It was the same movie the Saints played in Week 1, only this time it was a tragedy -- not a comedy. The Panthers won 22-14. The Saints head to London with frustration.
After failing to find the scoreboard through three quarters, the Saints put a nominal scare into Carolina, but a last-gasp effort from their own 1-yard line went down in the hands of Jaycee Horn and New Orleans dropped to 1-2 on the young season.
With all that in mind, here are my five quick takeaways following ...
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE...
Jameis Winston says his back isn't an issue. Fine, I believe him. But if that's the case, then we need to have a serious conversation about the offense.
Now, let's start with an important detail: It's not all on him. He didn't tell Mark Ingram and Cesar Ruiz to combine on a chop block that torpedoed a promising opening drive. He didn't force Alvin Kamara to fumble and gift the Panthers their lone touchdown of the day. Jameis doesn't block on field goal attempts. He wasn't standing next to Wil Lutz whisking his kick wide to the right. A lot went wrong beyond Jameis.
And Winston's only meaningful interception ... well, we'll give credit to Derrick Brown and Jaycee Horn on that one.
But it all starts and ends with the quarterback, and if you're not driving winning, then you're driving losing. Too many throws were slightly off. Too many free-money throws were either ignored or not identified. He finished with a stat line that belies the reality: 25-41 for 354 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. The performance actually ended a streak of 20 consecutive games without a 300-yard passer. Figure that one out.
Things started to get untracked late in the first half when he hit a bomb to Chris Olave (finally). And he looked more decisive in the second half as he racked up passing yardage in a failed comeback attempt. Still, slow starts in three consecutive games have made life a lot more difficult than it has to be. You didn't bring in Andy Dalton to start games. I don't really think it's a conversation to be had as long as Jameis is healthy. But a few more starts like this and you might play that reality into this reality.
I'll end that rant with: I expect Jameis will figure things out. There's a long way to go. It's just rough right now.
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ALVIN KAMARA WASN'T ALVIN KAMARA...
The hot take that always misses will be: "Alvin looks disinterested." Nah, that's just how he is. Never too high. Never too low. On perfect balance all the time.
It's usually true of his play-style, too. But in the first half of this one that just wasn't the case. His fumble deep in Saints territory not only hurt, but it handed a touchdown to a team that could accomplish virtually nothing on offense otherwise. Later in the half he had a chance to secure a ball for a first down deep in Bucs territory. It was tipped at the line, but it still qualified as an easy catch. It hit the ground. The Saints were unable to convert on third down, and the chip shot field goal was blocked right before halftime.
Those are the miscues you simply can't have from your star players. Saints RBs have now fumbled three times in as many weeks, with the first two coming from Mark Ingram.
To Alvin's credit he ran like a beast to help lead a 14-play drive to open the second half. But it's clear he was playing hurt, ending the day with 15 carries for 61 yards and another 12 yards receiving. It was reminiscent of the games at the tail-end of the 2019 season when we saw him playing through an MCL injury. Hopefully the rib injury doesn't linger, because this offense is having more than its share of problems. He's gotta be a weapon.
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CAN'T BLAME THE DEFENSE...
Defense doesn't happen in a vacuum. Fatigue is a factor, and so are injuries.
Everything was going right until fill-in safety PJ Williams failed to keep his leverage and Laviska Shenault rumbled 67 yards for a touchdown, also beating Tyrann Mathieu on the way. Marcus Maye was out with a rib injury. It was a rough moment, but when you leave your defense on the field all day, that's gonna happen. This was an exhausted unit in the fourth quarter.
And with the way the offense played through the first three quarters, any chance you had was already stolen for you by the defense. They held up time after time. Christian McCaffrey got his yardage on high volume, but never really broke anything. The pressure was there (3 sacks; 5 QB hits).
It just wasn't enough. We can pin this start on a lot of different things, but pointing to the defense is the wrong approach. The answers need to come on the other side of the ball.
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QUICK HITS
OLAVE IS THE RIGHT FIT: Say what you want about the Jameis Winston-led offense, if you want a big-play threat, you've got him. He made a play that should've shifted momentum before the half. He finished with 147 yards on 9 catches. That's 25 targets in as many weeks. He's going to be a good player for a long time.
THE CB TRIO IS ELITE: Marshon Lattimore/Paulson Adebo/Bradley Roby. When this group is healthy, it's going to be dominant. Baker Mayfield was held to 170 yards on the day, with a majority of that coming on one long catch and run by Shenault. Again, you can't blame the defense.
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ROUGH LUTZ: Hard to blame a kicker on a block, but a chip shot really has to be points. It wasn't right before the half. A miss to the right meant another 3 points was kept off the board. If those two kicks had gone through, Mark Ingram's touchdown early in the 4th quarter would've tied the game.
OL QUALITY: Hard to come away with too much negativity on the offensive line. Even with Andrus Peat out (concussion), the group held up well against a very good Panthers front-7. Gold star for fill-in Calvin Throckmorton. It wasn't perfect, but I thought this group took a step forward the last two weeks after a really tough showing in the opener.
WR PAIN: Jarvis Landry went to the locker room with an ankle injury. He returned to the field but never got back in the game. Michael Thomas went to the locker room midway through the fourth quarter. Tre'Quan Smith popped for 104 yards, but went down hard and appears to have suffered a concussion on a long pass in the fourth quarter. Deonte Harty was also inactive. That group's health will be important to watch going forward.
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