Grading the New Orleans Saints offense so far in 2022
Entering the 2022 season, New Orleans Saints fans didn't think the team would be 4-9 when their late Week 14 bye week finally arrived yet here we are.
The offense was supposed to be led by Jameis Winston at the quarterback position but after three games of medicority, he was benched in favor of veteran Andy Dalton, who has been at the helm ever since. Dalton has been okay and that's been enough at times and not enough in other times.
The wide receiver corp got a major upgrade in the offseason with the return of Michael Thomas, drafting Chris Olave, and signing Jarvis Landry. Sadly, only one of those guys has ended up being any good and that's Olave, who has over 800 yards receiving and three touchdowns as a rookie. The Saints actually have the 11th-most passing yards in the league, which shows they're airing it out and trying to let their receivers do their thing.
The running back position has disappointed and no one would have expected that with Alvin Kamara leading the way there. He's been ineffective this year and has four fumbles on the year. His only touchdowns came in one game where he dominated but otherwise, Kamara has been a shell of himself. The team ranks just outside the bottom 10 when it comes to rushing yards per game. They have the fifth-fewest rushing yards over the past three games.
What grade does the New Orleans Saints offense deserve?
The play-calling has been a major issue this season too. Pete Carmichael spent several years as the offensive coordinator in title only, as Sean Payton called the majority of the plays. It's showing this year that Carmichael is in over his head.
Dennis Allen asked if he still has confidence Pete Carmichael and the offense. He says that they were moving the ball but the situational stuff has to be better.
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) December 6, 2022
"I have confidence in our offense and what we're doing. We just have to be more consistent in what we're doing."
New Orleans is just outside the bottom 10 when it comes to points scored per game. It's hard to win games when you don't score points, isn't it? The defense has played pretty well over the past few weeks but the offense has been why the team has lost.
At times, the offense looks okay. Dalton played a really nice game this past weekend but it was the rest of the team that him down. Other times, Dalton is struggling while Olave balls out or Juwan Johnson (another nice story this year) makes some big plays. Taysom Hill has had his fair share of explosive plays but the team doesn't always utilize him in the best way.
With all of this in mind, I'm giving the Saints offense a D+.
There are some games where things are clicking and this offense looks like they can score 30 points easily. But then we have those games like the one in San Francisco where they put up a zero burger and are a laughingstock. Throw in that the run game has been awful and a D+ feels fair.
Coming into the season with Winston, Thomas, Landry, Olave, Kamara, and Hill, however, definitely got our expectations up and this unit majorly let us down.
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What grade would you give the Saints offense through 13 games?