The New Orleans Saints will start the 2026 season with a loss. While starting the season 0-1 is never good, New Orleans showed a lot of fight in the loss, fighting back from being down 21 points to having a chance to win in it overtime with a two-point attempt.
The Saints are now tied with the entire NFC South with a 0-1 record and will take on the Baltimore Ravens on the road next week.
Without a doubt, wide receiver Chris Olave was going to land on this week’s ups and downs list. After a drop while fighting through contract issues, we all looked at this game with a different look. The Saints and Olave didn’t look prepared, and his pivotal drop emphasized it.
But the Olave and Tyler Shough connection heated up quickly, and the $124 million wideout finished the day with 10 receptions and a career-high 182 receiving yards. The fifth-year receiver was bound for a big day, with the Lions being down Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, and he took every opportunity that was presented.
While it’s been just one week of football, Olave is the current league leader in receiving yards. With his growing connection with Shough, Olave has a chance to finish the year as a top-three wide receiver.
Some people will be upset that Tyler Shough is making an appearance as a positive after Sunday’s game, and can you blame them? Shough started the day completing 10-of-23 pass attempts for 85 yards and 2 interceptions. That is worse than a terrible start, and it appeared that all Saints fans’ biggest fears have come true.
But it’s what happened after that second interception in the second half that completely changed how we view Shough. After his terrible start, Shough completed 25-of-33 pass attempts for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns. A switch was flipped, and the second-year quarterback went from uncomfortable and incapable to a confident passer who was making unbelievable throws.
It’s still hard to justify making Shough a positive for this game. If he plays even half as well as he did in the second half, the Saints would’ve walked out victors. But the resilience he showed, along with the rest of the team, is something to highlight and makes me feel better about the team going forward.
Punter Ryan Wright looks exactly as the Saints hoped after signing him to a large four-year, $14 million deal. The veteran punter had five attempts on Sunday, averaging 47.6 yards per punt and landing the Lions in their own 20-yard line twice. Wright had a long of 57 yards.
It’s an advantage to have a top punter, and the former Minnesota Viking showed that in the loss, forcing the once-struggling Detroit Offense to go 70+ yards plenty of times.
The Saints were completely outclassed in the run game. Jahmyr Gibbs dominated the Saints’ run defense, ending the day with 156 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Gibbs averaged 5.4 yards per carry.
On the flip side, the Saints’ entire team finished the day with just 91 rushing yards, led by Travis Etienne, who ran the ball just 9 times for 46 yards. New Orleans spent a lot of money in the offseason to ensure their rushing offense, and we were yet to see it in their Week 1 loss.
The Saints rushing struggles led to Shough having to throw 56 passes in the first game in his sophomore season. Throwing 50 times a game for a chance to win is simply not sustainable, and the Saints need to establish the run, especially after the big signings of Etienne and David Edwards.
Have I said the Saints’ start was horrible yet? You can’t win a game starting like that. Well, maybe you can. The Saints somehow almost did. But realistically, New Orleans needs to be better out the gate and it has been a problem since Moore’s first season as head coach.
Shough admitted during the post-game press conference the Lions defense was sending plenty of different unscouted looks. Understandably, this unpreparedness resulted in early struggles. This isn’t the problem. The problem here is how long it took for Moore to identify these looks and counter them. It wasn’t until the middle of the third quarter where the offense finally looked alive.
The Saints need to start faster, and make adjustments even quicker.