The New Orleans Saints are in a place no NFL team wants to be: Stuck in the middle.
That point was driven home in a demoralizing 27-19 loss to the Vikings in Week 10 to drop the Saints back to .500, as WWL Radio's Bobby Hebert broke down in his postgame rant.
Listen to Bobby Hebert's full rant in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"We’re in no-man’s land. We’re not good enough, but we’re not bad enough," Hebert said. "I guess the NFL loves that. You go up and down. Now, if you’re a member of the Who Dat Nation, hell no we don’t like that. You’ve got to win double-digits. That’s the expectations year in and year out.”
This week's game featured some new, interesting subplots. Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs continued to pilot his new team like a player who's been in the system for years rather than two weeks. Tight end T.J. Hockenson torched the Saints as much as anyone has in years to the tune of 11 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown. Derek Carr went down with an injury in the third quarter, so it was Jameis Winston leading a valiant comeback effort after the team dropped into a 24-point hole.
But at the end of the day it was a slow-starting defense that doomed New Orleans, this time allowing a season-high 24 points in the first half. It's the fifth consecutive game the Saints have allowed multiple touchdowns in the first half, a stark shift from a defense that didn't allow a touchdown in the first half of four of its first five games.
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"You might say, well there’s no halftime adjustment, you just have to execute. Well, are we going to go on the bye week and then we’re going to go to Atlanta and suck again in the first half?" Hebert continued. "I mean, the defense has played terrible five games in a row in the first half. Are we going to make it six? Why not?"
The saving grace for the Saints, although it's becoming an increasingly bitter pill to swallow, is that the state of the NFC South has New Orleans still in first place by themselves. The Falcons fell to Josh Dobbs' former team in the Arizona Cardinals on a last-second field goal and now sit at 4-6. The Bucs took down Tennessee to climb to 4-5, and could feasibly wrest away control of the top spot if they can defeat the 49ers on the road next week.
When the Saints and Falcons return from their respective bye weeks, they'll meet in what will be a pivotal divisional showdown, and the Cajun Cannon has a prediction.
"If we beat Atlanta twice, we’re gonna win 10 games," Hebert said. "I’m not saying we’re gonna do anything in the playoffs, but I’m telling you, we can win the NFC South. That could occur, and we could be 10-7 and all of a sudden Coach Allen, oh, well, what are you talking about? He won the NFC South. We’re going to the postseason, and for sure he’s coming back, even though we might get embarrassed in the playoffs, what might occur. But then he’ll be back."