Saints vs Panthers: What we learned from gross Week 3 loss

The New Orleans Saints aren't a good football team. We kind of knew that last week when the team imploded in the fourth quarter against the Buccaneers but it's reality after they got boat raced by the previously winless Panthers. This team is not good.

While I'd really like to just throw this game in the trash and never discuss it again, I have to talk about it because that's my job.

Jameis Winston shouldn't be QB1

Look, I get that Jameis Winston is in an immense amount of pain but if his pain is part of why he's struggling so bad, why is the guy still out there? The Saints signed Andy Dalton for a reason and it's time to start him moving forward.

Winston finished the game with respectable numbers but it took him until the fourth quarter to get to those numbers. His interception in the fourth quarter once again took the team out of the game and this kind of stuff just can't keep happening.

It's time to make the switch and put Dalton in.

Defense still fantastic

The defense deserves better than what they got on Sunday. They held the Panthers to 15 points and that's the only reason the final score in Charlotte looked somewhat respectable. Pete Werner is a boss, the pass rush finally got going, and Bradley Roby played really well too.

It's such a shame that this defense is going to be wasted because they did all they could to keep New Orleans in this game.

Olave's first big game

After Winston failed to connect deep with Chris Olave last week despite multiple attempts, the rookie had himself a nice day despite the offense's lack of energy. The Ohio State product finished with over 100 yards receiving and continued to come up big when the offense really needed it.

Bad coaching

I was fine with the Saints hiring Dennis Allen because it felt like the right move after Sean Payton stepped away. After watching this team through three games, however, Allen does not look to be the answer for this franchise. The offense is sloppy, racking up penalty after penalty and that's not going to help the team win ball games.

Pete Carmichael called a lot of mind-boggling plays and with the weapons this team has on offense, there's no excuse to only score 14 points. This coaching staff needs to step it up because fans aren't going to tolerate these kinds of performances for long.

What the Lutz?

It was not a good day at the office for Wil Lutz, who missed two key field goals for the good guys. Had both of those field goals gone in, the Saints would have only been trailing by two late in the game but it's also possible that those scores completely change how the rest of the game goes.

It was a really bad performance for Lutz and Saints fans aren't used to seeing him perform so poorly.

All in all, this game was just gross pretty much from start to finish. The Saints are now 1-2 and this is definitely a game they're going to wish they had back.