NFL Statistics: A Look At How The Saints Defense Ranked This Season

How a suddenly bad New Orleans defense fared in the NFL rankings this season.

New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis (56) and defensive end Cameron Jordan (94)greets former teammate Marshon Lattimore (23) of Washington / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Sunday's 27-19 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers left the New Orleans Saints with a 5-12 record to finish the 2024-25 season. The Saints will have the ninth overall selection in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

New Orleans performed poorly in nearly every facet of the game most of this season. The offensive performances were tainted because of an unbelievable amount of injuries that crippled the unit.

Defensively was a far different story. That unit stayed relatively healthy compared to the offense and was expected to be the strength of the team. Instead, the New Orleans defense plummeted to the bottom of the league and was the worst product that the Saints put on the field in years.

Here's how the Saints defense ranked as the season came to a close.

SAINTS DEFENSE

Points Allowed = 19th

• 398 points
• 23.4 per game

New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan (94) leaps over a blocker to sack Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

New Orleans performed well enough defensively to start the year, especially in the red zone. They held their first three opponents to under 20 points and surrendered 21 or fewer points eight times during the season.

Still, the 398 points given up by the Saints was their most since 454 in 2016. Oddly, it was a fairly consistent baseline of a mid to high 20s mark that their limited offense just couldn't match.

The low points, as far as scoring, came in giving up an astounding 51 points to Tampa Bay and 33 to a mediocre Denver offense the following week. Green Bay, with an easy 34 in Week 16, was the only other team to score 30 or more against the Saints.

Total Yards = 30th

• 379.9 per game

New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Bryan Bresee (90) sacks Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The Saints had games where they limited opposing point production. They were never able to stop the opposition from moving and possessing the ball at will. It was an atrocious performance that ultimately was the main reason defensive-minded head coach Dennis Allen was fired after Week 9.

New Orleans allowed at least 375 total yards 10 times this season. Six of those games were outputs of over 400 yards. The lowest point was Week 6, when the Buccaneers tore through the hapless Saints for and incredible 594 yards.

Teams like the Raiders, Browns, Broncos, and Chargers had mediocre or worse offenses this season. Against the Saints, those teams averaged 400 total yards.

What was once a reason that New Orleans at least stayed in games was a primary reason for 12 losses in 2024.

Passing Yards = 27th

• 238.5 per game
• 19 touchdowns
• 14 interceptions
• 39 sacks

New Orleans Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry (14) breaks up a pass to Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb (88) / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

New Orleans came into 2024 with the league's best cornerback unit. A season-ending injury to Paulson Adebo in Week 7 along with injury and subsequent trade of Marshon Lattimore changed that.

Rookie second-round choice Kool-Aid McKinstry had a nice year and Alontae Taylor is a good player, but the secondary as a whole underachieved. Coverage breakdowns, especially in crucial moments, plagued the defense all season and directly led to three losses.

The secondary was at least among the league leaders in interceptions through the first half of the year, led by veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu three picks. However, the unit didn't even provide that down the stretch and the linebackers made few plays in coverage.

An equally large problem for the Saints was a lack of pass rush. Second-year DT Bryan Bresee led the Saints with 7.5 sacks and was one of the bright spots. Despite the good pressure number from ends Carl Granderson, Chase Young, and Cam Jordan, the Saints were often unable to finish and were helpless against quarterbacks with any mobility.

Rushing Yards = 31st

• 141.4 per game
• 4.9 per rush (31st)
• 20 touchdowns

Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) is takled by New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis (56) / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

As bad as the New Orleans pass defense was, their run defense performed at a downright abysmal level. Not long ago one of the league's most stout against the run, opponents cut through the Saints with shocking ease this season.

The Saints won in two blowouts to start the year that caused opponents to basically abandon the run by halftime. After that, New Orleans allowed an average of 152 rushing yards per game and 5.1 per carry. Eight opponents cruised for over 150 yards on the ground, with an embarrassing six gaining more than 170 rushing yards.

Mediocre or worse ground attacks like the Chiefs, Broncos, Rams, and Raiders averaged 169 rushing yards against the Saints. Raiders RB Ameer Abdullah had the fourth most rushing yards in his 10-year career by halftime of their game at New Orleans. Before the final gun, he had the first 100-yard outing of his 143-game career.

Most embarrassing was the Saints performance against Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers gained a franchise-record 277 rushing yards while averaging an eye-popping 7.9 per carry. Tampa Bay RB Sean Tucker gained 136 yards on the ground and had 192 all-purpose yards. In Tucker's other 27 games combined, he has 195 yards as a runner and 257 all-purpose yardage.

This is just the most egregious example of how poorly the Saints have played. The team was pushed around by nearly all their opponents and played undisciplined football. Probably worst is the fact that New Orleans was possibly the worst tackling team in the NFL, both in fundamentals and effort.

There are several reasons why the Saints had their worst season since 2005. A comparatively healthy defense was just as responsible for a New Orleans plummet in the standings as was the rash of injuries on offense and poor coaching.