NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen said that he will stick with Andy Dalton as starting quarterback.
“We've got to look at everything,” Saints coach Dennis Allen said Monday when asked about the possibility of making a change from Andy Dalton, whose record as a Saints starter dropped to 2-5 after losses the past two weeks.
“We haven’t been doing as well the last couple of weeks,” Allen added. "So, I think we’ve got to evaluate that.”
It isn't just that the Saints have lost two straight. It's how they've lost.
The offense has functioned poorly in both games, and Allen said after studying video of Sunday's 20-10 loss at Pittsburgh, he “felt like there was some opportunities offensively to make some plays that we didn’t capitalize on.”
While Dalton has had a few strong performances this season, he is now coming off consecutive weeks in which he struggled to move the offense and turned the ball over. In the past two weeks, Dalton has thrown three interceptions and passed for just two TDs. But he also has been under a lot of pressure, in no small part because of New Orleans' difficulty running the ball.
Winston injured his back in Week 1 but started the next two games, and also played part of that stretch with an injured ankle.
With his usually decent mobility limited, Winston often looked unsettled when he dropped back to pass and it showed in his numbers. During Weeks 2 and 3, Winston completed 61.7% of his passes (50 of 81) for 589 yards with two TDs and five interceptions. New Orleans lost both games.
The Saints' offense appeared to operate more efficiently for most of the first five games Dalton started, but has just 429 yards and 26 points in the past two games combined.
In any event, the Saints (3-7) know that a number of changes need to be made and that merely changing quarterbacks is no panacea.
They're fortunate to be just two games out in the NFC South with seven remaining, but their performance and results to this point do not give them much credibility at all as a potential playoff team in their first season since the retirement of long-time coach Sean Payton.
The Saints on Sunday host another team that has struggled to win as much as expected this season. The defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, who've lost three straight to drop to 3-6, invade the Superdome, where New Orleans has gone 2-3 this season.
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Brett Martel with the Associated Press contributed to this report.