Saints post Week 8 power rankings

NFL.com – 25 (-1)
“Spencer Rattler started again in place of the injured Derek Carr, but for a second straight double-digit loss, the Saints made a call to the bullpen for Jake Haener late. It didn’t work, even though Haener threw for 122 yards in about a quarter and a half, muddling New Orleans’ short- and long-term plans at QB. Carr is on track to return from his oblique injury in time for this Sunday’s game at Carolina, which could spell the end of a six-game losing streak, but will it even matter? The season has slipped away from New Orleans after a 2-0 start, and the pressure on the coaching staff to find fixes to their problems seemingly grows with each loss, the last four of which have come by 13 or more points.”

USA Today – 27 (-3)
The Saints remain in a free-fall the past few weeks. Their offense doesn’t exist. Dennis Allen has to be thinking, “I am in trouble here.”

Bleacher Report – 27 (-2)

“And then it was six.

The collapse of the 2024 New Orleans Saints continued unabated Sunday in Los Angeles. A blowout loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers was the Saints sixth straight. The team benched backup quarterback Spencer Rattler for Jake Haener against the Bolts, but that was simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Derek Carr could return this week, but he’s not going to save what is clearly a lost season.

There has been no shortage of discussion of head coach Dennis Allen’s future with the team. But he told reporters all he’s concerned with is putting a stop to this long losing streak against the Carolina Panthers in Week 9.

“The message is, it’s the people in the room in there that are going to have to change it,” Allen said. “Nobody’s coming from outside the building. It’s going to have to be the people in the locker room, coaches, to fix it. That’s what it is. And we have to pay better attention to all the details. And we have to do a better job of coaching all the details, because the details matter in our league and we don’t get to pick and choose which ones do and which ones don’t.”

Beating the awful Panthers might be doable, especially if Carr’s back. But it won’t save New Orleans’ season—or Allen’s job.

Analyst’s Take

“I’ve tended to view the Saints favorably during the Dennis Allen era, because New Orleans has played well enough to remain relevant in the NFC South. That’s no longer the case, though, because the Saints have too many injuries and too little talent to salvage this season. Even in the perennial winnable NFC South, New Orleans is cruising toward irrelevance.”

“This isn’t the worst team in the NFL, but it’s trending toward the bottom—and the powerhouse that New Orleans appeared to be during its 2-0 start isn’t making a return.” — Davenport”

CBS Sports – 24 (-2)
“The injuries have this team at 2-6, which is a hole that might be too big to get out of this season. Dennis Allen’s seat is a lot hotter now.”

Sports Illustrated – 28 (-4)
“With 2:36 to go in the third quarter of this game, the Saints ran a play that nearly sent my heart into arrhythmia due to the sheer amount of stress it caused. Here’s how I can best describe it: Jake Haener is trying to get off a quick pass to Taysom Hill but Derwin James shoots into the backfield and nearly bodies Haener. So Haener kind of submarine delivers it to Hill. Then Hill, with three defenders converging on him, whips it across the entirety of the field to Alvin Kamara. It’s almost intercepted since the Chargers have absolutely wrecked the backfield at this point. Then Kamara is just tackled after gaining like two yards. So … go Saints!”