It’s easy to point the finger at one side of the ball — when it’s the worst in the league.
But the Saints say they could do more when they have the ball to make things easier as well.
“We’ve always won games 40-30-something,” quarterback Drew Brees said, via Bradley Handwerger of WWL-TV. “The way I look at it is we’re a 30-40 point a game offense. So, regardless of what’s happening on the defensive side of the ball, I know that our execution needs to be what our standard is.”
At the moment, the Saints are sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 27.1 points per game.
But when the defense is on pace to shatter the league’s all-time record for yards allowed in a season, that’s no longer enough.
The fact they’re last in the league in rushing offense complicates matters, but the Saints have always figured out a way to work around that.
“We’re used to being more productive than we’ve been this year,” right tackle Zach Strief said. “A lot of that is attributed to our inability to have balance.
“It makes things harder on everybody. So it continues to be a focus. It continues to be something that we’re working very hard at. Obviously we’re not there yet. It’s certainly not something that we’ve given up on or that we have decided we’re not good enough to do. We just have to figure out the right pieces and get the running game more consistent.”
It’s almost like they’re missing something, a certain guy who knew when to call the right play at the right time, maybe.