Texans keep the Saints from marching out of Houston with a win

After beating the New England Patriots 34-0, the New Orleans Saints lost to the Houston Texans 13-20 to drop to a 3-3 record. Watching this game was disappointing to say the least. The performance was totally different in Houston than against the Patriots last week. A combination of mis reads, plays and overall coaching contributed to the loss. Defense held its own as much as possible, but it wasn’t enough for a win.

It wasn’t easy for Carr to hide his displeasure after the loss in which the offense struggled in red zones in 32 of 50 attempts. In the final minutes of the game, the offense reached the Texans’ 27 four times, but scored only three points. Blake Grupe missed two crucial field goals that would have had the Saints within 1pt in the last minutes (19-20), so the final drive of the game wouldn’t have been dependent heavy on scoring a touchdown and 2-point conversion, but yet a field goal that would have sealed the win, 22-20.

As a result of the loss, Carr expressed frustration in his postgame press conference that his team couldn’t convert opportunities. “I was very disappointed. I was angry coming off the field. I had to calm down a little bit,” Carr said. In the postgame press conference, he avoided pointing the finger at his teammates or coaching staff.

“We as an offense had too many details... you know I’m not going to tell you what happened. Yes, we know. Yes, we know what it was and all those things. I won’t say it,” Carr said. Those little details, that if we do those things right, you’re looking like... oh my gosh... we would have 28 points. I just want to win, man. The yards are awesome, great thanks. I couldn’t care less. I just want to win.”

You have to wonder what the real issue is. When Coach Allen stepped to the podium for his post-game interview, he stated, “We had way too many missed opportunities, you know red-zone continues to jump up and bite us”. There were opportunities like Shaquill Griffin’s penalties that assisted with the last drive of the game that were crucial and should have resulted in a different outcome.

There are a lot of problems that the Saints need to seriously work out to ensure winning more games. The play calling, coaching and offensive line all have to be looked at and re-evaluated to a consistent standard. In all, the Texans simply out played the Saints. The Texans defense applied pressure that crippled the Saints offense including multiple sacks of Derek Carr and an interception in the last drive of the game that kept the Saints from marching out of NRG with a win.

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