The New Orleans Saints were in charge of their own fate going into and out of the week.
We don’t need anyone’s assistance. We are depending on the men present. Furthermore, nobody needs to assist us.
View the game action photos from the New Orleans Saints’ Week 10 2023 NFL season matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.
Whatever way it is cut, diced, analyzed, and interpreted, the fact that the New Orleans Saints (5-5) led the NFC South Division going into their bye week and did so again when they finished it cannot be ignored.
And as a result, going into Sunday’s game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta against the Falcons (4-6), the Saints are still in control of their own destiny.
We don’t need anyone’s assistance, I told the team today. We are depending on the men present. It’s really up to us, as we don’t need anyone’s assistance, Coach Dennis Allen stated on Monday.
Nevertheless, Allen did not ignore the Saints’ patchy play, and the team kept looking for improvements throughout the bye.
We examined a great deal of material, he stated. I believe that our season has been a tale of two teams in that, throughout the first five games, we struggled offensively while playing rather effectively defensively. Over the past five weeks, it has somewhat flipped.
We need to be able to sustain some of the offensive improvements we’ve made, but there are undoubtedly still certain areas in which we need to improve. We also need to return to playing the kind of defense we did earlier in the season.
I won’t share every idea we had; nevertheless, I believe we figured out a couple of things that can help us advance. We need to get out there and do it now.
There’s no Aha! moment where we realize that’s the one thing we need to do to solve all our problems. A few areas require improvement on our part.
Over the past five games, mobile quarterbacks have been particularly problematic defensively, which has led to a general deterioration in the run defense.
The offense’s problems in the red zone from the first two games were somewhat resolved before the bye, but in New Orleans’ most recent game—a 27-19 loss to Minnesota—the entire offensive rhythm vanished for three quarters.
We’ve performed quite well offensively over the previous five weeks. In my opinion, when you go back and look at it statistically, Allen stated. Yet we still need to maintain greater consistency there.
However, I believe that a big part of the problem has been our ability to play football as a complementing offense, defense, and kicking game.
We’ve had some fairly solid defensive performances. Over the past month, things haven’t been that way. On offense, I believe we’ve made significant progress.
We really need to figure out a method to get the defense to perform well in the first five weeks and the offense to perform well in the latter five weeks, and then see if those two units can work as a cohesive unit. If we can accomplish it, I believe the outcomes will be far better.
Derek Carr, the quarterback who is in protocol following a concussion against the Vikings, has improved, according to Allen.
