Something happened at the Caesars Superdome early and often in Week 7 that is rare, to say the least.
There were boos, a lot of them, and they weren't always directed at the referees or opponents. Derek Carr had a hard time disagreeing with the sentiment.
"I think we would join them in that [frustration], because we're the ones out there doing it," the QB said after a 31-24 loss that came down the final moments. "We want to give them a great product. We want to give them wins."
Things got closer in the second half, but a last-gasp drive ended with four incompletions for the second consecutive week and a whole lot of questions to answer as the team embarks on a 10-day layoff before it plays again.
With all that in mind, here are my stock up and stock down players (or concepts) from another disappointing night at the Superdome.
STOCK DOWN
1. THE PLAY-CALLER
It's just becoming harder and harder to defend what has been way too easy to defend: The Saints offensive attack.
For yet another week it was a dud performance on offense in the first half, and that's more a rule than a trend at this point. For the third time this season the Saints managed nothing but field goals in the first half, and that was despite a pair of gift turnovers. The Saints went 2-of-5 on trips to the red zone overall, and for the second consecutive week a potential game-tying drive fizzled with a series of low-percentage heaves to the corners of the end zone.
In the OC's defense, one of those heaves should have been caught by Foster Moreau, but we don't need to heap criticism on a TE that does everything right and had a low moment. Things should have never gotten to that point. Moving the ball between the 20s is great, but it doesn't win football games.
Is everything on Pete Carmichael's shoulders? Absolutely not. But the buck for the offense stops at the OC, and it sure feels like real and tangible changes need to be made in order to spark things. It's just the business of the NFL, whether it's fair or not.
It also isn't exactly a ringing endorsement that when the offense finally got moving it was with tempo and QB Derek Carr directing much of the offense at the line.
Would handing play-caller duties over to Ronald Curry and allowing Carmichael to focus on game-planning solve the clear execution issues and players far too often not being in-sync in critical moments? Likely not. That's got to be on the players to do their jobs, and that's a far more disturbing issue. But the Saints can't allow this season, with so much riding on it, to go down the tubes without pulling all the levers at their disposal.
At the end of the day things simply haven't worked the way it's been going. There's a 10-day layoff, and head coach Dennis Allen said the team would be taking a good chunk of that time to reset and re-evaluate. We've seen 24 games of the status quo. It's time for some more drastic steps.
━━
2. CONTAINMENT
This is a bit more vague, but geez it's more than fair. For the past two years I've pointed to a lack of team speed on defense as a potential issue. It doesn't crop up in every matchup, but when it does things can get ugly in a hurry.
That's what happened today, early and often. Whether it was Trevor Lawrence squirting through massive holes in the rush for long gains, defenders getting outflanked to the edges of the field or simply getting outrun by Christian Kirk for a pivotal score, it seemed like the Saints were chasing the action far too often on defense. And I'm honestly not sure if there's anything that can be done to really fix that issue at this point.
The Saints' scheme prioritizes bulky defensive ends that will be at a disadvantage in space. Not all teams have the type of skill position speed that the Jags possess, but that's a heck of a disadvantage to try to overcome. They're far from the only team capable of attacking the Saints in that way. I think the Isaiah Foskey pick was a bit of a concession in that regard, but he's still not to the point in his development where he can be trusted with a significant role.
The Saints can cover with the best. The Saints can run stuff with the best. It's really difficult to be top-notch at every aspect of the game, and handling speed is a clear weakness. The Saints need to scheme ways to do that better, but until that happens, it's a major issue for what is otherwise a top-end defense.
━━
3. ROOKIE SPECIALISTS
I don't like being overly critical of rookie players, but the Saints decided to go all-in on them at the specialist positions and they simply haven't been good enough. It's costing the team games -- or at least making life a lot more difficult.
Kicker Blake Grupe was rock-steady early on, but a miss on a potential go-ahead kick in Green Bay clearly wasn't an aberration. Last week there was another miss from 52, then a yips-like whiff from 29 yards out. This week we saw him miss again from the same range, and nearly flub a PAT, with the ball banging off the upright and climbing over the crossbar. That kick cut the lead to 8, and the Saints successfully converted a 2-point try to tie the game on the next possession. There was the potential for a game-winning kick, but the Saints never gave him that opportunity. Who knows what that might've looked like had it happened.
On the other end, Lou Hedley's tough start has continued. His first punt of the day was muffed, and the awkwardness of the kick could be applauded as a key reason. It's part of the reason the Saints went with him in the first place. But it was also a sign of things to come, with Hedley kicking the ball from the 40 and only getting it to the 15 where Jamal Agnew was attempting to return it before getting blasted by his own teammate and the Saints recovering the ball.
Hedley's next punt came at the Jacksonville 46, in prime position for one of the going in punts he's been adept at sending downfield thus far. Not this time, with the ball only traveling 28 yards to the Jaguars' 18. Oof.
In fairness, Hedley did have a career long punt of 62 yards in this game with the ball taking a very friendly bounce earlyin the 4th quarter to flip the field.
But his final punt of the day came at a critical moment in the fourth quarter from the Saints' 16. It was yet another uninspiring boot, which traveled just 39 yards to where Agnew refused to make the same mistake. He fielded the kick and took it into Saints' territory. The long touchdown to Kirk that sealed the result came two plays later.
The Saints' decision to move on from Wil Lutz and Blake Gillikin in favor of the rookie was always going to be under a microscope. To this point it's done a lot more harm than good for their chances.
━━
STOCK UP
1. TEMPO OFFENSE
As mentioned above, the New Orleans Saints offense didn't really get going until they went no-huddle, something they haven't done much of to this point in the season outside of obvious, late-clock situations. It was a clear advantage today.
Derek Carr got up to the line quickly and directed much of the offense himself, and the results were impressive. The Saints' 15-point comeback in the second half was one of the first times all year -- outside of the Patriots blowout in Week 5 -- when the offense felt like a weapon. Everyone got involved. The ball moved crisply. The protection was tight. Erik McCoy told me it allowed Carr an advantage and he was able to diagnose the defense more effectively.
The Saints talked this week about simplifying their attack, and that's what the tempo offense does by design. Speed and efficiency is prioritized over elaborate scheme.
The question becomes: Can up-tempo offense become more of the Saints' identity? Most players will point to the difficulty in that, because it's an exhausting way to run offense. It also makes 3-and-outs a lot more costly, because the fast pace means you're sending your defense on the field a lot more quickly.
McCoy had a different view, though. He says if it works, if that's what it takes for the offense to get moving, then the team would be foolish not to get to it early and often. If it takes more conditioning work after practice, so be it. This team needs to find an identity, and making life miserable on opponents isn't the worst way to do that.
At this point, I'm inclined to think there are no bad ideas.
━━
2. THE BACKUP TACKLES
The biggest question heading into Week 7 was the state of the offensive line, but in the end it wasn't much of an issue. Andrus Peat started at LT and Cam Erving took over at RT, and the result was one of the more effective OL outings of the year.
The Saints won't be accused of running the ball down the Jags' throat, but they were also in comeback mode and ended up throwing the ball 52 times. Derek Carr had a decent bit of pressure, but he was only sacked once and largely had time to navigate and make plays. Considering this was all happening on a short week, it's hard not to see that as a massive positive.
The Saints will be hopeful to get Ryan Ramczyk back for Week 8 with a 10-day layoff, but James Hurst's injury seems like one that could linger. Peat's ability to hold up at LT could pay dividends, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Erving signed to the active roster before long.
━━
3. FULL-BINK
It's hard not to like Khalen Saunders, both for his personality and his play on the field.
This week the Saints debuted a new wrinkle, with No. 99 sprinting out onto the field for some big-man offense when they desperately needed to plow in from short yardage for a touchdown. It took four attempts, but they got there in the end.
The reps for what effectively is a fullback role -- or as Saunders calls it, full-bink (a play off his nickname) -- were actually installed in the offense for Week 6, but the team never got a chance to get to them with no real goal line work to speak of. It's a set of plays that were installed after fullback Adam Prentice went down.
Khalen has made his high school RB prowess well known. Maybe he'll even get a carry his way before long? Either way, good on him.
