Saints humbled in first true home game of the season

The New Orleans Saints were humbled in week three. The New York Giants adapted in the second half and beat the Saints in overtime. The Saints continue their up and down season and fall to 2-2. This was the Saints first game in front of home fans in over a full season but the Saints did not reward the wait. It was a game full of mistakes and headscratchers. With a game that ended this badly, the overreactions to the week four loss to the Giants are plentiful.

Sean Payton Offense Losing Games

If Jameis Winston won the starting job for the Saints, then Sean Payton needs to treat him like the starter. The offense so far this season has been incredibly reserved. This can be directly attributed to the week 4 loss. The play calling and game plan is seemingly to keep the quarterbacks from throwing the ball. This is causing opposing defenses to play near the line of scrimmage. In three different possessions, Winston threw the ball just one time in a full quarter of play. If the Saints want to run slow, prodding offense then they need to change quarterbacks. Not using Winston’s down-field playmaking ability seems to be a waste.

As hinted at above, Sean Payton’s offensive play calling was atrocious this game. For instance, Sean Payton and the offense decided to go for a fourth down early in the game. The offense was on the Giants 29 yard line and went for it on fourth and three. This play failed, handing the ball back to the Giants. A field goal from this point would have been around 44 yards. Fast forward to the third quarter. The Saints were again faced with a fourth and three but on the Giants 40 yard line. Payton sends a struggling Aldrick Rosas on the field for a 58 yard attempt. Of course Rosas missed, but he likely should have not even been put in that spot. Sean Payton going for it at one point and not the other shows a lack of confidence in his offense. This cannot last if the Saints want to compete this season.

Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Defense Needs to Prove Worthy of a Name

Leading up to this weeks game, the Saints defense were talking about their new swagger. The defense was going to introduce a new celebration at the expense of the Giants. Insert the Michael Jordan meme of the Giants saying that they took this personally. The defense played okay at first, but in the second half the Giants enforced their will on the Saints. The newly dubbed “Juice Boyz” should be embarrassed with the effort they put on the field. Surrendering a total of 485 yards of offense to the struggling Giants is absurd. In overtime, the Giants just let Saquon Barkley free and he punished the Saints defense. If this defense thinks itself worthy of a new moniker, it needs to prove it on the field on a consistent basis.

Another Quarterback Allowed to have Career Game

This might be a copy and paste from an earlier overreaction. The Saints defense allowed another average quarterback to look like a Hall of Famer. This is eerily similar to what happened in week two’s loss to the Carolina Panthers. Daniel Jones threw for the most yards of his entire career with 402. The Saints defense was not as banged up as they have been this season. The Giants just went straight at the secondary and made them look lost at times. Rookie Paulson Adebo struggled in his fourth NFL start. This is an expected growing pain for the rookie. The Saints were likely not expecting the Giants to come in and take the fight to them. Daniel Jones led the Giants to their first win of the season and had a career game against the Saints. A story too often told.

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