Saints Have to Stop 'Shooting Selves In the Foot'

The Saints have been in this situation before, but this turnaround is going to require a lot more from everyone.

CHARLOTTE -- At 1-2, the Saints have been here before. Most recently, the team started that way in the 2017 and and 2020 seasons, but quickly overcame them to make marches towards the postseason. Naturally, those were different teams with different circumstances.

Costly penalties and turnovers coupled with inefficiency on offense have been the main characteristics for the Saints in the first few weeks, but it doesn't stop there. Things just look lethargic and stagnant, and it's in all phases of the game. Something is off, and New Orleans is losing games they honestly could have won.

"We're beating ourselves," Dennis Allen said after the game.

"We're beating ourselves with penalties. We're beating ourselves turning the football over, and that's got to stop."

The Saints have been blanked on the scoreboard a good bit in their first several quarters, but have rallied in the fourth quarter to at least make things close or interesting. However, that has to stop.

"Shot ourselves in the foot a lot of times," Ryan Ramczyk said.

"It's just one of those things, you do it too many times, you can't get out of that hole. I know this team is scratching and clawing to get out if it, but it just wasn't enough today and it was too many mistakes."

The mood around the locker room seems unified, and shade or blame isn't being placed on any particular player or area.

"We have a resilient group here. I know there's not anyone who's doubting this team in this locker room. We're going to regroup and we're going to look at what we did and what we need to improve on and be ready to go next week."

New Orleans has been crippled by slow starts in each of their games, something that has to change immediately.

Cam Jordan said, "We have to focus on what we have to do as a mission on defense. We talk about stopping the run. Today was not stopping the run. They averaged almost 4.5 yards a clip. We start there and we'll work off everything else after that."

Jordan said that luckily it's only game three, but the team has to clean up their stuff now. 

"I think that this a time where we have a chance to capture a moment that has been given to us. I think we have leaders on all sides of the ball. I think we have the right people in the locker room. I think we have a lot of talent. I think we have a lot of vocal leaders as well, leaders by example throughout our building. This is the time that we're going to have to focus on what we do, focus on in-house. Clean up whatever it takes."

"We don't like to lose, that's just it," Jameis Winston said after the game.

Winston also talked about having better execution to start faster, and also talked about not shooting themselves in the foot.

"We have to find a way to finish drives, and we will."

Winston has been put in the limelight as a big reason why the team is struggling, but Allen said that there's enough mistakes to go around, and that it wasn't just one particular area to place blame. He also reiterated that he feels confident with Winston. 

The belief and fight is there, and the team is saying the right things right now, but it ultimately comes down to a matter of execution. This Saints team is very talented, and all phases of the game, including coaching, have got to do a better job. Hopefully, this week in London sees the Saints come closer together and turn the ship around, but it's going to take every single person to make that happen, and the tides working against them in the form of injuries may also make it a bit more challenging.

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