The hits keep coming and they just keep coming, and the New Orleans Saints are a bad day against the always-frisky Matthew Stafford and his Detroit Lions away from a 1-3 start to the 2020 season. That’s, well, far beneath just about everyone’s expectations.
It’s been rough. Drew Brees has drawn his share of the blame for limiting what the offense is capable of, but the Saints defense undid all of the good will they built up in training camp by falling flat on their faces right out of the gate.
That’s who Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar took aim at in his Week 3 NFL power rankings, blasting Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen for wasting a strong performance from Alvin Kamara and mistake-free quarterbacking from Brees. After dropping the Saints down to No. 12 a week ago, Farrar now ranks them at No. 15 with their loss to the Green Bay Packers:
Okay, it’s time to stop picking on Drew Brees. Let’s talk about the Saints’ defense. Through their first three games, Dennis Allen’s squad has allowed eight touchdown passes to just two interceptions, 6.7 yards per attempt, 42 first downs, and a whole lot of explosive plays. No, it doesn’t help when Brees can’t match those explosive plays allowed with as many of his own anymore, but New Orleans’ offense wasn’t the problem in the team’s 37-31 Sunday night loss to the Packers — Brees was more than efficient enough, and Alvin Kamara ran over everybody.
Here’s hoping they figure things out. The Saints are notorious slow starters under Sean Payton, often sleepwalking through the opening weeks in September before rallying during October. They’re poised to do just that with very winnable games against the Lions and Los Angeles Chargers standing between them and a Week 6 bye.
If they can add much-needed reinforcements like pass rusher Marcus Davenport and wide receiver Michael Thomas, this show could get turned around in a hurry.
