Saints post Week 17 power rankings

NFL.com – 23 (=)
“At this point, do the Saints need to bring back their injured stars for Week 18? Darren Rizzi has continued to keep open the possibility of players such as Derek Carr, Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave returning, but he might be overruled on that one, even with a chance to help knock the Buccaneers out of the playoffs. Spencer Rattler’s had a few moments here and there, but by and large, he’s played about how you’d expect for a rookie picked in the fifth round, especially one who was thrown into a tough situation without much of the supporting cast present. Rizzi is going for a 4-4 mark as interim coach, and his special teams have remained solid, but the defense has fallen along with the offense. It feels like changes are coming to the staff, but will this be a major offseason overhaul? That’s difficult to say. Things are just murky overall with this franchise right now.”

USA Today – 25 (-1)
“The Saints were not able to handle a terrible Las Vegas Raiders team. Not being able to stop Aidan O’Connell or Ameer Abdullah doesn’t bode well for Darren Rizzi.”

Bleacher Report – 26 (-1)

“There probably isn’t a team in the league that wants the season to be over more than the New Orleans Saints. The head coach was fired weeks ago. The roster has been obliterated by injuries on both sides of the ball. The season has just been a mess.

Interim head coach Darren Rizzi has done OK given the utter lack of healthy talent on offense. But the Saints were just blown out by a bad Raiders team and have been outscored 59-10 the past two weeks. For John Sigler of Saints Wire, the path forward means big changes in 2025.

“It doesn’t matter if Rizzi is beloved in the building,” he said. “This version of this Saints team isn’t worth keeping together. Mickey Loomis played it safe to this point and he doesn’t have any positive results to speak for. The Saints need to move on with a new coach who isn’t trying to be Sean Payton, who can bring in their own coaches and players and retool this roster.”

Of course, with one of the worst cap situations in the NFL (annually), making major changes to the roster won’t be easy. The Saints effectively have two choices—crater for a couple years and get the books cleaned up or live in NFL purgatory as a 6-7 win team for the foreseeable future.

Analyst’s Take

The Saints have been competitive under interim head coach Darren Rizzi, but they lack the depth to overcome a slew of injuries on the offensive side of the ball. In Week 17, New Orleans didn’t have quarterback Derek Carr, running back Alvin Kamara or wide receiver Chris Olave because of their injuries. New Orleans will need to reshape an aging roster under a new coaching staff, but this team could bounce back if it can stay relatively healthy and get production out of its young talent. — Moton”

CBS Sports – 27 (-1)
“This season is ending badly, and this team has a ton of work to do this offseason. This might be a few years for a complete rebuild for this group.”

Sports Illustrated – 27 (-4)
“Spencer Rattler had a kind of Anthony Richardson game in that many of his incompletions were either drops or throwaways, or a big gain was negated by some kind of disastrous penalty. He really only threw one horrible pass and it came after, you guessed it, a better pass that was negated by penalty. As much as one can come away impressed with a quarterback after losing 25–10 to the Raiders, I was with Rattler.”