The New Orleans Saints suffered a brutal 45-24 loss to their rival Atlanta Falcons on Monday night, falling to 1-3 on the season.
Atlanta controlled the game from the start, jumping out to a 24-7 halftime lead behind a dominant rushing attack. Bijan Robinson and Brian Robinson Jr. combined for five rushing touchdowns, while the Falcons finished with 205 rushing yards alone.
New Orleans again struggled to get its ground game going, managing just 50 rushing yards as a team, while Tyler Shough couldn’t find the end zone until the final two minutes of the game.
After the loss, Saints Pro Bowl defensive end Cam Jordan sent a clear message to his teammates.
“Look at the film and see how we can get better because it can’t get worse than that [expletive],” Jordan said. “It’s just one of these games where we’ll have to break this film down tomorrow. There is no off day. If you truly love this [expletive], you’ll be there early in the morning; that was the message. Yeah, I doubt I’m sleeping much tonight; there are things that we have to do.”
For as high-powered as the Saints’ offense has been with Shough, Chris Olave and breakout receiver Devaughn Vele, the defense has been a major problem.
New Orleans has already allowed the seventh-most total yards in the NFL (1,441), including the third-most rushing yards (591), while giving up the most points in the league (128). The defense has allowed 30 or more points in each of the Saints’ three losses, with Monday’s rout by the Falcons easily being the worst.
The fact that two of those losses have come at home makes it even more concerning.
The Saints are playing in one of the most unpredictable divisions in the league, and there is still plenty of time to turn things around. But they can’t expect to win many more games if they continue bleeding points on defense.
Next up, New Orleans will host the Vikings before traveling to face the Giants and returning home for a matchup with the Steelers. Those are three offenses the Saints should be capable of slowing down, giving their defense an opportunity to help the team get back above .500.