NEW ORLEANS — One thing you can say about the 2023 Saints team is they're consistent. Unfortunately, I don't mean that in a good way
The things they struggled with early in the season are still a problem, like containing a quarterback who can run and scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
The Saints really haven't gotten any better at those things. Sure, the result might have been different if not for the Saints' two giveaways, but the reverse is also true.
Let's start our four takeaways:
#4 Badger Ball
Tyrann Mathieu single-handedly gave the Saints a chance. If not for Mathieu's two interceptions. The Falcons might have won this game by 20-plus.
Takeaways have been a strength of this team all season. The Saints have 20 thru 11 games.
That's tied for third-best per game In the NFL. That might be the lone positive.
#3 Offense not good enough
At number three, here's the reality: the Saints' offense just wasn't good enough Sunday to win.
First of all, the pick-six is so hard to overcome. I went back a decade and looked at every Saints game with a pick-six. This is the craziest one in Detroit 2017, three pick-sixes in one game. Marshon Lattimore and Cam Jordan are for the Saints, and A'shawn Robinson for the Lions. The Saints won. Throw that one out.
In the last decade, the Saints have gotten pick-sixes in seven games. They're 7-0 in those games. They've thrown pick-sixes in eleven games, including this one. They're 1-10 in those games.
Jessie Bates' interception was game-changing, and the Saints couldn't fix it because they couldn't score touchdowns in the red zone.
The Saints got there five times. They scored zero touchdowns. Right now, they're 29th in the NFL in scoring TDs in the red zone. 30 NFL quarterbacks have thrown at least 20 passes in the red zone this season.
Derek Carr has completed less than 45 percent of his red zone attempts. That's the 29th best of those 30 quarterbacks.
The point is that Carr and the Saints have been bad in the red zone. And it's been that way all season. Moving the ball up and down the field doesn't mean anything if you can't score.
#2 Defense not good enough
And here's the thing at number two other than Mathieu's takeaways the defense really wasn't any better.
After this game, the Saints are now 11th in the NFL in total defense, giving up 320 yards a game. But in the last four games, they've given up 380 a game, which would be the 29th-best in the league.
The last month has been terrible. The Falcons do one thing well: they run the ball right at you. Everybody knows it. They came into the game averaging the fifth most rushing attempts as a team.
What's so disheartening about this game is that the Saints knew what Atlanta would do. They had two weeks to prepare for it and couldn't stop it. The Falcons nearly rushed for more than 100 yards over their average.
You cannot win If the other team does this.
#1 Reality setting in
At number one, reality is now setting in.
Before the game, you could have hoped that the Saints would hammer the Falcons and pull away in the division. Then Sunday happened.
Here's the reality: the Saints have one of the NFL's oldest rosters. They're under .500, and they're not getting better.
Oh, and now there are a bunch of new injuries. There are a few more chapters to be written in this story.
The Saints are absolutely still alive in the NFC South but the division lost its first head coach Monday. When Carolina fired Frank Reich.
If the Saints don't suddenly show positive growth, could Dennis Allen be the second?
That looks a lot more possible today than it did a week ago.
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