3 problems Saints must fix before Week 7 game

The New Orleans Saints have lost their last four games, and they will soon run out of runway to turn the year around if they don’t get a win soon. Their next opportunity to do that will be on Thursday, when they host Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos.

No one in New Orleans wants to lose to Sean Payton. More importantly, no one wants to lose a fifth straight game. For the Saints to prevent those things from happening, they need to get some things figured out before they take the field on Thursday night.

3. Saints must stop turning the ball over

In Week 6, the one thing New Orleans’ defense did well was force turnovers, recording three takeaways in the game. Unfortunately, they were nullified because the offense also gave the ball away three times. Chris Olave fumbled the ball and that turned into a scoop and score for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Spencer Rattler threw two interceptions.

It's really hard to win in any sport at any level when you’re committing turnovers. Rattler is a rookie quarterback, so turning the ball over is unfortunately a part of his development, but he needs to learn quickly how to protect the ball.

2. Saints must be better against the blitz

Something else Rattler must improve against is the blitz. In the first half against the Bucs, the rookie quarterback and the Saints offense were cooking. Towards the end of the half, though, Todd Bowles started to dial up pressure for his Tampa Bay defense, and it was effective in slowing down New Orleans. The Buccaneers stuck to that script in the second half and dominated.

Since New Orleans struggling with the blitz is now on film, other teams are certainly going to dial some up. Rattler and the offensive line have to do a better job of identifying them pre snap and block them post snap.

1. Saints need to fix their tackling

With all that went wrong in Week 6, from injuries to rookie quarterback struggles, the biggest disappointment was the defense’s lack of tackling. It was an embarrassing effort. Immediately following the game, Dennis Allen called the tackling atrocious.

There were multiple instances in the game when New Orleans could’ve limited the Bucs to short gains, but poor tackling and bad angles turned those into big plays. That’s unacceptable for any defense, but especially for a veteran NFL defense with the kind of talented players New Orleans has.

This should be an easy fix, because the players on the defense have repeatedly proven they’re good tacklers throughout their careers. It just comes down to being discipline and approaching the game with the right mindset. When you don’t, you get blown out at home by a divisional opponent.

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