The New Orleans Saints don’t sound like a team willing to shrug off a 1-3 start.
That record might look ordinary on paper, but inside the building it clearly feels like a wasted opportunity. The Saints have been good enough on offense to make the start sting even more, and in an NFC South where 2-2 is good enough to sit in first place, the gap between expectation and result has been impossible to ignore.
For a roster built to chase the division, this is not the kind of opening stretch anyone wanted. New Orleans has the benefit of a last-place schedule and has also watched other teams in the division struggle, which only sharpens the frustration around the mediocre results. The message from the players is simple: that won’t cut it.
Defensive end Chase Young said the reaction in the locker room has to match the disappointment.
"You should be upset. We didn't play to our standard, but the positive is seeing everybody come in today, how they're dealing with it.
And that's what you want to see: dudes who have a sour taste in their mouth, dudes who are mad about it. I hope you mad.
You get punched in your mouth, hopefully you ain't smiling."
The Saints also know this is not some hopeless situation. Their problems are fixable, which is why the next game carries so much weight. The challenge is a tough one: the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings come in at 4-0, and even without lighting up the scoreboard, they’ve stayed perfect because their defense has done enough to keep them in front.
That means New Orleans will have to clean up its own execution quickly. One Saints player laid out the approach in direct terms:
"More than anything, as players, we just have to do a better job of executing faster earlier. I think what we've done in the past and what we did last year, I think what we're going to start doing, is just have a compete period at the beginning of practice instead of the end. And that way you're immediately going right into it, and that's something that you can work on."
The Saints are still close enough to make this season matter. Even after the blowout loss to the Falcons, the roster hasn’t crossed into panic mode. But the margin for error is thin now, and New Orleans knows the path back starts with diagnosing the defensive issues and turning frustration into cleaner football.
In Other News...
Saints Draft Climb Sets Up A Tough First-Round D-Line Decision
The Saints move up to the seventh pick has put them in a much better spot to attack a defensive line that needs help, and it comes at a time when the board offers real options up front. South Carolina edge rusher Dylan Stewart brings the kind of talent that can tempt a team drafting this high, while Ole Miss interior lineman Will Echoles has also pushed his way into the conversation as a player worth serious first-round consideration.
What makes the decision tricky is that both profiles come with different kinds of appeal. Stewart offers edge pressure and upside, but his path has not been a perfectly clean one, while Echoles has steadily built momentum as one of the more intriguing interior defenders in this class. For a Saints team trying to strengthen the front without missing on a premium pick, the choice could say as much about how they view risk as it does about who helps them most in the short term. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Suddenly Have A Tyler Shough Problem They Can't Ignore
Tyler Shoughs latest outing underscored just how fragile the Saints offense can look when the pocket collapses around him. In the loss to Atlanta, New Orleans never gave its quarterback much breathing room, and the protection issues were especially noticeable on the left side, where David Edwards and Asim Richards had trouble holding up in pass sets. Even so, Shough still managed to throw for 286 yards and a touchdown, a reminder that the production has been there in spurts even when the environment around him has not.
The bigger concern is what comes next for a quarterback already dealing with a left-hand injury that has left him limited in Wednesday walkthroughs. The Saints need more than survival-level protection if they want Shough to stay functional and the offense to avoid stalling out again, especially after a game in which the pressure never really let up. For a team trying to sort out its identity, the line play and Shoughs health now feel too connected to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Mourn Mike Ditka As Team Reflects On Memorable Run
Mike Ditka, the former Saints head coach and Hall of Fame figure best known to most football fans for guiding the 1985 Chicago Bears, has died at 86. ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter reported the news after Ditkas family announced it, and the Saints responded with a statement mourning his passing and acknowledging what he meant to the franchise and the league.
For New Orleans, Ditkas time on the sideline was brief, but it remains part of the teams long memory because of the outsized reputation he brought with him. The Saints statement reflected the respect that still followed him through the game, a reminder that even a short run in New Orleans can linger when the coach attached to it carried so much history. [Read more 🡒]