How do you see the first two games of the Saints’ season? (2 Viewers)

[SWJJ]

What we are capable of when not injured.

 

[SweetT]

That’s fine. We played Philly tight and gave the Falcons game away muffing a punt on the 1 yard line. And Philly is when the injuries started. It wasn’t until they got out of control that our season went off the rails.

Philly had injuries going into that game and lost more key players during the game. No excuses.

Atlanta, we had injuries, and still had a chance to win, but we decided to give the game away in historical fashion. No excuses.

Those are 2 games that was extremely winnable. I’ve told y’all on many occasions, losing becomes infectious. You have to have a person in charge, that can stop the bleeding despite anything. We don’t. So we lose

 

[stadanko]

It's a combination of things.

1. Carolina w/ Bryce Young is one of the worst teams I've ever seen.
2. Dallas isn't a good team and they were overconfident after beating a completely washed Deshaun Watson.
3. We were at full strength and running a scheme that no one is used to seeing from New Orleans.

But the big one I don't hear mentioned as much, our aggressive strategy for roster construction is coming back to bite us BIG TIME. All of the concerns that got dismissed as "Loomising" have made this team painfully thin. Over the years, we've traded away tons of draft capital, we've limited our ability in free agency with kick the can deals, and we keep signing aging players to the most expensive contracts. Look at the top 10 cap hits in Spotrac. Half are well into their 30s. And how do we have TWO almost 30 year old running backs in the top 10?!?!? It's one of the lowest valued positions in the league.



Plenty others have said it. This is going to be a long road back. And our front office strategy not changing post Payton/Brees holds a lot of the blame.

 

[SirLoinSaint64]

Heavenly.

 

[HouseCall]

They weren’t flukes - but maybe fools gold in that what we saw is not what we really were - or perhaps more accurately they were a house of cards - and I can sort of elaborate.

The team the Saints were in weeks 1 and 2 are what the team could have been without any injuries throughout the season. Pretty formidable.

The 2024 Saints week 1 starting lineup can match up with ANY team in the league.

Unfortunately the mark of a contender is having the depth available to fill gaps adequately when your projected starters go down - and they will, they always do.

This is where the foundation of the 2024 Saints house of cards gets toppled and everything else falls with it.

I think the reason that Loomis hasn’t fired Allen is because deep down, he sees what he’s done with his irresponsible cap management and knows that there isn’t a person in the building now who can come up and make this team any better than it is in its present condition.

The first two weeks were a sad reminder that the NFL isn’t just about skill and game planning but about roster management and depth. Because the NFL season is brutal.

We are a talented at the top of the roster team with very little underneath.

 

[SystemShock]

I see it just as a right set of circumstances.

The Panthers are horrible. They won a game by the Grace of God.
The Cowboys aren't that good either. They are 3-3, but their 3 wins have been against the Browns (1-6), the Giants (2-5), and a Pittsburgh team that's 5-2 , but hasn't really had a quality win (Jets, Raiders, Clowns, Broncos, Colts). The Cowboys losses, Saints hung 44 on them, the Lions hung 47 on them... they "held" Baltimore to only 28 points, but Baltimore ran the ball for 274 yards, and that takes a lot of clock.

Even though, as I said after the Panthers game, the Saints did what they were supposed to do, hanging 40+ on those defenses, in hindsight and with the season developing as it has, I believe that, had the Saints played a good defense in those games, I seriously doubt the result would've been the same. I think the total collapse by losing just 2 players shows it.

 

[CantguardTaysom]

I see it as fraud like the head coach who is stealing a paycheck.

 

[OldTimeGamer1966]

Injuries derailed our season.

They did and the first 2 games proved when conditions were optimal (meaning health wise and team mentality) the team was dynamic. The MAJOR problem is we see now it wasn't a roster built to sustain any type of multiple injuries. Yes, there are teams with the same type of injury bug, but they are still fighting to win. We are at the bottom of our barrel and have other issues with morale.

 

[OldTimeGamer1966]

They weren’t flukes - but maybe fools gold in that what we saw is not what we really were - or perhaps more accurately they were a house of cards - and I can sort of elaborate.

The team the Saints were in weeks 1 and 2 are what the team could have been without any injuries throughout the season. Pretty formidable.

The 2024 Saints week 1 starting lineup can match up with ANY team in the league.

Unfortunately the mark of a contender is having the depth available to fill gaps adequately when your projected starters go down - and they will, they always do.

This is where the foundation of the 2024 Saints house of cards gets toppled and everything else falls with it.

I think the reason that Loomis hasn’t fired Allen is because deep down, he sees what he’s done with his irresponsible cap management and knows that there isn’t a person in the building now who can come up and make this team any better than it is in its present condition.

The first two weeks were a sad reminder that the NFL isn’t just about skill and game planning but about roster management and depth. Because the NFL season is brutal.

We are a talented at the top of the roster team with very little underneath.

You said it better than I did!

 

[BBarnes]

The Saints were healthy, Kubiak's scheme caught them completely by surprise, and they played one horrible football team and one bad football team. It was the perfect storm for what transpired. Then reality sat in.

 

[meily]

They did and the first 2 games proved when conditions were optimal (meaning health wise and team mentality) the team was dynamic. The MAJOR problem is we see now it wasn't a roster built to sustain any type of multiple injuries. Yes, there are teams with the same type of injury bug, but they are still fighting to win. We are at the bottom of our barrel and have other issues with morale.

We did not have the depth to sustain what we built and we just have to keep adding to the team.

 

[OldTimeGamer1966]

We did not have the depth to sustain and we just have to keep adding to the team.

Basically, it is a poorly constructed roster (I picked that up from Outside the Lines podcast) at this point in the season it is most likely that any quality player will not be out there. Anything we get from here on out are stop gap JAG's.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

I see the first 2 games as what we can be when things are right...

This, but it’s the NFL…everything won’t be right 90% of the time. That’s what bothers me.

 

[Bayouboy]

Saints looked legitimately legit the first two games. Even though the opponents were subpar, they were both throttled. It was exciting and perplexing at the same time. I made an appearance in the "eat crow" thread, but prefaced my response as "not enough information". Needed more skins on the wall to validate. Those skins never materialized. Sure, injuries were a big part, but the clock struck midnight on DA's Cinderella season. A two game sample size doesn't make a career. DA's career winning percentage is abysmal. In Dennis Green's language, "he is what we thought he was".....

Saints would have a better record if we stayed healthy, but this ship has been taking on water for a while now. We are old and lack depth. No playmakers. Unfortunately, changing the coach is only the first step to getting better. This roster needs an overhaul.

 

[RajCaj80]

Those two games showed how the team was built, meaning, when the oline and TAYSOM was healthy, the offense was able to run how it was built. Even after McCoy went down, they were able to operate how they wanted, evident by the first couple of drives in the Falcons game.

Now with the injuries mounting, it probably won't look the same even when Taysom returns, but we all see how it looks when there's somewhat good health. As for the defense, I think it's a combination of coaching, age, and lack of effort, especially the last 3 games.

It sure helps the aging defense stay fresh when our offence is able to put together long drives. Being run heavy burns more clock and limits total time on field for our defense as well. Putting teams in blow-out situations also makes it easier on the D as the opposing offence has to abandon the run and get more predictable.

It all fell apart when we lost our run-blockers, and the weaknesses were exposed.