What We Learned From the Saints In Week 7

After starting 2-0, the Saints have lost 4 of their last 5 games. Here's what we learned from their latest loss to the Jaguars on Thursday Night Football.

NEW ORLEANS -- Missed opportunities. Inconsistency. Slow starts. Miscommunication. These are things that are plaguing the 2023 Saints, and if they don't get a handle on it after this mini-bye, it's going to send them packing early even before the postseason gets here. It's been painful to watch how things unfold, and while New Orleans did a nice job in the second half fighting, it just wasn't enough to get a win against the Jaguars.

Here's some of the many things we learned on Thursday Night Football.

What We Learned From the Saints In Week 7

THERE'S MAJOR THINGS TO ASSESS BEFORE THE NEXT GAME

I'm not exactly sure how many times Dennis Allen referenced or mentioned the words consistency and inconsistency, but it was a lot. 

This was another game in which the defense got off to a slow start, and they did rebound in a big way in the second half, but this can't be the common theme when the offense is struggling so much. In the same breath, it's completely unfair to blame them when they've done all they can. It doesn't have to be perfect, just be better. One thing that cannot continue to happen is the yards a quarterback picks up evading the pocket, and Allen also made that very clear.

As far as other things, particularly the offense, it certainly feels like we're at the point where we've seen enough of the struggles. The Saints offense needs some type of change. I don't know what exactly that looks like, but you can't convince me that this keep doing what you're doing approach is going to work. Hope is not a business strategy. 

The offense was better in the second half, and that fight was encouraging, but what is hard to watch each week is the miscommunication, pre-snap confusion, problems getting play calls and getting lined up, frustration boiling over, route issues, and the list goes on. Let's also add on the fact the team went 3/18 on 3rd Down. That's pretty bad. If Dennis Allen says they're going to look at everything, we expect to see some changes before this team plays against the Colts next Sunday.

THERE'S A KICKING PROBLEM

Blake Grupe was able to rebound from his early miss, which was a good sign to see. However, the 39-yard punt from Lou Hedley cannot happen. This is reminiscent of what Blake Gillikin did against the Bengals that ended up setting up a short field for them to get a win. This is two weeks in a row that things that aren't supposed to happen actually do, and all facets of the game have to work.

THE SAINTS NEED TO WORK ON THE END OF GAME SEQUENCE

It's seriously unfair to berate Foster Moreau. He's taking things really hard from the loss, and while fans are going to feel a certain way and Moreau is going to blame himself, his teammates rallied around him. That one play is a microcosm of the Saints issues that unfolded during the game.

What is an issue is that this is two games now we've seen really bad stuff on offense at the end of the game. Whether it was the wrong play call, wrong matchup, wrong personnel, a lack of execution, or anything else you could come up with, it's not working. 

THE PATCHWORK ON THE O-LINE WORKED

There were a lot of pressures at times, but I thought the offensive line the Saints rolled out actually did a lot better than what anyone could have expected. The team was able to run the ball and Derek Carr only took one sack. Andrus Peat hadn't played left tackle since 2018, while Cameron Erving hasn't been with the team but a couple of weeks. They had some good moments, and New Orleans should at least get Ryan Ramczyk and Landon Young back after the mini-bye. 

ALVIN KAMARA IS PISSED OFF

There's a lot of players that deserve to be pissed off, but Alvin Kamara had a ton of things to say in his postgame press conference.

Kamara said, "I think we left some opportunity out there thought. I think there's some matchups we have to take advantage of. I think that's how we're used to playing -- matchup, matchup ball. It's tough cause sometimes I feel like we're not playing matchup ball. We're just playing."

"Everybody's frustrated. We got to find a way to win. We got to find a way to, you now, be on the good foot man. Sh-- sucks right now. That's all I can say, but I'm blessed man."

Kamara was asked if the team is closer now to being who they want to be. He said, "No. Just being honest. I can't even elaborate. I don't think so. It's not enough. Obviously. That's what we're seeing. We're finding it hard to start fast. I think we're finding it hard to maintain, to execute sometimes, and I think we're finding it hard to finish. And that's kind of like the, that's like the glaring and reoccurring thing, reoccurring theme."

Kamara has no interest in watching the Jaguars film, and wants to quickly turn the page to the Colts game. He said that he wants to figure out what to do to get a win. 

"I'm not a loser. I'm not a loser at anything in life. I don't like to lose. I'm not like really an emotional person where it's like, 'Ah, I'm pissed off. I'm pissed.' But I'm pissed, than a mother(expletive). I'm pissed. Like, for real, like I'm telling ya'll I'm pissed. But at the same time I'm blessed though, you know what I'm saying, so I mean it's just like you got to take the good with the bad."

The Saints have to find a way to win, and Kamara was pretty honest about the extra time not necessarily being a help overall.