The 2021 Adversity Tour of the New Orleans Saints made its second stop in Charlotte.
It was a disaster, as the Saints collapsed to the Carolina
Panthers 23-7.
With a plethora of starters missing and eight coaches marooned in a hotel somewhere with Covid, the Saints had the most tepid offensive output of the Sean Payton era – 129 Yards. They couldn’t run and they couldn’t pass. Jameis Winston looked like the Quarterback the Saints befuddled all those years when he was in Tampa, throwing two interceptions. But this wasn’t all his fault. The Panthers completely controlled the line of scrimmage, beating the Saints supposedly great offensive line with blitzes all day. There was no where for Winston to turn, so he turned into sacks. There is simply no recipe for winning a game when you are constantly 2nd and 18, 3rd and 21. For awhile it looked like the Saints would have negative yardage for the game.
The defensive effort was a little better, but not by much. The Panthers moved the ball consistently and had a good pass/mix run.
But, here’s the real bad news that came out of this game. The Panthers look to be patsies no more.
Coach Matt Ruhl has completely rebuilt the roster with
competent players. The hardest pill to
swallow was watching Joe Brady, late of LSU, and the Saints calling plays in
the booth. The Panthers were getting
rich off of insider trading as he put together a perfect plan.
Best advice – hope this was an aberration and move on. It’s back to Dallas to practice, then off to New England, where Bill Belichick is sure to notice what happened today. That should bring an end to the adversity tour brought on by Hurricane Ida. And Covid. And Pass Rushers.
You know that you are in trouble when the most entertaining part of the game is the Fox graphics package nod to Ted Lasso, highlighting the Saints being down to 4 offensive coaches.
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