Ups and downs from Saints vs. Chargers

The New Orleans Saints have now dropped six straight games and are not a competitive team. While the team didn’t get embarrassed as badly as the prior two weeks, the Los Angeles Chargers followed the trend of adjusting while the Saints stayed stagnant. New Orleans didn’t have much going for them in the rough loss and now the team will travel to Carolina to take on the 1-7 Panthers.

Up: Jake Haener
Rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler continued to struggle in the loss to the Chargers. In back-to-back weeks, the Saints offense couldn’t score a touchdown with Rattler at quarterback. On Thursday Night Football against the Denver Broncos, second-year quarterback Jake Haener stepped in, looked poised, and led the offense to their first touchdown of the day. While the argument can be made that by that point of the game the Broncos weren’t playing at 100%, Haener was decisive and executed the offense perfectly. Despite not scoring a touchdown, Haener executed the offense better again on Sunday and the results show it. Rattler went 12/24 for 156 yards before being benched at the start of the fourth quarter for Haener. The former Fresno State quarterback would then go 9/17 for 122 yards with most of his incompletions being throwaways and drops. Haener’s four drives ended at mid-field or better with two resulting in field goal attempts and the final ending at the Chargers’ three-yard line.

It’s clear Rattler isn’t ready and still needs time to develop. If Derek Carr is a no-go against the Panthers next Sunday, Haener should get the start.

Down: Everything… again
The Saints have been too competent with losing in recent seasons. Like other weeks, the game’s bright spots for New Orleans have been niche and not much stands out. The offense and defense look bad, and coaching has been downright terrible. Even when certain things are starting to look up, something goes wrong.

The young players for the Saints heavily struggled. Second-year running back Kendre Miller was the only exception, but he would leave the game early and not return with a hamstring injury, something he has struggled with since being a rookie. First-year players for the Saints were called upon against Los Angeles but didn’t rise to the occasion. Spencer Rattler would be benched after the offense had to punt eight times with him at quarterback and Taliese Fuaga, who has been solid all season, struggled against the veteran defensive line for the Chargers. Kool-Aid McKinstry let up play-after-play and whoever he was guarding would become Justin Herbert’s main target.

Dennis Allen has now lost six straight and continues to be one of the bottom three head coaches in the league. While the Saints are usually adamant about waiting for the offseason to make changes (ex. Pete Carmichael) something needs to be done. Allen’s defense is one of the worst units in the league and the team is the second-worst in the NFC. This is Allen’s third season as head coach for the Saints and his teams have only gotten worse. With a 2-6 record and the team being closer to the first overall pick than a playoff chance, maybe it’s time some changes are made.

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