“It's disappointing, and it's a bit embarrassing,”
Mike Detillier was not mincing words with WWL's Tommy Tucker after the New Orleans Saints 42-34 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. “You can sugarcoat it all you want, but there is not going to be a Superman coming, swooping down, saving the day. … “There's way too many things wrong with this football team. You see a lot of the same mistakes being made over and over again.”
The Saints committed 8 penalties, raising their average to over 7 per game on the year and putting themselves in a tie for third-most in the league. They turned the ball over 3 times – failing to record a single takeaway themselves – all three of which were Andy Dalton interceptions.
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The first came on a red zone possession after a good drive, with Dalton throwing the pick in the end zone. The next two came in the final 2:28 of the first half. The Cardinals strung together a 13 play drive, with the help of a few penalties, and tied the game at 14-14. On back-to-back drives, Andy Dalton threw pick sixes; and, suddenly, a Saints team that had led for most of the first half was staring at a 14 point deficit.
New Orleans could never really get it close after that. A field goal early in the third quarter made it 28-17, but Arizona scored a touchdown a few minutes later. When the Saints managed another touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals responded with a touchdown of their own.
“Where's the heart beat of this team,” Detillier asked. “Where is their heart beat? What you don't see is enthusiasm. [There's] the lack of discipline across the board.
“Defensively, what has happened to this team? The same team that gave up the fewest amount of points in the NFC last year, the fourth-fewest points in the NFL, they're getting gashed, in both the passing game and the rushing game. Getting gashed.”
The Saints fell to 2-5 with their second loss in five days, but they do get a bit of an extended break before playing again. Next comes the 1-4 Oakland Raiders in the Superdome on October 30.