What is going on around here? The Saints were finally looking like the team we thought they'd be. They were ahead 24-6 over the lowly Chiefs and had the game at hand, then the next thing you know, Saints fans are watching Ryan Succop's field goal sail through the uprights and 0-3 is exactly who the Saints are today.
There's no sugar-coating this, the Saints are a bad team right now. They have no direction and are like a rudderless ship. Of course, that's exactly what they are without head coach Sean Payton.
What was crazy about the Chiefs lost was how bad both the offense and defense looked in the second half. Saints coaches placed mirrors in each player's locker after the Carolina loss last week so there would be no finger pointing and everyone would look at themselves first. Well, I guess the offense wanted a reason to have to look at themselves in the mirror because they joined their atrocious defensive counterparts this week and stunk up the Superdome in the second half.
What happened to this team? The offensive line couldn't block anyone and the receivers have a bad case of the droppsies. Runningbacks can't get more than a few yards and Drew Brees is forcing way too many passes into coverage and suffering interceptions as a result.
That's not even to mention the defense, which is playing some of the worse football Saints fans have seen in the Sean Payton/Drew Brees era. Running backs are all looking like hall of famers and receivers are catching first down after first down with nary a defender in site. Little to no pressure is being put on opposing quarterbacks, and the once beaten down former coordinator Gregg Williams, is now being looked at in a new light, bounty scandals and all.
To not feel left out in the mirror gazing, sure-footed Garrett Hartley missed what could have been the game-sealing field goal in that unbelievable second half as well.
So where do the Saints go from here? These are all professionals and they won't just give up, but the odds and the schedule are against them. Looking at the next few weeks, the schedule is brutal (Green Bay, San Diego, Denver, Philadelphia and Atlanta are five of the next six games).
This may be one of those years where Saints fans can start reciting the old school Saints unofficial slogan, "Wait 'til next year!" Of course, next year can't come soon enough because then, Sean Payton will be walking through the door and the team will have it's mojo back.
