The numbers are well documented by this point, but an 0-for-5 red zone effort for the Saints is what ultimately doomed them in Week 12 and continued a season-long theme.
A lot of yards. A lot of first downs. Not a lot of points to show for it in the scoring part of the field. In the 24-15 loss, all 15 points came off of Blake Grupe kicks. On WWL this week, Saints head coach Dennis Allen noted that he understands the frustration in that area on the part of everyone watching, and that goes double for those inside the building.
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Saints head coach Dennis Allen in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"We had made some progress and then certainly this game was not where it needed to be in terms of our ability to score touchdowns instead of field goals," Allen told Mike Hoss and Bobby Hebert this week. "And so we’re gonna have to go back to the drawing board and go back to work and spend some extra time on the red area and see if we can’t do a better job."
The Saints did see an improvement in red zone efficiency during the middle stages of the season -- particularly in wins over the Colts and Bears -- with that efficiency hinging mostly on effective short-yardage runs. Quarterback Derek Carr has struggled in that area in particular, with one of those red zone trips resulting in a 92-yard pick-6.
In this game red zone trips were also marred by inopportune penalties, a Taysom Hill fumble and a few WR miscues. In the end, it's another installment of frustration for a team that ranks 29th in red zone TD efficiency, and one that now sits at 5-6 with a much narrower road to the postseason.
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“I understand the frustration and everybody here in this building has the same frustration," Allen said, "because there’s times where we do a lot of really good things and then there’s times where we don’t do it as well as we need to, and we need to tie into those things that we’re doing well, and we need to do those things more consistently and we need to eliminate the times when we’re not playing up to our ability. And so, yea, look, we’re gonna continue to work and fight, scratch, claw, do everything we got to try to fix it.”
MORE FROM DENNIS ALLEN
On Tyrann Mathieu's performance
“That’s one of the things that he does really well, is more often than not Ty’s in the right spot. And when you’re in the right spot, you get an opportunity to make some plays. And when he’s had an opportunity to make plays, he’s been able to make them. And so I think we’re at the top of the league in terms of intercepting the ball. We’re at the top of the league in terms of passer rating allowed. We’re at the top of the league in terms of completion percentage allowed. So there’s a lot of things that we’re doing well, and yet there’s a lot of things we have to be better at. But yea, I thought his play yesterday was one of the bright spots and certainly, you know, the one interception takes points off the board at the end of the first half. And the second one sets our offense up with the ball right about midfield.”
On failure to generate pressure on QBs
“We’ve got to do a better job of getting after the quarterback. There’s no question about it. We’ve been a top five defense in terms of sacking the quarterback. We’re not this year. We’re not finishing at the quarterback like we need to. We tried to do a couple of things to kind of increase the pressure a little bit. I thought some of that was effective on third downs, but yea, I think that’s an area that, you know, I think that’s a valid point … that we need to be able to sack the quarterback more and we haven’t done it like we need to.”
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On the pick-6
“We had said before the game, I think Bates is a really good, really good player and I think he kind of set that up and made a hell of a play, and you’ve got to give that guy credit for making a hell of a play.”
On failing to stop the run
“I don’t think we won the line of scrimmage up front defensively, and that’s an area that we’ve got to, we have to improve on when you play a team like Atlanta that, I think they do a really good job in terms of their scheme. I think they have multiple running backs that are talented and present some challenges in different ways, and they’re committed to running the football, and so to be able to combat that, you have to be able to get them into situations where you’re making them have to drop back and be a passing team and I think when that happens, I think we can take advantage of some of those opportunities. I think we did take advantage of a couple of those opportunities, but yea, you’re right. I mean, they’ve had success running the ball against us and we need to be better against that.”