Don’t look for the New Orleans Saints to make another change under center after losing to the Baltimore Ravens in front of a national audience. Minutes after a 27-13 blowout loss on Monday night, Saints head coach Dennis Allen spoke with local media at the Caesars Superdome to recap what he called a rough day in the office.
“I think our offense has been pretty good and moved the ball,” Allen said after a game in which his offense averaging 5.0 yards per play, down a full yard from their average on the season so far. He continued, “This was not a good day for us, but I’m looking at this as, this was a bad day at the office for us and we’ve got to improve.”
Neither Andy Dalton nor Jameis Winston are good options; they’re both prone to turning the ball over and, lately in Dalton’s case but consistently with Winston, taking sacks they shouldn’t have. And as Allen pointed out, the Saints were outmuscled by what he called the most-physical team they’ve faced this season. His offensive line was pushed around and the Ravens essentially ran at will on the defense Allen spent most of a decade building by hand.
The offense has been better with Dalton under center, even if they weren’t effective against Baltimore. They’re getting their best playmaker involved with frequent targets to Alvin Kamara (who was underused on Monday night with just 9 carries and 4 targets, but this is well beneath the established standards we’ve seen out of New Orleans after benching Winston). They’re converting third downs at a higher clip. Switching one bad quarterback for another won’t fix their problems. Winston is just as likely as Dalton to throw a backbreaking interception or take a sack on third and long, if not moreso. At this stage in their careers both guys are who their resumes say they are.
And that’s bad news for the Saints. A special quarterback could lift this team. So could a special coach. But they’re stuck with who they chose to put in these positions, and at 3-6, their only options are to stick it out and reevaluate things in the spring. Maybe they’ll get it right next time. But after such a dispiriting loss as this, it’s tough to find much faith.