Caesars Superdome isn’t supposed to look like it did in the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon.
The Dome was almost completely empty, as if it was doing an impression of LSU’s Tiger Stadium from the night before.
The Saints were in the closing minutes of being throttled 23-3 by the division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers, much like LSU had been hammered 49-25 by Texas A&M less than 24 hours earlier.
Only two groups of people stuck around until the end Saturday at Death Valley and Sunday at the Dome.
1. Fans of the Aggies and Buccaneers.
2. The crew waiting to clean up the mess in the stands.
It’ll be up to someone else to clean up the mess on display on the field.
Fans of the home teams couldn’t stomach sticking around to see the clock strike zero this weekend.
Who could blame them?
Whether your colors of choice are purple and gold, black and gold or both, this isn’t what you pay your money to see.
It was a rough weekend in both the 225 and the 504.
Tulane had a bye week, so the Green Wave wasn't able to salvage the weekend.
How bad of a week has it been for football in southeast Louisiana?
LSU fired head coach Brian Kelly on Sunday. Six days earlier, Southern University fired Terrence Graves, meaning both Baton Rouge schools are searching for a head coach.
The Saints, meanwhile, are 1-7. It’s their worst start since 1999, when they lost to (you guessed it) the Buccaneers to fall to 1-7.
That team 26 years ago won its next game to improve to 2-7.
The Saints travel to face the Los Angeles Rams next week, so history isn’t likely to repeat itself.
The Saints open as 13½-point underdogs and likely will be 1-8 this time next week.
It's unclear who will start at quarterback for the Saints Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
On a day when a college head coach in Louisiana lost his job, a starting NFL quarterback in Louisiana may have also lost his.
Spencer Rattler was benched on Sunday after being unable to get the Saints into the end zone. Rattler committed two turnovers Sunday (a fumble and an interception), bringing his turnover total to six in the past two games. A season that started with him doing a splendid job of taking care of the ball (three turnovers in the first six weeks) all of a sudden went south.
Tyler Shough, drafted by the Saints with the No. 40 overall pick in April, took over for Rattler. Shough completed 17 of 30 passes for 128 yards but also couldn’t get the Saints into the end zone.
Head coach Kellen Moore said he would use the next 48 hours to decide who will start in L.A.
Truth be told, it may not matter.
Yes, the Saints need to figure out who their quarterback of the future is going to be. Rattler? Shough? Or someone who isn’t on the current roster. But as Sunday reminded us, the Saints’ issues are more than just at quarterback. The receivers and tight ends drop way more passes than NFL players in those positions should. The offensive line play hasn’t been great, a big reason Rattler and Shough found themselves under so much duress. Penalties still plague the team. The defense, which has had its rough moments this season, played well enough to win on Sunday. Unfortunately, it didn’t get any help from the offense.
“Defense is doing their thing,” Rattler said. “Offense has to wake up.”
The offense has pretty much been asleep all season.
The Saints have scored 20 points just twice in eight games.
Moore, hired because of his offensive mind, will have to figure it all out.
“We have a lot of stuff to work through, improve and get better at,” Moore said. “That’s the journey we get to take.”
So far, the journey has been a rough one.
It's been hard to watch at times.
On Sunday, most chose not to stick around to watch.