The New Orleans Saints need a win in the worst of ways, and they get to face the team that has handed them out at a higher rate than anyone the last two seasons.
That somehow takes the pressure off and adds it at the same time. A get-right game is a good thing until it's a trap game. Which will the Carolina Panthers be in Week 9?
With all that in mind, here are the three things I'm watching for most closely when the Saints face off with the Panthers this week.
1. Show some pride
I'm not going to overcomplicate this because that serves no one. I'll go into a few more technical ideas below, but at the end of the day the facts are simple: Either the Saints win this game, or there's really no point doing anything but talking about what needs to change in 2025.
Seriously, that's just the way it is when you're on a six-game losing streak and you get a shot at what is most likely the worst team in the league. Either the streak ends or the hope ends. There's no middle ground, and let's be honest, the hope is only there if you really, truly want to have it. A lot of fans don't even want to bother with it and I absolutely don't blame them. How many times do you have to get burned before you stop bothering to check the temperature at all?
There are a lot of reasons to be upset with what's happened during the longest Saints losing streak since the Jim Haslett era, but the most valid is the idea that you're watching a team that doesn't have a chance -- and too often looks like a team that doesn't believe it has a chance. That has to change, even if it's just for a week. Go out to Carolina and play like the better team, more importantly a team that believes it's the better team. Harness whatever it was that pushed you out to the front of every NFL conversation over the first two weeks of the season. There's no better matchup to get that done.
Full disclosure: I am absolutely one of those pie-in-the-sky idealists committed to hope until it's wrestled out of my hands. Why? Because that's what makes being a fan fun to me, and there's nothing more profoundly epic than a team that's been left for dead going full undertaker, rising up out of the coffin and ready to fight another round. Some folks might call it a waste of time and respond with resting "bless your heart" face. I don't care. I've seen it happen. I want it for us. I want it for a team that hasn't quit, despite what everyone is yelling at them.
But here's the thing: There's no road back to relevance this season that doesn't include a win over the lowly Panthers in Week 9. The Saints need to win, and ideally do it in such a way that builds confidence they can swing forward into a few more wins heading into the bye. Three wins -- over three beatable teams -- and a 5-6 record gives you hope heading into an off week. Even 4-7 feels an insurmountable task to overcome.
It has to start here. If it doesn't, the Saints will lose even me, and I don't know how even coaches and players will be able to convince themselves this thing isn't over.
Carr the jumpstarter
Earlier this season I had problems with my car battery. It still worked occasionally, but at seemingly the most inconvenient times I'd run out to my car, often in a hurry, turn the key and hear click-click-click. Dead. Figure it out.
That's how it's felt watching the Saints the last 3 weeks. Even when the defense did its job, the ball would land back in the offense's hands, and the battery was dead.
In my situation I probably should've just sucked it up and gotten a new battery, but I wanted to test some things out before I dropped $250 for no good reason. Sometimes it's the starter. Sometimes it's the alternator. The battery wasn't too old, it should've still beeen able to get the job done. Instead what I did was buy a portable jumpstarter. I charged it up, threw it in the back and suddenly felt like I had a superpower -- or at the very least didn't have to depend on anyone else to save me from my predicament.
In the end I did buy a new battery, but with a bit of extra juice, we managed to do some pretty impressive things with my little tiny car and a battery on its way out.
I know Carr puns have gotten old and yes, the metaphor certainly has some holes, but I think you get the idea. Sometimes it seems like this Saints offense doesn't have enough juice, but a little jumpstart might be all it needs as you work to fix the real problems. I think this three-game absence could be that for Derek Carr and an offense that now understands just how difficult things get when he's not out there. If playmakers weren't fully locked into the Derek Carr experience, they should be now, because the alternative is not pretty.
For this season to turn around, it's going to have to come with an offense that can move at highway speeds. Things might start shaking a bit if you try to push it too hard, but the important part is getting where you need to go in one piece. OK, I promise to park the Carr-car references from hereon out.
Carr's Saints tenure has faced heavy criticism, some fair but a good bit unfair. Personally I think it's been underrated given the challenges, and he's performed well this season when things have worked around him. Carr is committed and this week vowed to be a "psychopath" the rest of the way. That's what the Saints desperately need if they want to make the second half of their season interesting. As long as he's out there, in my opinion, this team has a chance.
Keep on run stuffing
I won't throw the numbers at you, but believe me when I say the run defense against the Chargers improved drastically from where it'd been the previous three games. It's what kept the Saints in touch for as long as they were in a game where they generated virtually zero offense.
Now, that was true against an undermanned offense at WR and with Kool-Aid McKinstry and Marshon Lattimore starting on the outside. The Panthers' receiving corps might honestly be worse than the Chargers, but they don't have to go against either of those DBs. Lattimore and Kool-Aid are both out with hamstring injuries, their replacements are a bit concerning.
Sure, you have Alontae Taylor and I expect him to hold up well -- assuming he stays outside throughout the game. But who plays across from him? Who plays the nickel? My guess would be Shemar Jean-Charles getting the first crack at the outside role. That's where he got a lot of run in training camp with both Lattimore and Paulson Adebo battling injuries, and he fared well. That leaves Ugo Amadi as my starting slot corner. Rico Payton is questionable with a back injury and could potentially play, but I have a hard time looking to a rookie to start after missing a full week of practice.
There's a reasonable argument to be made for keeping Alontae inside on nickel reps for the sake of consistency, but hamstring issues can easily turn into multi-week situations. If I'm going to need my slot guy outside for a significant stretch, I want him there full-time. I also trust Ugo more inside than I do outside, where I think he'll be targeted relentlessly. Anther options in those spots is CB Tre Herndon, who elevated from the practice squad. The Saints also signed safety Millard Bradford from the practice squad and elevated Rod Teamer for a second consecutive week.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself: Wait ... wasn't this supposed to be about run defense? Well observed, 5 points to Hufflepuff. The biggest reason effective run defense is a must this week is the question marks on the outside. I can't devote extra bodies to the run game and hang my DBs out to dry. I just can't. I need to be able to handle the run with 5 or 6 a good bit of the time. I might also get aggressive off the edge with some run blitzes to try to end plays early, but I need to limit Chuba Hubbard with as few bodies as possible.
I'll live with a few chunk runs. That'll happen when you're playing coverage. But I need to be effective on first down. That's where things really got difficult against the Bucs and Broncos. When the opposing offense is routinely ripping off 5-7 yards on first down, getting off the field efficiently and consistently is pretty much impossible.
Getting Pete Werner back made a clear difference in L.A. I also think Khalen Saunders has been coming on of late after a slow start with a calf injury. There was a point this season where it seemed like Bryan Bresee jumped the veteran on the depth chart. I think we've gotten back to the full run/pass platoon at that position.
LAGNIAPPE
Let's get Alvin Kamara going. When this offense was humming it was a lot of 'get the abll to AK and good things will happen.' I need to get back to that. ... Things have gotten really ugly for Dennis Allen the last few weeks, but the out -- at least to me -- has been that he hasn't had his starting QB. I know this front office would much prefer to get to the end of the season with the head coach in place, even if they make a change in the offseason. It's what they did with Haslett way back when. Still, if this losing streak stretches on much longer the hand might get forced. ... Chris Olave changed his helmet last week to the headpiece that's top rated at preventing concussions. Whether it was the helmet or not, Olave survived a big hit and stayed in the game last week. Hopefully that continues because this offense doesn't have many weapons and he's one that I think has a chance to go off the second half of the year. ... The trade deadline is Tuesday and the Saints have made it clear they don't intend to be sellers. Could that change with a loss? We'll have to wait and see. There's no result that would turn them into high-level buyers, but I think it's possible you might swing a trade for some RB or CB depth if some low-end moves present themselves. ... The Saints are 3-0 against Bryce Young and they'll get another chance at the kid this week. I still wouldn't be surprised if Andy Dalton gets in at some point. I'd be a lot more concerned if he got in the game.
