I know this is a strange way to begin this column, but I'm going to tell you in advance that it's going to be short.
Why? Well, it's Christmas and my gift to you, the reader, is not forcing you to relive that travesty of a Monday Night Football game any longer than absolutely necessary. It's the type of game you don't even want to review, you just want to march out into the backyard with a shovel and bury it deep enough that tree roots can't even find it.
It truly was that ugly in a 34-0 defeat, the first shutout of the 2024 NFL season and the Saints' first ever shutout defeat on Monday Night Football. That's where we are.
With all that said, here's my stock up and stock down players from a cold night out at Lambeau, that only felt colder as the game went on.
STOCK DOWN
1. The run-it-back idea
Let me start by saying that I think Darren Rizzi is a good coach and he probably deserves a shot at a head job at some point. But I don't think it's ever been clearer that this franchise needs a hard reset.
If the Saints were a laptop you'd be booting things up in safe mode and replacing the entire operating system. Sometimes it's the only way.
It's not that simple in the NFL. You've got players on contracts that you can't move, you've got a salary cap you have to manage, you have young players who can be built around. But this has officially become a team that's trained to lose, and the interim coach energy bump has clearly waned. Players will tell you they're still committed to winning despite the playoffs officially being out of the picture, but the thousand yard stares on the sidelines and lackluster performances say otherwise.
It's one thing when Josh Jacobs, Jordan Love and Tucker Kraft are feasting, but at the end of the game it was Malik Willis and Emmanuel Wilson doing the damage. Not good.
I'd actually be surprised if this Saints squad doesn't head back home and beat the Raiders. They have pride and they'll show it in a game against a worse team, but what Week 16 showed is just how wide the chasm is between the Saints and a playoff team that's third in their own division. The Packers are good, but they're nowhere near as good as the Saints made them look this week.
When you walk into a locker room and hear a star player say "we got outcoached" things run deeper than injuries. They run deeper than an overwhelmed rookie quarterback. They run deeper than a warm weather team trying to find its way in a Wisconsin winter.
Change is needed, the only real question is exactly how high up that change has to reach. If there's any real positive to pull from this game, it's that no one can pull wool over their eyes and behave as if they don't see it.
2. The young QBs
For the second time this season the Saints have had to turn to young players at the most important position, and silly me, I thought maybe this time it'd be different. Nope, what we saw was a case study in just how bad things look when Derek Carr isn't leading the way.
That's not necessarily a good thing, because this Saints offense has certainly not been world beaters with the veteran QB leading the charge, but they at least looked capable of winning. In the other five games the Saints looked outclassed from start to finish with the exception of a second quarter against the Bucs and a second half against Washington that included some helpful mistakes by the opposition.
The offensive line, again, didn't do Rattler a ton of favors, but he has a bad habit of making negative situations worse. He finished this game with a line of 15-30 for 151 yards, an interception and a lost fumble.
It's unfair to only focus on the mistakes from a young QB, I understand that. There were some nice moments, but clearly not enough of them when you get shut out on national TV. The kid has elite arm talent, there's no questioning that, but there's a long, long way to go -- and it's impossible to say right now whether the road he'll have to travel actually leads to winning QB play. To this point it's seemed like every nice moment has been followed by a brutal mistake. The Saints did allow Rattler to play through to the end of this game, a right they didn't afford Jake Haener last week.
I said going in that I didn't necessarily need a win to come out of this game with positivity, because I'd have settled for a competitive effort and some hope at QB. We didn't get that. We haven't gotten that, and there have been ample opportunities. Nothing I've seen from Rattler or anyone else has left me walking away feeling like there should be serious consideration for anyone but Carr to be starting at QB in Week 1 of 2025, and if there's a QB on the table wherever the Saints pick in the upcoming draft, it's about time the trigger gets pulled on a top-end prospect.
3. The mistakers
OK, so I just went through that whole missive above, but I should add an important qualifier: No one around Rattler, with a few exceptions, did him any favors. There was drop after drop after drop. There were a few bullet passes that could've used a little more touch, but there were also plays that could've and should've been made in critical situations to keep drives alive. They weren't.
Jordan Mims in particular just couldn't seem to keep a football in his hands. He finished with 5 receptions on 8 targets, but there were at least two awful drops. Kevin Austin Jr. had a bad drop of his own. It was ugly.
But it wasn't just offensive players. On the first two Packers drives, both of which ended in touchdowns, the Saints forced a 3rd and 6 on the first set of downs only to jump into the neutral zone. 3rd and 1 against a team with Josh Jacobs is essentially a free first down, and that was the case both times. That can't happen.
Later in the game when Khalen Saunders tipped up a pass for what would've been an easy interception, Alontae Taylor stepped in to pick it off himself and knocked it to the ground. Ugh.
Saunders went to the sideline and threw his helmet down in disgust. I didn't have a helmet to throw, but I agree with the sentiment.
There was a slew of missed tackles that brought back memories of the same struggles we've seen all season. The Saints needed a perfect game to really push for an upset in this game, they got the opposite. It was sloppy and ugly and no one came away without blemishes -- except for Blake Grupe, I guess, because after the opening kickoff he didn't do a single thing all night.
STOCK UP
1. FOSTER MOREAU
The guy just makes plays. His 21-yard grab on a high ball from Spencer Rattler in the first half was basically the only good thing that happened. He's now got 25 catches (34 targets) for 335 yards and 4 TDs. It seems like every time he's called upon, he delivers.
The Saints need to get him more opportunities.
2. DANTE PETTIS
We've spent a lot of time talking about MVS, and for good reason, but Dante Pettis has been another really nice addition for this team and he's fallen completely under the radar. He's been an asset in the return game, but he's also made big plays in the passing game when needed. Against the Rams it was a clutch 2-point conversion to create a game-tying scenario late. Last week he converted on a 3rd and 10, adjusting to a ball left behind him to get things rolling. Today he was the target on a 3rd and 17 conversion that immediately preceded a brutal interception.
The stat line isn't big, 7 catches for 77 yards, but he's been a quality player and deserves some praise. Can you tell I'm having to reach a bit here?
3. KHALEN SAUNDERS
Khalen Saunders is an easy guy to root for, but I think he's had a really effective year on a Saints defensive line that hasn't always made plays. This was the type of game where I was questioning effort from a lot of guys, but I never question Khalen's. Sure, he's a 300-pound dude who is at his best when he can go in a straight line, but there was one play that I saw him outrun Payton Turner to stretch out a Jordan Love scramble when he could've easily throttled down. He forced another incompletion on a rush that sped up Love's clock. We've already talked about the tipped pass that should've been another big-man INT (he made a similar play against the Giants that had similarly frustrating luck for the Saints).
I'm just saying, at the end of the year I'm going to be compiling a list of players 28 and younger that feel worth building around as the core of a reworked Saints team. I'd have him on there.