going nowhere even if they manage to claw their way to a division win then they will get rightly dispatched in a miserable fashion in the playoffs. This coaching staff is atrocious and the Saints need to start fresh in the off-season. The biggest crime is this Saints team isn't even fun to watch, there's one thing being a deeply flawed team and bad team but still giving your fans something fun to watch each week. This team is sad, which with the talent on this team is totally unacceptable. Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @SaintsReportUK, for much more Saints content and discussion throughout the 2023 season and beyond.

Some second-half Jameis Winston dramatics brought some much-needed excitement for Saints fans but in the end all it did was make a dismal performance look slightly better than it was on the boxscore as the Saints lost again to the dreaded Minnesota Vikings 27-19. There is plenty to unpack here, sadly a lot bad and a lot very familiar if you’ve followed the Dennis Allen Saints even remotely closely. Team Stats (Saints/Vikings) Final Score: 19-27 First downs: 16-23 3rd down efficiency: 4/14- 6/15 Total yards: 288-388 RedZone Efficiency:2 of 2- 2 of 3 Penalties: 9 for 74 yards- 5 for 35 yards Turnovers- 2- 0 Time of possession- 26:54-33:06 Takeaways Offense Another uninspiring showing from the Derek Carr offense only scoring 3 points before being knocked out of the game after taking a brutal and somehow legal hit in the third quarter. To me and many others, it looked like a hit that should have been flagged for roughing the passer after he was hit hard high and low (which is not legal). Carr was ruled out with a concussion and a right shoulder injury, per Nick Underhill it appears Carr managed to avoid any major injury to his shoulder and HC Dennis Allen made it clear to the media that Carr would still be the Saints starting QB going forward, health permitting. Jameis Winston treated us to the full Winston experience, he entered the game and completed his 1st 3 passes, the 3rd of those being a perfect throw to the back of the endzone, whilst the throw was brilliant the catch from Olave was even better per Next Gen Stats the throw had a 10.5% completion probability, the lowest probability pass to be completed all season. He followed this up with a dropped INT, an absolutely ludicrous TD pass to rookie A.T Perry, were threw a bullet across the field to Perry in the back of the endzone, for Perry to treat us to his bets Randy Moss impression with a great contested, jump ball catch. The two TDs were followed by 2 Alvin Kamara 2-point conversation runs to make it a 1 score game, after being down 24 points when Winston entered the game. Unfortunately and probably predictably Winston then proceeded to throw 2 interceptions, the first was essentially an arm punt, he was immediately had pressure in his face from a Vikings blitz that was not picked up, Winston tried to throw the ball up to Olave. The 2nd I cannot excuse it was a poor throw to Shaheed in triple coverage. Honestly, though, I’m not going to slander Winston too much here he gave the Saints a chance in a game where they looked to have no hope, he threw 2 outrageous TD passes and gave the offense some life. He also immediately got Chris Olave going in a way we haven't really seen since about week 2. So all credit to Winston for coming into the game and at least giving the Saints a chance. Other Offensive notes: Mike Thomas left the game early in the first offensive drive and did not return with a Knee injury, Nick Underhill has also reported that it appears that Thomas’ injury is not considered to be serious and that the Saints kept him out more as a precaution. Alvin Kamara looked much running the ball today (4.7 YPC), unfortunately, the Saints fell behind too much too quickly for the Saints to make the most of this. Also with his 2 successful 2-point conversions, he now has 8 all-time which is tied for the most in NFL history with HOF RB Marshall Faulk (shoutout to John Sigler for this stat). A.T Perry finally caught his first NFL pass (regular season) followed by the insane catch I mentioned earlier, overall he looked pretty good playing Mike Thomas’ spot, he did have one drop on a pass over the middle but overall a good showing, hopefully the Saints keep him involved even when Thomas is back on the field.  Brutal penalties were back, after having only 1 last week, this week we saw a horrid false start on 4th and 1, which meant that the Saints had to punt. Then we saw dreadful offensive offsides that negated a 15+ yard play to Chris Olave. Defense This game felt almost exactly the same as the Bears game for the defense, except this week they were facing a more experienced/ competent NFL QB in Josh Dobbs who didn't commit the turnovers that helped the score not get away from them. This week without the turnovers coupled with another painfully slow start the Saints were in a big hole giving up 24 first-half points. Same as last week there were pass catchers wide open regularly and another TE gashed the Saints defense at will, Vikings TE T.J Hockenson ended with 11 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown after he was limited all week in practice with a rib injury. The Vikings achieved this first-half success without their, QB1, WR1 and WR3. Add to this the QB that was playing and dicing up the Saints defense wasn't even on the team 2 weeks ago. I came away from this game very impressed this Kevin O’Connell, who is clearly a brilliant offensive mind and play-caller who should firmly be in the coach of the year conversation. One positive thing I will say about the Saints defense is they did a much better job getting pressure on the opposing QB this week than last week but… it's not all positive as is often the case with mobile QBs they couldn't turn that pressure into sacks as Dobbs often escaped and used his legs for positive yards or found open players downfield. The defense did stiffen again in the second half, Dobbs only had 48 passing and 4 rushing yards in the second half and they only gave up 3 points after giving up 24 in the first. This week though the second-half effort was too little too late and it does beg the question of why they haven't been able to show this high-level play earlier in games for 5 straight weeks now. At this stage, it begs the question what are the redeeming factors to DA as a HC? Earlier in the season I could have made an argument that if you have a HC who can coach either side of the ball at an elite level that is a plus for any team. Well… with the defense now putting this team in a hole in the first half for 5 straight weeks you can't make that argument for DA anymore, my patience for the 2nd straight season has run out. He can't get this team to play at a high level on a consistent basis and generally, he can only get wins against teams with losing records. Other Defensive notes: Marshon Lattimore left the game with an Ankle injury, Nick Underhill has reported that he has an ankle sprain and will get an MRI tomorrow to determine the severity. This looked like a rough game for the starting safeties, especially Marcus Maye he got put in a blender by Hockenson on what looked like a couple of occasions. Paulson Adebo wasn't as good today as the last 2 weeks, but continued his strong play overall and still looked like the Saints best CB. Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody) Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players/staff have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down: Stock Up A.T Perry Chris Olave Malcolm Roach Perry looked solid in place of Thomas and caught his first NFL touchdown pass in emphatic fashion. Olave finally looked like the WR we expected had an insane TD catch of his own and made some great contested catches, not sure why it needed Winston at QB for this to happen but encouraging to see the 2nd year WR get back on track. I’ll be honest I struggled with my final up, but I decided to go with unsung DT Malcolm Roach, he looked active in the run game and also registered a PBU. Stock Down Marcus Maye Pete Werner Dennis Allen Maye features in my down list for the 2nd week in a row, it looked like he really struggled today, especially in man coverage against Hockenson. Pete Werner is a new name to this list, the usually dependable LB looked to be on the wrong side of plenty of plays today, especially in run defense ( an area in which he usually shines) He was flat-footed on a Dobbs scramble where it looked like he could have stopped Dobbs for a short gain, it was reported after the game that he was the player the Saints had as the QB spy, which wasn't particauly successful and he also had an illegal contact penalty that wiped out a Cam Jordan sack. Finally DA, I don't need to explain this one. Conclusion The Saints have had the easiest schedule in the NFL, been given every break possible against those teams and for once have been one of the healthiest teams in the league (before today) and are still 5-5, there's no excuse for that, they are what they are. Which is an extremely talented team #onpaper with dreadful coaching. This team will probably still win 9 games because frankly the schedule is that easy and they may well win the putrid NFC South after the Falcons lost today to the previously 1-8 (now 2-8) Cardinals leaving the Saints still atop the decision entering the bye week. Hopefully, Mickey Loomis can see that still isn't good enough with the cards the Saints have been dealt and starts anew with the coaching staff, I'm not convinced but a man can hope. After that game, I've never been more pleased that the Saints are on a bye week. 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