3 problems Saints must fix before Week 6 game

A lot has gone wrong for the New Orleans Saints the last three weeks; that’s evident in the team’s three-game losing streak. The biggest problem plaguing the team is injuries. New Orleans recently took another hit with Derek Carr being sidelined with an oblique injury.

Beyond the unfortunate injuries, the Saints just haven’t been playing good football recently. The two things could be connected, but injuries are inevitable; teams have to find a way to move forward and overcome them.

New Orleans takes on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday for a Week 6 matchup, and the team will be without some key players. Still, the Saints must improve in some important areas if they’re going to finally pick up their third win.

3. Saints must fix their run game

Everything New Orleans does offensively is built on a productive run game. Once Alvin Kamara gets rolling, the passing game opens up and New Orleans is able to run the score up. Of the five games the Saints played this year, they rushed for over 100 yards in three games— they averaged 38.3 points in those games.

In the two games they failed to reach the century mark on the ground, the offense averaged 12.5 points. Clearly, New Orleans has to be able to run the ball to score a decent amount of points.

The Saints couldn’t do it in Week 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs, but they’ll need to in Week 6 against the Bucs— especially with a rookie quarterback.

2. Saints must stop committing costly penalties

It may not seem like it to fans, but the Saints are a pretty discipline team. The only games they had more penalties than their opponent were the two blowout wins in the opening weeks of the season. Since then, New Orleans has been penalized 14 combined times in the last three weeks, eight less than its opponents.

The problem, though, is the few penalties they have been called for have been extremely costly. From late-game pass interferences to third-down calls to drive-killing holding penalties, New Orleans has committed the kind of fouls that really hurt the team. That needs to be avoided moving forward.

1. Saints must fix their run defense

This is one of the issues that could be a direct result of injuries. Over the last three weeks, New Orleans has been abysmal against the run. The defense allowed 3.6 yards per carry against the Chiefs, 5.9 against the Atlanta Falcons, and 6.9 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Injuries to starting linebackers Demario Davis, Pete Werner, and Willie Gay certainly don’t help, but the Saints have to figure this out if they’re going to stop losing. Just as the Saints offense gets rolling with a good run game, so does every other offense. New Orleans needs to limit teams on the ground, so it can limit opponents on the scoreboard.

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