It's the offense, stupid. (1 Viewer)

The point-differential was zero, the same after four quarters in the playoffs this year.

We played the worst playoff team in the NFC and lost in OT because the offense couldn’t get out of its own way.

Not sure what else matters.
 
We played the worst playoff team in the NFC and lost in OT because the offense couldn’t get out of its own way.

Not sure what else matters.

Defense couldn't make a stop to give the offense a chance in OT. Nothing else matters
 
I agree here. We are were a top five offense until the end of last year. Now we are somewhere between eight and twelve. We need that top five again and then we will
get this thing done.
 
There's a lot of talk about the defense being to blame, or just a horrible series of luck and flukes, etc. I wanted to dig in a little bit further, because blaming the defense didn't really match what I thought I saw in the playoffs over the last three years.

Here's what I found:

- In our last four playoff games, the Saints have scored below their season average. And in the three home games, they've massively underperformed. By an average of more than a touchdown. In home games, we average 10 points less in the playoffs than the regular season.

home/roadSeason scoring average home or roadActual ScoredDifference
2019Min28.420-8.4
2018LAR34.123-11.1
2018Phi34.123-11.1
2017@Min25.824-1.8
Average Difference-8.1

Checking to make sure scoring isn't down across the board in the playoffs, and we find that this is not the case for the successful playoff teams. Of the four teams who played on championship weekend, all but one averaged more points in the playoffs than they did in the regular season, and the Titans were just barely below (a single point).
Season Avg.Playoff Avg.Diff
2019 Chiefs28.24314.8
2019 49ers29.9322.1
2019 Titans25.124-1.1
2019 Packers23.5240.5


In that same span, our defense has averaged giving up 22 points in the regular season, and in the playoffs, they gave up, on average... wait for it... 22 points (shocked Pikachu face). Even in our losses, the defense has played right to its expectation (which is a slightly above average defense).

It's not the defense letting the team down in the playoffs. The defense is putting out the exact same type of performance in the playoffs as they did in the regular seasons. It's the offense that's massively under-performing in the playoffs - to the tune of 10 points per game less.


Bottom line: If the Saints offense had simply performed to its regular season performance in the playoffs, they would have made the Super Bowl last year, and at the very least played Green Bay in the second round this year.


At least they are consistent!

29.1 ppg during the 2020 season.

20 ppg during the 2020 playoffs.


Wake me when the nightmare ends.


Can't wait till draft time when all of the hate for drafting better skill players in the passing game starts.
 
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Huh. It's almost like playoff games are more difficult than regular season games. Who would've thought.
 

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