The New Orleans Saints are in an uncomfortable situation right now, and there's no denying it. Five straight losses, difficult questions -- some more fair than others -- but there's a reason they're all being asked.
Can things turn around? We've seen it before. In 2021, the last time the Saints lost five consecutive games, they turned it around and won four of their final five games. In 2023 after the Saints dropped to to 5-7 with a three-game losing streak, the Saints turned it around and won four of their final five games.
It can happen, but Deuce McAllister has a big question this squad needs to answer before that can be the case after a 33-10, demoralizing loss to Sean Payton's Broncos.
"There’s a saying in football, the eye in the sky does not lie. So my only question, my only question, to those guys, are you pleased with what you’re putting on film, and that’s not for me to answer," McAllister said. "That’s a personal question. That’s an individual question that you have to answer, because at the end of the day, whether it’s Kubiak, whether it’s coach Allen, whomever — whether it’s coach Darren Rizzi, guess what they’re gonna do. They’re gonna turn on the film, and if the film — if you can’t answer for the film, for how you’re performing, then it’s hard to argue with anything else."
Listen to the full breakdown from Deuce & Hoss in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Deuce knows better than to question a players' heart, it's almost always more complicated than that. But the noise will only get louder and louder, and it's on the players to change that through their play.
"Any player will tell you, and if he won’t tell you, his coach will tell you. You are trying to play the perfect game, and guess what, it is impossible," Deuce continued. "But if you aren’t chasing the perfect game, you are cheating yourself. Perfect game, from everything from steps, distance, alignment, assignment, effort, did I make the tackle, did I hit the hole, timing, perfect. Grade it yourself.”
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MORE FROM DEUCE
What's going wrong on defense?
“At one point they had 100 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, and so right now the New Orleans Saints are getting beat in the trenches, whether you’re talking about offense or defense. That’s the problem. We can talk about oh, well you’re missing this player, all of that may be true, but whomever is out there, you are getting beat in the trenches."
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"I’ve got to probably lump the defensive ends in there asd well. I mean, because teams are getting outside on you. You’re losing the edge, and not to say that — and here’s where the problem starts to come in, and coach Allen kind of alluded to it, it’s got to be a team effort defense"
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What's going wrong on offense?
“You know why? Because you’re behind. You’re having to throw the football and so part of the issue is your tackles are still a work in progress. They’re still a work in progress, and so if I can run the football it takes pressure off of them having to drop back pass. But when we have … 39 passes, and of those 39 passes, and we would have to go and look at it, I can tell you probably 10 of them were rollout, and the other 29 were pure dropback passes. For the Saints to be where they want to be, they probably want that number to be about 17 dropback passes, and everything else is off of action, play action. The boots, your quarterbacks right now, the young kids they do a great job of running the bootleg. They do a great job of the bootleg game, but when it comes to straight dropback passes, then now I’ve got to identify pressure and I've seen the comments, or you hear the comments of oh, your offensive line is terrible. No, it’s not just your offensive line. "
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"Yes, there were pressures where you got beat inside from a guard standpoint, I think right guard, left guard and then your left tackle, but for the most part it was a free rusher that came and so you’ve got to understand that he’s hot. He is unblocked. That’s not on the offensive line. I have got to throw the ball hot, and if he’s supposed to be picked up, then it’s a [missed assignment] on somebody, whether it’s the back or whomever, but just me looking at it with the naked eye in the moment, I see the back get out right now. So normally that tells me he didn’t even look at his guy so that should tell me he’s hot. The guy off the edge comes, it’s not the offensive line, that’s the QB’s guy and he just didn’t feel it. He didn’t feel it, he didn’t see it. And I’m just saying that’s what I saw last night ... and then when you take away the ability to run the football, now it’s almost like, man, are you sure it’s 11 guys out there. It feels like it’s 13 guys. It feels like it’s 13 guys out there, I mean, because a guy is coming from here, a guy is coming from here, I don’t know if this guys is picked up, I don’t trust that this guy is gonna pick him up and it just takes time.”