The Saints went into a game without a third of their roster, including their top two quarterbacks, and the results weren't exactly surprising in a 20-3 loss to the Dolphins.
Ian Book got battered behind an overmatched, backup offensive line. An undermanned defense played well, but it was clear early on this game wasn't going to end the way the Saints wanted (and needed) it to on Monday Night Football.
The playoff hopes aren't dashed, but the Saints no longer control their own destiny with two games left to play.
With all that in mind, here are my top three takeaways from another frustrating night at the Caesars Superdome.
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1. IAN BOOK ... DID HIS JOB
It wasn't pretty, and look ... it was absolutely, unequivocally never going to be that way.
We knew that before the game started with 22 Saints players and four coaches on the COVID list. We knew that before Ian Book's second pass of his NFL career went for an ugly pick-6 (the ball appeared to be tipped).
But if you can say anything about Book, it's that he never got rattled. He got hit. He got chased for his life. He made some bad reads. But in the end, it was a reasonably positive showing for a rookie taking his first career NFL snaps on Monday Night Football out of nothing but necessity.
Seriously, I don't care who the quarterback is ... there's not a ton you can do with this. Book was like a boxer that kept getting up, and at certain points it felt like he should stay down for his own safety.
The rookie finished the night 12-for-20 for 135 yards and two interceptions. He was sacked eight times, a season high for any of the Saints' four starting QBs.
There were certainly some nice moments. In the rare instances Book could stand and go through his progressions behind what could generously be called a patchwork OL, he delivered the ball with confidence and picked up some nice chunk plays. There was a clear connection with Marquez Callaway. The athleticism was evident, even if it was largely shown in instances where the play was dead and Book was running for his life.
The rookie didn't perform any miracles, but he was never going to. He did enough to keep this Saints team in touch throughout much of a game it had no business winning, COVID made sure of that.
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His first NFL start will, most likely, be the final one of Book's rookie season, assuming the season doesn't effectively end in Week 17. Will he be in contention for the starting job in 2022? That's a question to answer down the road. But he did enough to think this won't be his final chance to start in the NFL. Hopefully the next time it comes with an actual NFL roster around him.
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2. MARQUEZ CALLAWAY HAS TURNED A CORNER
The Saints haven't had an elite pass-catcher on this roster all season, Alvin Kamara notwithstanding. That's not meant to drag any of the current WRs, it's just reality.
With that said, there are several impressive players who could thrive as a second or third option. There's no shame in that. In reality, it's a great thing in a universe where Michael Thomas gets back on the field and represents that elite option.
But for the 2021 season, it's been Marquez Callaway acting the part of a WR1 in his second year after going undrafted out of Tennessee. After a rave-worthy training camp and preseason, he was silent a bit too often early in the season, but still found his way into the end zone six times. He's shown off an impressive ability on jump balls, twice coming down with touchdowns thrown up for grabs by Jameis Winston.
But things started opening up late in the season, and Callaway has shown the abilities in Weeks 15 and 16 that should still portend better days ahead. He caught 6 passes for 112 yards from Taysom Hill, his first 100-yard receiving game, in a win over the Tampa Bay Bucs. He followed that up with a 4-catch, 46-yard performance in Week 16 with Ian Book slinging the ball, numbers that don't jump off the page, but stand out on a night with little offense to speak of.
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If the Saints can assemble a receiving group with a truly elite weapon at the top of the depth chart, Callaway could be in for a lot of big days with a bit less defensive attention aimed his way. Regardless, he's a player that's still getting better and he appears to have turned a bit of a corner, even if it comes in a season that might be destined to end outside the playoff field.
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3. THE PASS-RUSH CAN WRECK GAMES
The most frustrating thing about how the Saints had to play this game was that even without 22 players up and down the roster, the defense still spent a large part of this game looking entirely dominant.
There was no Demario Davis, Kwon Alexander, Malcolm Jenkins or Carl Granderson, the pass-rush still spent most of the night forcing Tua Tagovailoa to run for his life. The Dolphins OL was called for a slew of holding penalties, Marcus Davenport treated blockers like speedbumps, and it felt like even a reasonably available Saints roster would've been able to win this game.
But COVID (and the NFL) does what it wants, and this is a Saints defense that no one wants to see in the playoffs. It can cover on the outside. It can stop the run. It can get to the quarterback, and when it does ... it can lay a heck of a hit.
The only question is whether this nightmare of a 2021 season will allow a defense that deserves to be in the playoffs to get there ... and possibly ruin somebody else's season.
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