The New Orleans Saints are struggling to put points on the board, and that's been the case for a while.
But drastic measures? Those won't be coming, at least not anytime soon, for a team that's scuffled to 2-2 after winning its first two games of the year. They'd done so in dramatic fashion, now on a streak of seven consecutive quarters without an offensive touchdown.
"Four games into the season, I don’t think anything is drastic. … I think that’d be ridiculous," head coach Dennis Allen said on Monday. "And yet we have to be better.”
Predictably, the biggest burden of criticism has fallen on offensive coordinator and play-caller Pete Carmichael, whose offense has failed to score more than 20 points in 10 straight games dating back to the 2022 season. A 30-point day hasn't happened since a Thursday Night Football loss to the Cardinals back in Week 7 of last year.
The biggest issues have been tough to pinpoint, though the execution appeared to hit a new low in Week 4 with the Saints only mustering three field goals despite Alvin Kamara's return from suspension. The star back definitely got his work in, catching an absurd 13 balls for just 31 yards, and rushing another 10 times for 51 yards.
Allen said Monday that he doesn't see in-season coaching moves as a path to success, but that Carmichael knows the onus is on him to improve.
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"I’ve never seen [in-season changes] to be the right answer, particularly when you’re four games into the season," Allen said, "and yet we have to be better, and I understand everybody’s frustration and believe me, everybody is frustrated with it, because we have to find more ways to put points on the board.”
What made the Week 4 loss to the Bucs so demoralizing, aside from the NFC South implications, was that a defense that had appeared dominant through its first 11 quarters of the season has seemed to disappear over its last five. It was a group that held 11 consecutive opponents to 20 points or fewer, but has now allowed 43 points over its last five quarters, dating back to the final 12 minutes of the Packers game when the Saints surrendered a 17-0 lead.
There were missed tackles, failed opportunities to get off the field on third down, poorly timed penalties, everything that seemed like it could go wrong on offense or defense has gone wrong recently for the Saints.
“We all have our hand in it," Allen said, "and we all have to be grown men and accept our accountability for where we’re not functioning well and look for ways to improve it.”
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The good news for the Saints is that 2-2 is far from a death knell for a season, and Week 5 offers an opportunity to bounce back on the road against a Patriots team that fell to 1-3 this week and has looked anything but impressive in its own right.
"You've got to regroup," said safety Tyrann Mathieu. "Obviously 2-2 isn't the end of the world, but intensity has to pick up, whether that be preparation, whether that be starting games faster. I think the sense of urgency, because this is the NFL, and if you drop 3, 4, 5 games in a row, you only have so many games. ... Even thought we're early in the season, I think the most important thing for us is to find a way to get one win to get ourselves out of this feeling."