Sean Payton discusses Week 11 loss in short and quick presser

The New Orleans Saints lost their third straight game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, and coach Sean Payton had nothing to say.

Literally, he had very little to say about the Week 11 loss, other than what was perhaps the obvious:

In the post-game press conference, Sean Payton remained as tight-lipped as always but was noticeably less irritated than he was last week.

Instead, he was somewhat…despondent.

The Saints suffered their third loss after the BYE, and many are starting to wonder if the rest of the season is just heading downhill from here.

This wasn’t even a game that NOLA deserved to win. For three quarters, New Orleans played terrible, unpassionate football, found some momentum in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t come back to win the game (that much was apparent when Payton called for that last field goal).

It’s the same narrative from Week 10’s loss to the Titans and Week 9’s loss to the Falcons.

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton grumbles over yet another defeat

The Saints are losing to very beatable teams, and no one knows exactly why.

Payton offered a few thoughts on where the Saints went wrong:

"“Turnovers were significant. We struggled defending their running game, obviously. We thought we’d have an edge in [our return game] and I thought it was just average. All of us have to do a better job.”"

Alvin Kamara was absent yet again, possibly forcing Trevor Siemian to throw the ball more often to the Saints’ still unimpressive wide receiver corps.

As for that top-ranked Saints’ run defense? Philly decimated New Orleans on the ground, with quarterback Jalen Hurts rushing for 69 yards and running backs Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard rushing for 94 and 63 yards respectively.

Payton refused to blame anything on injuries, though. When asked if the team’s injuries played a big factor in the loss, Payton said:

"“I don’t really want to talk about injuries. There were a lot of things we did today that weren’t injury-related. I appreciate the question though.”"

He “appreciates” the question. Payton is getting quite gracious at losing — after all, his team hasn’t enjoyed a good result since their unlikely win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Payton and the Saints now focus their attention to two incredibly tough matchups against the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys.

The postseason has started to slip through NOLA’s fingers with each wrenching gut-punch of a loss. Payton knows it, and we do, too.