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.

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