New Orleans Saints: 3 reasons why the Saints lost to the 49ers

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(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

The Offense

A Saints fan seeing 46 points would expect either a blowout or an all-around impressive performance.

It was looking like it would be a stellar performance with 27 first-half points, but New Orleans only had six points to boot in the third quarter.

A rare fumble from Alvin Kamara, a failed special teams fake and a lack of consistent execution in the second half would go on to hurt the team.

First things first, Kamara doesn’t seem to be his old self since his ankle injury, and despite the blatantly obvious pass interference on the fake punt, it’s the right call.

More from Who Dat Dish

The NFL does not give teams the right to have pass interference calls on punts because a player could launch a pass down the field and get an easy flag and a first down.

Even though it’s the correct call, fans can easily get frustrated from this rule.

Besides that play, the Saints’ offense could have controlled the game more in terms of time-of-possession so that their defense could get some much-needed rest.

It also didn’t help that Jared Cook was gone for the game with a concussion after hauling in two touchdowns from Brees; it made the defensive gameplan easier for the 49ers because the Saints don’t have many weapons to speak of.

Plus, Taysom Hill’s offensive game needs to be less predictable. Hill shouldn’t just be under center to run the ball outside because he should be throwing some passes or working a neat trick-play like a reverse or double pass.

And on its apparent game-winning drive, New Orleans scored with 0:53 left to take a 46-45 lead, but San Francisco had all three timeouts in its pocket.

Looking back at the touchdown, Tre’Quan Smith could have fallen at around the 5-yard line to pick up a first down to run some clock and force the 49ers to take timeouts.

That touchdown gave the Saints the lead yet would come back to bite them at the end.