New Orleans Saints get owned by Houston Texans for third-straight loss

The New Orleans Saints continued their deformed downfall after failing to score a touchdown and losing to the Houston Texans on Sunday.

We can go ahead and call this season a wrap for the Black and Gold.  The New Orleans Saints have a mess of problems, and unfortunately, they will not be getting fixed over night.

The Saints lost their third-straight game Sunday afternoon after falling to the Houston Texans, 24-6.  New Orleans got shut down and owned.  Between penalties, poor blocking up front, a non-existent pass rush, bad coverage, and Brandon Browner among other things, every issue Sean Payton and company have was exposed.

“It’s tough to lose a game like that,” Payton said in his postgame press conference. “I thought after the early portion of the game we settled down defensively. We got the field goal at the half — I was kind of encouraged by that. The story of the game was their defense and our inability offensively to really sustain a drive.

“We couldn’t stay on the field and it really took an effect on our defense, because they’re a good third-down front and part of it is your first and second-down efficiency. It seemed as if, most of the game, we were in those long-yardage situations. We didn’t play well enough.

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“Credit them — I think that’s a good football team and I said that earlier in the week with regards to how they’re playing their front. But surely, I think when we put the tape on we’re going to see a lot of things we need to clean up offensively. We struggled with any type of consistency to run the football. We had a few big runs, but outside of that, it wasn’t good enough.”

Sean Payton was being quite generous with his word choices following the game, but he was right.  However, it’s time to be real — the New Orleans Saints are a bad football team.  A lot needs to be fixed before we can start making it rain with optimism again.

Sunday’s loss to the Texans was the dagger.  The Saints failed to score a touchdown, ending Drew Brees record for consecutive games with a pass into the end zone (45).  He finished the day 25 of 44 with 228 yards and an interception.  New Orleans was second in the NFL in total offense heading into Houston, averaging 414.5 yards per game. They totaled just 268 yards Sunday.

The only bright spot of the day was that safety Jairus Byrd finally got his first interception since taking his talents to the Big Easy last year.  New Orleans was simply outplayed by a better football team in every aspect of the game.

Whether it’s players, coaches, or other staff members, change needs to happen.  The Saints are playing their worst football of the Sean Payton era, which could very well be coming to an end soon.  They’ll host the undefeated Carolina Panthers (11-0) next Sunday in a game that could turn into another train wreck for the Who Dat Nation.