NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Take One: Slaughtered in Seattle
What happened to the Saints on Sunday was more than just a loss. It was a beatdown. It was a massacre. It truly was a slaughtering in Seattle of the Saints by the Seahawks.
Kellen Moore’s team looked completely overmatched, overwhelmed, unprepared and undisciplined in their 44-13 misery session.
In their previous two defeats they were in it until the end. In this one, the game was over before the first quarter even ended.
It was the type of effort that made it fair to question whether or not the 2025 Saints are indeed the worst team in the NFL. Through three weeks, they’ve done their best (or worst) to put themselves in that discussion.
Take Two: Catastrophic special teams
There’s bad. There’s terrible. And then there’s what the Saints special teams were on Sunday.
A disaster of epic proportions essentially ended this game before the second quarter even began.
On the Saints first punt, Kai Kroger boomed the ball al the way back to the Seahakws five-yard line. Tory Horton fielded the ball, read a block , and was off to the races for a 95-yard punt return.
On the next drive, Kroger never had a chance as the rusher came in untouched to block his punt. Seattle recovered it the Saints’ 11-yard line and scored two plays later. By the 4:22 mark of the first quarter, the Saints were down, 21-0.
That would have been bad enough, but that unit wasn’t done. Blake Grupe missed a 52-yard field goal, and the kickoff coverage gave up a 60-yard return to Dareke Young that set up their fourth touchdown of the game.
Take Three: Penalty Problems (again)
Repeat after me:
‘The Saints are not good enough to overcome double-digit penalties in a game.’
’The Saints are not good enough to overcome double-digit penalties in a game.’
Everyone knows this, most of all the Saints. Yet for the second time in three weeks, they committed an unacceptable amount of penalties. In all there were 11 flags accepted, 13 total called against them.
The biggest one may have been their first one when Bryan Bresee was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty after the Saints stopped the Seahawks on their opening drive. That penalty extended the drive, and a few plays later, the Seahawks were in the end zone.
On the Saints third offensive possesion, they had a comical three penalties called against them in a span of four plays.
This is certainly not a winning formula for success and certainly a poor reflection on Kellen Moore’s leadership style that’s led to a stunning lack of discipline.
Take Four: No tempo, no offense
Regardless of circumstances, 13 points is not good enough in the NFL. The Saints have now scored 13 points in two of their first three games.
What’s becoming clear is just how much that side of the ball leans heavily on being up tempo. The problem is when they aren’t rushing up to the line after each play, they can’t seem to find a true flow. It happened again on Sunday.
This is a major issue. Tempo can work in spurts, but there’s a reason why NFL teams don’t do it all game long. In Seattle it didn’t work quite as effectively as the prior two games because Lumen Field is an incredibly loud stadium which made it difficult for Spencer Rattler to hear Moore talking to him in the headset. This was obvious throughout the game where Rattler was having to cover his ears on several occasions to hear the instructions.
The Saints have got to find a way to make the operation flow better down-to-down on offense.
Take Five: Other Observations
The Seahawks held a 38-6 lead at halftime despite only possessing the ball for just over 7-minutes in the first two quarters. Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak put on a clinic against his former team. He was blessed with several short fields, but Sam Darnold was in ryhthym all game long despite not having to be on the field a lot. The Saints run game had minimal impact Sunday. Kudos to Jack Stoll for scoring the first touchdown of his career Sunday. From the press box angle, it looked like Rattler was throwing the ball away. Speaking of Rattler, Sunday was another performance where he wasn’t the main reason for the loss. But unlike the previous two games, Rattler didn’t come close to putting his team in a position to win. The journey doesn’t get much easier for the Saints. Up next, a trip to Buffalo to face one of the best teams in the NFL.
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