The late-great Dennis Green’s words ring true, yet in a different context here. After New Orleans dropped its third-straight game after a hot 2-0 start where the Saints received all kinds of praise, we now know that they are who we thought they were.
The Saints scored a combined 91 points in their first two games, including a statement-making 44-19 win against the Dallas Cowboys in Jerry World in Week 2. Since then, the only statement New Orleans has made is that the first two weeks were an apparition. The shade of gold on the uniform is fool’s.
In Week 3, the Philadelphia Eagles couldn’t get out of their own way, committing mistake after mistake. And yet, the Saints, who held the Eagles to 15 points, lost.
In Week 4, bitter rival Atlanta failed to score an offensive touchdown, kicking four field goals courtesy of Younghoe Koo. The Saints, who gifted the Falcons two touchdowns in the form of a fumbled kickoff in the end zone and a pick-six, lost.
In Week 5, the Kansas City Chiefs were bitten by the injury bug in their offensive meeting room, with hardly any viable receivers or running backs left to speak of. They still had Travis Kelce, who went off for 70 yards on nine catches. New England outcast and former Kansas City outcast JuJu Smith-Schuster had an even better night, gaining 130 yards on seven receptions. Despite blown coverages, the Saints still held Kansas City to four field goals and 26 points. The Saints lost by two scores.
It’s almost maddening how quickly a team can go from looking like world beaters to average or below, but that’s the Saints experience.
Dennis Allen is a fine defensive coach, and he’ll be in the league for years to come. But he’s not a good head coach, and he never has been.
After Monday’s loss on national television, Allen’s head coaching record stooped to 26-48, including his time with the Raiders. The addition of Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator can only bring so much to the table because of one universal truth: Dennis Allen is not a good head coach.
And speaking of the Raiders, alarm bells should have went off when a poorly-ran franchise like Las Vegas willingly parted ways with quarterback Derek Carr. The Saints welcomed him with open arms, signing him for a $150 million deal.
In the first two weeks, Carr had an average quarterback rating of 133.75 with five touchdowns against one interception. Since then, he’s had an average rating of 80 with three touchdowns against three picks. And three losses. He has regressed.
And sure, you can blame injuries to Taysom Hill and center Erik McCoy as reasons for the Saints’ misfortunes, but it’s a next man up type league. Carr carries the burden of leading this team, and he hasn’t effectively done so through adversity.
He proved to be a slight upgrade over the ragtag group of quarterbacks from 2022, but the Saints won many games in 2023 in spite of Carr, not because of him. That’s not what you want out of your high-paid quarterback.
You know what else you don’t want? Fear, which is what was displayed on the Saints’ first drive Monday. Many of us would have reacted the same if guys like Chris Jones were running at you full-speed, but we’re not NFL quarterbacks. Carr heaved a ball towards the sideline and was picked off, instantly tanking a promising opening drive.
It was emblematic of Carr’s short tenure so far in New Orleans – just head-scratching. He was so effective at times for the Raiders, but he’s only shown slight flashes of that in the Big Easy.
After Week 2, the Saints sat atop the NFC standings. Now, they’re currently slotted at pick No. 12 in the 2025 NFL Draft. A lot can change in this league, but I’ll bet that change won’t trickle down to the head coach and quarterback this offseason. Even though it probably should.
The Pickoff
Let chaos reign! College football is as unpredictable as ever this year, and Saturday may have been the tip of the iceberg.
No. 1 Alabama? Lost. No. 4 Tennessee? Lost. No. 8 Miami? Should have lost. No. 9 Missouri? Lost. No. 10 Michigan? Lost. No. 11 Southern Cal? Lost.
Five top-11 teams fell Saturday, with perhaps none as shocking as Alabama’s fall. If you didn’t see who they played Saturday, I could give you 20 guesses as to who they lost to, and I’d be surprised if you guessed it. That’s right, the mighty Vanderbilt Commodores, previously winless against top-ranked teams, upset the Crimson Tide 40-35 in Nashville. The fans subsequently stormed the field and hauled the goalpost all the way from the campus to downtown Nashville and into the Cumberland River. It was an epic scene.
Many were worried that the new 12-team playoff format would diminish the importance of the regular season in America’s second-favorite sport. That may be, but it hasn’t diminished how fun Fall Saturdays are. This season has been an absolute treat so far, and this Saturday should be no different with tantalizing matchups such as Ohio State at Oregon, Texas vs. Oklahoma, Penn State at USC and Ole Miss at LSU. Sign me up.
Play of the Week
Playoff baseball sure has delivered through the first week.
Between Oct. 1, the second day of the MLB Wild Card round, and Tuesday, there were five lead changes in the seventh inning or later that clinched victories for teams. Perhaps the biggest play of the week came by Pete Alonso of the New York Mets Oct. 3 in Game 3, win or go home, against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Brew Crew led 2-0 with two outs in the ninth inning, the flight all but booked to Philadelphia for the Divisional Series. But not so fast, my friend. Alonso, who was in the midst of a slump in his final contracted year in Queens, N.Y., sent a no-doubter over the wall for a go-ahead three-run home run. The Mets, who needed a late-season surge to even make the postseason, booked themselves a date with the Phillies. It’s why October baseball is so special.
