When it came to the playoffs, the Saints never quite marched in. In fact, their best season under this coaching staff was in 2022, at 8-8 that wasn't even close to good enough. What went wrong, and where did it go wrong?
The Saints thought they were setting themselves up for a future of glory in 2018 giving up a luxury of picks to move up into the draft to select QB Tucker Martin. Martin had it all, the arm, the brains, the wheels. Despite the confusion around Drew Brees deciding to play another year, and the Saints giving up a 2nd earlier in the year for CJ Beathard, they pulled the trigger on draft night, assuming he would lead them to the promise land. Coach James Panos has spoken many times on the QB debacle in 2018, stating that the team had spoken to multiple teams towards the top of the draft with no luck, which led to the beathard trade. He also reveals Brees was very quiet about his career decision; "We reached out to Drew a few times during the off season with the intention of finding out how much longer we would have him around for, fully prepared to offer a long term deal. Nothing came of it, he wasn't sure, the team wasn't performing well", Panos says of the HoF QB, "We did not have a back up plan, maybe we acted to harshly on the trade, but we felt like we were getting what we needed". They weren't completely wrong, Tucker Martin has not been a complete disaster, but has failed to lead the team to the playoffs, even in the years where the defense played elite football.
The coaching staff could never figure out how to get the ball moving on the ground, despite having Adrian Peterson and Todd Gurley at some point in the last 8 years, they never had a 1000 yard rusher, not once. The Saints heavily invested in OLine between the 2020-2022 Seasons, developing Ryan Ramczyck, trading for Pat Elfien, signing Taylor Decker, Trading for Vincent Fountain; it did not matter, the running game never improved and they were forced to win games through their defense, and the occasional Tucker Martin miracle play. To make matters worse, it was recently brought to the attention of the Saints coaching staff that the best runner they've had in 8 years, Devyn Payne, is facing a 1 game suspension for conduct detrimental to the league., things cant get much worse for the teams hopes of improving the ground game in the short tenure the office has left. With Martinez Mccullers looking as the lead back for the next season, the arrow is trending downwards.
Did the front office ever care about winning? The front office was absent for 5+ rookie drafts, an unacceptable feat. They had periods of time spending loads of money on Aged veterans and their limited trades in an attempt to make it up, safe to say, it didn't work.
Maybe the coaching was just poor, time and time again the Saints would push down field only to come away with 3 points, or in many cases a turnover, there was no drive by the offense to score, no fire, no pride. Any coach in this league would be disgusted to witness what this staff did week in and week out; not the Saints, they continued to let it happen, time and time again.
Due to the CBA, this coaching staff as 2 years left under contract; 2 years left to give the fans a taste of the playoffs, or at least a taste of winning football, and it doesn't appear it's going to happen. Their division mates are too far ahead, and despite a late season momentum swing, its too little too late. It will be hard for any team concerned with winning to make any offers to this staff when the current CBA cycle ends.
Through 5 weeks of the season we have seen Tucker Martin go from middle of the road, inconsistent Quarterback, to the Black and Gold Super hero.
Amongts Quarterbacks thus far with 125+ passing attempts, he is 3rd in passer rating, only behind Aaron Rodgers of the Miami Dolphins, and Marcus Mariota of the New York Giants.
Despite the fantastic numbers Martin put up this game, it was no sure fire win, it took 4 quarters and just about an entire overtime quarter to decide it. After holding the panthers to a field goal on their first overtime drive, Martin beautifuly orchestrated a blazing drive towards the end zone, on the final play of the game, the ball was kept by Martin on a read option, the ball was knocked loose as he dove into the endzone, and LT Ryan Ramczyk was able to scoop it up, resulting in a touchdown.
This game had its fair share of oddities, from a pick 6 by newly acquired OLB Damien Wilson, to a roughing the kicker penalty with 1 second left in the first half, you could not look away for a single second without missing something that could be talked about for weeks amongst these teams.
The Saints have arguably the toughest stretch of games coming up that any team will face for the rest of the season:
vs Bucs
@Eagles
@Jets
@Bills
The Saints will need to win at least 2 of these games to stay afloat the NFC race, and will probably need a little help from outside the divison when it comes to Carolina and Tampa Bay.
Coach Panos stated that the team can not wory about their next few opponents, and need to take each game as it comes, focusing on film, and putting themselves in the right position to make the right plays.
Judging from that schedule, it may take a little more than film, and positioning to come out with wins.
The Saints will go into their bye at 2-2. Not a disasterous start, but definetely not a successful one, they let the Panthers game slip away late, and were completely dismantled by Miami.
Coach Panos has called for extra practice on the off week, opting for more prep work, rather than some extra rest. This may be just what the team needs as some motivation, as they come right out of the bye into a divisional matchup against the undefeated Carolina Panthers. This will be the biggest game yet this season, and could determine if the Saints still have a shot at the NFC South Divisional Title. It doesn't get any easier from there, as the schedule becomes vs Bucs, @Eagles, @Jets, @Bills. All 4 teams who have been just about perennial playoff contenders, if there is any time for a superstar to be born, its during that stretch.
To continue any sort of success the saints have to improve on defense, keep the ground game going, and get to the quarterback, these are areas that teams have continued to exploit, and they can not be successful without fixing it.
The Message was heard from the top to the bottom of the roster, mediocrity will not be tolerated. The front office released 3 players, and demoted another 3, and were replaced by Free Agents and Practice Squad game hopefuly.
The Saints came out swinging, chasing down the ball, pressuring the quarter back and making plays. PJ Williams who was recently demoted to nickel corner, picked off Archambeau twice, once for a Touchdown.
FA pick up Arsenio Reid looks to be the coaches plan for the future. The 3rd year back out of Pitt ran 7 times for 38 yards, and picked up 12 yards and a touchdown on a beautiful crafted screen play.
Tucker Martin has finally learned to watch Redzone middle linebackers, and taking what they give you. After the game he was recorded saying "Alot of these guys are insistent on watching the big pass plays, attempting to disrupt the passing game, something I've worked on and will continue to work on is not biting, I will use my legs if I have the space, I cant hurt the guys throwing wild passes to deep middle line backers"
The Saints will go into their bye week at 2-2 tied with Tampa Bay. They will face division leading Carolina after the bye at home.
The Saints came in to this game with high hopes coming off of a win, playing the home opener. Aaron Rodgers and the receiving crew from Miami spoiled the party. Rodgers couldn't miss, and the Dolphin receivers found open spaces all over the field. The plays the saints did make, were quickly wiped out as the Dolphins scored 3 different times on plays 60+ Yards.
After the game Coach Panos stated "Something has to change, we went in with a plan, and it all fell apart, we wanted to make Aaron uncomfortable, get him out of a flow, and it didn't work. He was able to basically play back yard football, and that can't happen with players that good, against teams that well built"
The Saints did see some hope with Tucker Martin, he was able to lead two long drives, not showing any fear.
The Saints are at home again, taking on the Green Bay Packers.
0-2 Baltimore Ravens VS 2-0 Kansas City Chiefs.
It sounds crazy picking an 0-2 team for a game of the week, but this is no ordinary 0-2 team. These are the defending RZ Superbowl Champions. They are off to a rough start boasting a bottom 5 defensive unit, and 3rd most Penalty Yards (82), in the league, pair these things together, and you have a disaster soup. Luckily for them, their 2 losses are against top 5 teams in the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Jets. The scary part for them is not the penalties, not the defensive yards given, but 2nd year QB Eric Haskins, coming off of a ROTY campaign is off to a Sophomore slump throwing 4 interceptions thus far, which is half of what he threw ALL LAST SEASON, scary stuff.
On the other end of this matchup is the Kansas City Chiefs, who also do not look great on defense, at all, but offensively have been extremely efficient and heavy, with currently the league leading 178 Rush Yards per game through 2. 2nd year Defensive centerpiece Roosevelt McMillon looks like a DPOY candidate early on with 21 TAK 3 SCK and 1 INT. The Chiefs are off to a hot start and have not only taken care of the ball, but are 2nd in the league with 5 Turnovers created.
Claytons Pick: Kansas City 28-20
The Champs will show some fight, but a team near leading in penalties, and bad defense, against a team that is pounding the rock down people's throats is a disgusting recipie. I expect Haskins to be dirty early with McMillon disrupting the offense.
The Saints Defense was the story of today, holding the Cowboys to just 47 yards rushing, and picking off Dak Prescott once. Despite 2 fantastic drives led by the cowboys, The Saints were able to keep the offense off rythym and out of sync.
The Offense showed that despite the "bad" numbers, it can be efficient and effective. The Offense tallied 115 yards on the ground, even with starting HB Carlos Hyde leaving in the 2nd quarter due to a shoudler injury after a gruesome facemask tackle. 4th year QB Tucker martin once again looked extremely efficient, before acknowledging a dropped pass by TE Nic Leno that was tipped into 2nd year CB Dixon Houstons hands for an interception.
The Saints will face off against the Miami Dolphins at home next week, the Saints will look to move the ball on a stout, sound defense.
Players to watch:
MIA- #59 LOLB Francis Bedell ( 4 TAK, 1 SCK)
NO- #8 QB Tucker Martin (401 YDS, 71.2%, 5TD, 2INT)
The Saints sideline had to be feeling good as 4th year QB Tucker Martin lead the offense down the field with less than 2 minutes, obvious he was about to obtain his first game winning drive of the season. With less than 1 minute on the clock, Martin hit new acquistion Jordan matthews on an in route, right at the goal line, it was dropped, 2 plays later the Carolina Panthers picked him off, and lead victory formation to win 27-21.
The are some positives to see here. The offense was able to score, the run game looked precise. Carlos hyde seems to give the run game in New Orleans a spark it hasn't seen in 4 years.
One major concern was Martins inability to pick up pressure, as he was sacked 10 times over the course of the game, and did not attempt to draw the defense offsides until the 3rd quarter.
After the game martin was quoted as saying "I have to do better, I will do better; this one is on me".
Although fans at home will disagree. Opposing Quarterback Mike Mcclure did his best impression of Doogie Howser MD, performing surgery on the secondary that on paper looked to be shut down this season. That has to be the biggest let down from this game, the front office spent money and draft capital on the defense, and through one game, you can't say it has paid off.
The Saints face off against The Dallas Cowboys (0-1) in Dallas, the defense will be what everyone is watching to find improvement.