Tyrann Mathieu did not sugarcoat what he saw from the New Orleans Saints after their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he didn’t hide how much it bothered him either.
Mathieu, who has taken multiple pay cuts to help his hometown team build out a roster, sounded every bit like a man who has poured himself into the Saints only to watch the offense stall in ugly fashion. After the game, the veteran defensive back made his frustration clear when he pointed straight at the offensive line and the run game.
“For Christ’s sake, I took a pay cut three years in a row so they could find a way to pay offensive linemen that don’t block, who don’t make a difference... 17 runs, 18 yards. I…”
The Saints’ inability to run the ball was the clearest problem on a rough afternoon. New Orleans finished with just 18 rushing yards, and the total was so poor you’d have to go back nearly 30 years to find a worse showing. On any level, that kind of production is a disaster.
Mathieu’s comments didn’t even mention the running backs, which tells you where he believes the main issue sits. The Saints handed the ball to Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller, and both averaged only 0.8 yards per carry.
That said, this wasn’t a case where the backs had much to work with. The Saints’ offensive line produced zero yards before contact per carry, leaving runners with no room to operate.
That’s the part that makes the rushing numbers so stark. A back can only do so much when there’s no crease to hit and defenders are meeting him almost immediately. Sure, you’d like runners to make people miss and salvage extra yards, but that becomes a lot harder when the blocking never gives the play a chance.
Mathieu’s criticism lands on a unit that has struggled to create space for a long time. The eye test matched the numbers Sunday: Saints runners were getting hit in the backfield, and the offense never found even a modest rhythm on the ground. The final stat line will almost certainly look better next week, but that doesn’t mean much if the blocking issues are still there.
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Saints Bye Week Mock Draft Shows Where This Roster Needs Help
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The exercise also brought a handful of prospects into the conversation, each with a different path to fitting what the Saints are trying to build. The evaluations were all based on scouting work rather than anything official from the team, but they did underline just how many spots remain in play as New Orleans heads into the next phase of roster building. [Read more 🡒]