The Recap- Saints Vs Texans

We are back here again, the Saints offense lost them another game. Coaching, player execution and redzone issues plagued the Saints offense once again. They outgained the Texans by 133 yards, and gained over 430 yards on offense (a season-high) but still only scored 13 points. 

Let's take a look at where this all went so horribly wrong in this week's Saints Therapy session.

Team Stats 

(Saints/Patriots)

Final Score: 13-20

First downs: 24-19

3rd down efficiency: 6/15-4/11

Total yards: 430-297

RedZone Efficiency:0 of 3- 2 of 4

Penalties: 7 for 83 yards- 3 for 29 yards

Turnovers- 2- 1

Time of possession- 31:33-28:27

Takeaways 

Offense

Where to begin, 0-3 in the redzone, questionable playcalling, poor pass protection and QB/WRs not on the same page consistently all led to another putrid, abysmal, terrible, atrocious? pick the preferred word you would like to use to describe this offensive performance. One thing is for sure it's not fun for the fans to watch and I'm sure no fun for the offensive players either.

The most infuriating part of this is up to the redzone this was by far the best the Saints offense has looked so far this season. Carr made some great throws ( the TD to Shaheed for one) and the offense for once felt like it had some rhythm (between the 20s anyway). He got a little lucky in places (the pass to the flat when Shaheed ran the wrong route and the Taysom Hill-like floating deep ball that should have been picked if Shaheed did MOSS the DB) spring to mind, but overall this was a far better showing.

So why did the Saints only score 13 points and lose another very winnable game? Coaching and execution. The play calls in the redzone were flat-out terrible, especially towards the end of the game, as was Carr's decision-making at times too. 

The Saints made 3 trips to the redzone down 7 in the fourth quarter all 3 trips resulted in no points. A missed 29-yard field goal (Grupe's second miss of the game) , a turnover on downs and an interception ( which was essentially a turnover on downs too). Littered in these drives were maddening play calls and Carr not being on the same page with the WRs. 

You have one of the best short area/contested-catch WRs in the league (Mike Thomas), one of the best redzone RBs in the league (Alvin Kamara) a 6ft 7 TE who it was reported was signed specifically for third downs and redzone (Jimmy Graham) and we've seen him targeted once in the redzone so far, that target went for a touchdown. It should not be this hard to score on a consistent basis inside the 20. 

The easiest example of the issues is the last drive, the Saints had 1st and 10 at the Texans' 24 with 35 seconds on the clock and 1 timeout. Carr/Pete proceeded to throw 4 go balls either to the endzone or close to it. No attempt to attack the middle of the field, no routes to punish the fact that the Texans were sending all-out blitzes just heave and hope. Even if you are committed to throwing to the sidelines, where are the out routes, the comebacks? even some curls near the boundary, something other than just a straight route up the sideline. 

One of the plays to Shaheed looked like it had a chance but he and Carr weren't on the same page as to what spot Carr was throwing the ball, so he wasn't close to making a play which if completed was a huge TD. Is that a coaching issue? is that a player execution issue? is that a QB issue? it could be that all 3 areas have their hands dirty here, but we've seen problems like this for 6 weeks now, someone somewhere has to get this fixed and at this point, I don't care who.

Part of the selling point of having Carr at QB was that he could get to the line, see what the defense was doing and get the Saints in the most advantageous play, we didn't see that on Sunday and haven't all season. 

Why didn't Carr check any of these plays to have some hot routes that would be open quickly in the middle of the field? the Saints still had a timeout so the middle of the field should have still been in play. I'm not blaming Carr here totally, the playcalling leaves a lot to be desired but this was a key selling point on Carr that was highlighted in mainstream Saints media all off-season. At this stage, it feels like we've been sold a dodgy bag of goods with this part of Carr's game.

Don't worry Pete isn't safe here either, let's not forget he called these plays in the redzone, yes he actually looked to have called a much better game overall but you can have all the yards you like if those don't turn into points it frankly does not matter one bit.

That is what is so frustrating about this game and this offense overall, the offense actually looked the best it's looked so far, but as soon as they got to the redzone everything crumbled, the playcalling, the protection and the player execution. 

Some of this has to fall at Carr's feet it has been well-reported how much he has struggled in the redzone throughout his career, unfortunately, this season isn't an outlier. I think sadly adding those pre-existing issues to Pete Carmichael's ineptness in this part of the field, is the perfect storm for what we've seen so far this year.

Defense

The Saints defense yet again held a team to only 20 points and yet again the Saints lost. The defense was far from perfect today, especially in the first half but in today's NFL if you hold a team to 20 points or fewer you should win those games 9 times out of ten. 

Since DA took over as HC the Saints are 7-7 in games where the defense has held the opponent to 20 points or fewer (2-2 this year). Simply put the Saint's defense has literally no margin for error. 

Yes, the defense wasn't good enough in the first half, conceding 17 points, the Texans ran at will and had WRs open early and often. Add to that there was little to no pressure on C.J. Stroud, this could have been because Stroud had players open quickly and got the ball out too fast for the pressure to get there, rather than poor pass rush.

As they have done well under throughout the DA defense tenure the Saints put the clamps on in the second half only conceding 3 points, stifling the run game, then went on to hold Stroud to an under 50% completion percentage. The Defense also had a great goal-line stand, with the Texans going from 1st and 10 on the Saints 1 to a 4th and 4 field goal. 

After a great PBU by Demario Davis on 1st down, a -3 TFL by Carl Granderson on 2nd down ( He was really good in the 2nd half) and I believe Granderson also applied pressure on 3rd down forcing Stroud out of the pocket, ending in an incompletion. As much as the redzone offense has struggled the redzone defense has been elite so far this season.

I am a little concerned about the run defense in two games now facing one of the worst rushing offenses in the NFL (Bucs game) and this one. Those offenses have been able to run on them with great success, the final stats don't show the whole story after the defense stiffened significantly in the second half, but it does seem to be a potential weak spot so far, that not many are talking about.

Overall, again the Saints defense did more than enough for the Saints to win this game and were thoroughly let down by the offense.

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

• Carl Granderson
• Rashid Shaheed
• Chris Olave

Granderson was a beast in the second half he finished with 6 total tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFLs and 1 QB hit, this was a big game for Granderson as so far this season he has dominated inferior o-linemen, in this game he produced this against perennial all-pro Laremy Tunsil.

It feels weird to put Shaheed and Olave here but the purpose of this list isn't to provide team-based analysis it is about individual performance. Yes, both had their hands dirty by not running the right routes/ not running to the right spots. However, they kept this offense alive in the second half, particularly Shaheed who saved Carr from a killer interception by mossing a DB for a 51-yard game (with a better throw this is a touchdown).

Stock Down



• Marshon Lattimore
• Alontae Taylor
• Blake Grupe

Also feels wrong to put 2 defensive players on here but again I refer back to my explanation of Olave and Shaheed. Lattimore and Taylor looked to give up most of the big plays that the pass defense gave up. 

Lattimore in particular looked to have a poor game by his loft standards. With at least 2 20+ yard catches to Noah Brown and Nico Collins and what could have been a really costly PI that put the Texans at the Saints 1 1-yard line. 

Taylor also got beat quickly by Collins on a slot fade, had he not been beaten so quickly it looked like Bresee would have sacked Stroud. It was 3rd and 4 on the Saints 36, a sack there could have pushed the Texans out of field goal range.

Finally, Blake Grupe, he's appeared on both parts of this list a lot so far, the down after the killer miss in Green Bay and the up after a solid showing in New England. I feel Grupe a bit as no team should rely on any kicker as much as the Saints do, let alone a rookie Kicker, but in a game like this, you can't leave 6 points on the field, especially by missing a 29-yarder. Add those 6 points on and that last Saints drive could have had totally different ramifications. 

Conclusion 

The Saints again have a lot to clean up and not a lot of time to do it as they do have a short week with a Thursday night game against Jacksonville next on the docket. I expect them to be short-handed on the o-line after Hurst (Ankle) and Ramczyk (Concussion) both sustained injuries which means they will likely be unavailable.

I don't expect to see any staff changes on a short week, but if the Saints offense stinks up the joint again on Thursday that could be the prime time for change as the team essentially has a mini bye, so something to keep an eye on.

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