There are a number of things you can blame for the 23-21 defeat the New Orleans Saints suffered at the hands of the Tennessee Titans.
The Saints continued to experience kicking woes. Their wide receivers, outside of Deonte Harris, struggled once again. And they were the victims of a bad call by the officials, something that drew near universal outrage. That call, a roughing the passer penalty by Kaden Elliss, negated an interception and led to a Titans touchdown a few plays later.
“It's now way out of line,” Mike Detillier, co-host of Sports Talk and WWL NFL analyst, lamented. “It was at a critical part of the game, and it did play a part. And you miss two extra points and a two point conversion. You add all that up, and you're not beating anybody. You add all that up; you ain't beating anyone.”
Those two missed PATs were particularly painful, if familiar for New Orleans. The Saints opened the season with Aldrick Rosas, who missed three of his four field goal attempts.
They moved on and brought in Cody Parkey, who missed two of his five extra points; he lasted just one game. New Orleans then signed Brian Johnson, who is just 62.5% on PATs after missing two against Tennessee.
“You've got to move on,” Detillier said. “He [Sean Payton] has never had a lot of patience with kickers to begin with. This situation happens, you've got to look and find yourself another kicker.”
The misses obviously cost the Saints two points, in a game that was decided by two points. They also forced the Saints to attempt a two point conversion, which they did not convert, instead of kicking an extra point.
Another issue was the wide receivers. Detillier was less than impressed.
“Superman is not coming out of the booth at wide receiver,” Detillier said. “There is no one out there that's going to save the day. You have what you have. Thank goodness, Deonte [Harris] has turned into a pretty good receiver because you don't have a lot more after that.”
Harris had 84 yards receiving, which is the most a Saints wide receiver has had since Marquez Callaway had 85 yards over a month ago against Washington. It was also just the second time a Saints wide receiver has had over 80 yards receiving in a game. Only two other wide receivers recorded a reception, and they combined for 6 catches for 81 yards.
“At critical points, you see receivers not getting open,” Detillier said. “There is nowhere to go with the football. This ain't high school football. This ain't playing in your backyard. This is playing at the highest rank. You can't blame Trevor for this. Look what's around him.”
“This offseason, when you could have added some wide receiver help, you didn't do it,” Detillier continued. “You stayed put, knowing the potential issue with Michael Thomas. You knew it. As an organization, you knew it.”
The Saints will look to rebound on another road game, this time against the 4-6 Philadelphia Eagles.
