The New Orleans Saints were at home during a Week 13 loss to the Lions, but they certainly didn't feel at home.
It was a Caesars Superdome crowd made up of a heavy Lions contingent, and also one that rained down boos on their starting quarterback and offense late in the first quarter. And if the Saints want to return to the ear-splitting ways of past seasons, there's only one route, as WWL's Deuce McAllister explained this week.
Listen to the full interview with Deuce McAllister in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"You’re frustrated from a fan’s perspective," McAllister told Bobby Hebert and Mike Detillier. "You knew that going into the game and that’s why it was imperative for that team to start fast and they did the opposite of it, and so now it’s almost like, hey, look, we have to play like it’s us against ... the 60,000 that are in this stadium, because we don’t have the homefield advantage.
"So the question becomes, how do we change it? Play better. Play better. Well, I mean, win comes, that’s the ultimate, that’s at the end, but you have to play better, because those fans didn’t turn on you when you were being successful, when the momentum shifted."
In the end, it's up to the fans to make their own decisions. There is one area that McAllister said he'd criticize, and that's when boos are directed over personnel, such was the case whenever Taysom Hill would come into the game to cheers and the boos would return with Derek Carr.
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"Here’s the only part I don’t agree with," McAllister continued. "I’m not gonna boo because I don’t get the play that I want. I’m not gonna boo because you don’t stay with the personnel that I want. That’s hard, because it’s not only affecting one player, it’s affecting the other 11 that are out there."
The Saints (5-7) will be hoping to get on track both from a winning and a fan support perspective when they host the Panthers (1-11) on Sunday.
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On approach from Panthers, Saints struggles to get stops late in games
"They are going to run the ball. They are going to say you have to stop the run. They’re going to mix in play action and I don’t know how much they’re changing since you don’t have the same head coach. You don’t have the same play-caller. We have one game, but I don’t know how much that changes or is changing. It starts with stopping the run, and I’m not gonna put all the trouble on the defense, because the Saints had a chance to win that game even before that situation even came up. You had a 4th down. You had a 3rd down, and you couldn’t convert. And so I can’t even put that all on the defense. Yea, the defense has to get off the field, but at the same time the offense has to be able to convert as well.”
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On why he's not looking at playoff scenarios (yet)
“You can talk about playoff scenario and you can go through that gamut, none of it matters if you don’t win. … So, for me, before I even go down that rabbit hole, you have to win a game. I mean, I think that’s what it has to be about. Win a game and put yourself in that position, because right now you’re not even in that position yet to even look at that scenario, if that makes sense.”
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On continued lack of QB pressure
“I can’t speak to Carolina and the issues that they have had as far as getting after the quarterback. For us, we’ve been inconsistent, and what I mean by that is we haven’t been able to finish and we haven’t called as many blitzes, and when we do, we’re not getting there. So that just tells me that they’re not winning the 1-on-1s, and/or you aren't having the lead to be able to say, hey, we can rush the passer. I mean, I understand get them in third and certain situations, but having a lead and making a team have to pass, where they don’t have the option to run the ball. That makes a difference.”