The New Orleans Saints lost to the rival Atlanta Falcons 24-10 Sunday. Here are three things we learned as the Saints dropped to 2-9 on the season.
Fool’s gold (and black)
Remember two weeks ago when the Saints went to Carolina and got a win? Then you looked at the remaining schedule and saw a slate of winnable games and thought the Saints may just go on a run and win four or five of their last seven games. Well, think again. It’s probably not happening. The Saints reverted back to their old ways Sunday and looked like that dreadful team that you saw for most of the first 10 weeks of the season. When the season is over and we look back at the game in Charlotte, we’ll see that game was an outlier and not the day the Saints turned the corner.
No O
Kellen Moore was hired because he was supposed to be an offensive guru. It was hard to tell Sunday by the way the Saints struggled when they had the ball. The Saints’ lone touchdown came from the defense when Justin Reid returned an interception for a score in the second quarter. It’s too bad the offense didn’t do its share of the lifting. You’re not going to win many games when you go 0-for-3 in the red zone. The play calling was questionable at times (like the Taysom Hill pass on fourth-and-goal from the 1). The execution wasn't great either (bad snap on third-and-goal from the 1). Tyler Shough’s numbers (30 of 43, 243 yards, 1 interception) were OK, but none of it matters when the team doesn’t reach the end zone.
Just for kicks
Blake Grupe had another rough day. Grupe missed what should have been a chip-shot 38-yard field goal in the first quarter and then a 47-yard field goal in the final minute of the first half. Both were wide right. He ended up making a 33-yarder in the fourth quarter to end his drought. For the season, Grupe has made 18 of 26 field goals (69%). Before Sunday, Grupe seemed to have got back on track after a slow start. He had made seven of his last eight coming into Sunday. But his misses caused the Saints six points. It wouldn't hurt to give practice-squad kicker Charlie Smyth a shot.