Expectations were set much higher this season for the Saints, but those have not been delivered upon through seven games.
The Saints feature and exciting young quarterback in Tyler Shough and a host of key players in year 2 of Kellen Moore's offense and Brandon Staley's defense. There were big-money free agent acquisitions. But as the Saints head into the bye week they sit at 2-5 and with persistent issues. That's only one game better than a year ago through the same stretch.
Fans are understandable frustrated, but WWL's Deuce McAllister still sees patience as the right play.
“A lot of people they want to burn the house down, just burn it down. … There’s not just burning the kitchen, burn the house down, and I’m not to that point yet," McAllister said. "If you’ve listened to us or particularly myself, I can’t speak for others, this was always gonna be a process, and I think that we got a little, maybe false hope early on.”
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That hope was kindled by strong performances in a pair or road games to start the season, one of which saw the Saints steal a win over the Ravens in Baltimore with a furious second-half rally. That high point was followed by an incredible letdown, three consecutive home losses, one of which was a blowout to the rival Falcons on the 20th anniversary of the Domecoming.
We saw a similar whiplash effect this past two weeks, with the Saints putting on a rushing clinic for 175 yards in a win over the Giants, only to follow that up with their worst rushing output since the turn of the century in a loss to the Steelers out in Paris.
"You saw spurts of solid play," Deuce continued, "but what you saw if you paid any attention, you saw an inconsistent team, you have saw a young team."
There has also been an issue of availability. The team has been without LT Kelvin Banks and RB Travis Etienne for an extended period. In this past game we also saw rookie Jeremiah Wright get his first career start in place of an injured Cesar Ruiz. There have been schematic issues, there have been execution issues. But what Deuce hasn't seen is questionable effort, and that's an important factor as he evaluates a team and just how significant of changes need to be made to course-correct.
"You may see it one play, you may seen one player maybe not giving full effort on a series or maybe even a play. I don’t see it consistently. I would tell you if I see it," Deuce said. "So, I don’t see that consistently. ... and so we can blame coaches, we can blame players, we can blame front office personnel, you can blame the owner. Whoever you choose to blame, They all can wear it because, I mean, at the end of the day you’re all responsible for it. You know, when you win it’s a group effort, when you lose it’s a group effort."
When it comes to head coach Kellen Moore specifically, there's still more to prove. Deuce said he wants to see the coach commit to the run game and find a way to get his offense started faster. That said, it's a process, just like anything else. The urgency is starting to ramp up, though.
“It really just depends on who you’re playing and what they, but there are some things that I like that he has done or doing, and there’s some things that I don’t like," Deuce said. "But I’m not gonna discount him and say oh, he’s not the answer completely. I’m not ready to go that direction. You’re frustrated. You’re losing. … So you want something different.”
