Week 11 of the NFL season is nearly upon us, and with that, the New Orleans Saints head into their bye week to get some rest and see how they end up coming out health-wise on the other side. Following a 2-8 start, it is clear the franchise needs a bit of a reset heading into the second half, despite picking up its second win right before the bye. Following a Tyler Shough performance that left many happy with the state of the position, the momentum will be cut short for another few days until Week 12.
With the first segment of the season wrapped up, let’s take a look at three of the most critical takeaways for the team, given where they stand at this moment.
The trenches remain a key issue with the Saints
Over the past few seasons, one of the most notable issues for New Orleans has been its inability to figure out the trenches in one way or another. Injuries have been part of this, no doubt, with Taliese Fuaga and Erik McCoy being notable mentions in that group. But also, the performance from pretty much every guard on the roster has been somewhere from below average to extremely poor, and that is just unsustainable when the only starter remaining is Kelvin Banks Jr.
As for the defensive trenches, there is practically no pressure being generated in some games, and when they do finally get some, it is exclusively coming off the edge. As a vocal supporter of Bryan Bresee, his lack of production in generating pressure has really killed the defense at times, with six fewer sacks than last season so far. While his run defense has improved, it is a difficult loss to take statistically. Davon Godchaux has been a solid addition on the bright side, but overall, the unit is just missing the cohesiveness that previous years have had.
Selecting Tyler Shough in the draft is panning out… maybe
After many weeks of Spencer Rattler starting and the Saints not turning to Tyler Shough, it was starting to become more and more of a question why they had selected him in the first place if they were going to wait so long to utilize him. Then he got his first two starts right before the bye week, and in Week 10, something really clicked for him compared to Week 9. Against the Los Angeles Rams, he looked to be a bit tentative to try and make plays out of structure, but against the Carolina Panthers, he started to go off script, and it worked immensely well.
Going 19/27 with 282 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions is extremely impressive for a rookie quarterback, and while there is still a long way to go in the season, this was one of the few bright spots the team has seen in a long time.
Hiring Kellen Moore was a slow-burning type of move
Kellen Moore has been a difficult assessment so far through 10 weeks of football. On one hand, he seemed to be adjusting rather slowly and had difficulties with timeout utilization, along with some just all-around uninspired playcalling. However, that has started to turn around in recent weeks, with Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave starting to get more involved, Taysom Hill being moved all over the field, and lots of motion being implemented.
With that said, this is the first head coaching gig for Moore, so there are going to be growing pains, and he has started to really overcome some of them in the last few weeks before the bye. While there is a lot to prove for him to really showcase why he should remain the long-term coach, he is starting to do so over time.