The New Orleans Saints aren’t just bad — they’re annoyingly bad.
They’re the kind of bad where the defense plays its heart out, only for the offense to forget how to move the ball. Their Week 8 loss to Tampa Bay — a 23–3 embarrassment — was the perfect microcosm of their season: solid defense, offensive collapse, and endless frustration.
So Close, Yet So Far
Week after week, the Saints find new and creative ways to lose. They’re always close enough to hope, but never good enough to finish. Here’s how it’s gone so far:
Aside from the implosion that was the Week 3 game vs Seattle, the Saints have been competing in winnable games the whole year.
In the season opener in Week 1 against the Cardinals, the Saints were probably one dropped pass or one less penalty away from at least an overtime game. Arizona would win 20-13.
In Week 2, the Saints’ defense had a pathetic performance against the Purdy and Kittle-less 49ers, in a game that was riddled with penalties for New Orleans. San Francisco beat the Saints, 26-21.
The Saints were competing with one of the NFL’s best teams in the Buffalo Bills, in Week 4. This was until the very end of the game, when Josh Allen was able to pull away. Buffalo won the game 31-19 (a score that was not indicative of how close the game was).
The Saints won their Week 5 matchup over the New York Giants in Jaxson Dart‘s second start. The Saints were able to force five turnovers. The offense scored 26 points to the Giants’ 14.
Week 6 saw a fierce battle between the Saints and Patriots, but ultimately, a lost fumble cost the Saints the game, 25-19.
In Week 7, Spencer Rattler began to fall apart, as he had four turnovers against the Chicago Bears. The Bears won, 26-14.
And finally, in Week 8, the Saints had their most pathetic performance of the season against Tampa Bay. The defense played extremely well, all things considered, and only allowed 3.8 yards per play, holding the Baker Mayfield-led Bucs to only 16 points. Week 8 was the first time this season that Mayfield did not score a touchdown. With that defensive performance, the offense has to at least compete.
The Saints’ offense didn’t just stall — it completely disappeared.
Offensive Ineptitude
It’s almost impressive how consistently the Saints find ways to sabotage themselves. They are 29th in the league in PPG (16.0), and have a -2 turnover differential.
Sunday’s matchup was the worst offensive game of the year for the Saints so far. New Orleans only managed to score three points and had four turnovers. In a divisional game, that is unacceptable.
Rattler threw a pick and lost a fumble, and because the offense could not muster up any life, Kellen Moore benched Rattler in the third quarter, likely for the season, and brought in rookie QB Tyler Shough.
Shough was also unable to lead an efficient offense, and the Saints failed to score any more points for the rest of the game.
Defense Doing Its Part
As many big plays as the defense has allowed this season (aside from Week 8), they have at least kept this team in games. It has been a complete lack of offense that has led to the Saints’ league-worst 1-7 record.
It was clear before Week 7 that Rattler was going to be “serviceable”. He wasn’t going to actively lose games, but he was also not doing anything to win these games. However, over the last two weeks, Rattler has looked like his scared 2024 self, unable to generate positive plays and collapsing under pressure.
Even if the offense was average, the Saints could easily have had a few more wins under their belt. Instead, they keep making mistakes, and the players that are supposed to be elevating this team (Chris Olave, Alvin Kamara, Juwan Johnson, Rashid Shaheed) are doing nothing of the sort. You can’t win in the NFL if your stars can’t make plays.
The Saints aren’t hopeless — they’re just allergic to their own potential. Every week, they flirt with competence before collapsing into chaos.
At 1-7, they’re not a disaster because they lack talent — they’re a disaster because they can’t get out of their own way. That’s what makes them so annoyingly bad.
Leave a comment