A lot of things were going the Saints' way in Week 3, and then suddenly, they just weren't.
The Saints led 27-16 midway through the third quarter in their loss to the Raiders. They didn't score again, but did turn the ball over four times, as the Raiders took home a 35-27 win. The script was flipped from the first two weeks when the Saints fell into a big hole and fought their way back in the final moments. It's a frustrating trend, the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert said in his postgame rant.
"You’ve got to play four quarters," Hebert said on WWL and Audacy, "the NFL is too good not to."
Hear Bobby Hebert's full postgame rant in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The Saints entered the day as just one of three NFL teams yet to score in the first quarter of a game, but they flipped that narrative with a Tyler Shough touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson. The Saints trailed 16-13 at the break, but then surged out to a lead with quick points to start the second half.
"When you’re winning by 11 points with 5:46 left in the third quarter, you think like hell yea, the Saints are in control of this game and that just shows you how quickly things can change," Hebert continued. "All I know is ... bad calls, no calls, however you’re calling it, you can’t turn over the football."
That was what ultimately did the Saints. It began with a controversial fumble with Tyler Shough stripped of the ball as he readied to throw. Their next four possessions went: interception, fumble, fumble ... though one of those was on 4th down. The Saints lost the turnover margin 4-1, which makes the team 0-9 during the Kellen Moore era when they were on the wrong side of the turnover margin.
In their two losses this season the Saints are -5, while they were +1 in the win over the Ravens.
“You’re not winning anything when you’re minus-3. … You know how tough the NFL is," Hebert said. "Let’s say the Saints are plus-3, you win 90% of the time. No, when you’re minus-3, you lose 90% of the time."
