The New Orleans Saints lost in embarrassing fashion once again this week, this time falling to the Minnesota Vikings 23-13. The defense did its part, with a fumble-return touchdown and three forced fumbles, but they were the only part of the team that showed up to play on Sunday.
On the day the Saints punted four times with a 57.3 gross average, with a long of 64. However, lapses in coverage allowed Minnesota to return two of those punts for a total of 57 yards, including one huge 43-yarder. The special teams unit is honestly lucky that the defense showed up after that, forcing a three-and-out, or else that punt would be much more talked about than it will be.
New Orleans' kickoff unit would also struggle, fumbling the ball coming out of the second half and turning it over to the Vikings at their own 37-yard line. Naturally, with that field position, their offense would go on to score a touchdown and take their first lead of the game. After that, the Saints were never able to make up the lost momentum.
Saints' K Daniel Carlson misses his second PAT of the season
Safety Jonas Sanker's 87-yard fumble return touchdown nearly put the Saints back in the game, but the special teams unit immediately killed that momentum when kicker Daniel Carlson missed the PAT, tying the game at 13 instead of giving the team a one-point lead. His second miss from that range this season, it's a sign that New Orleans might need to be looking for another kicker once again.
Furthermore, despite having the most kickoff yards (116), the Saints only averaged 23.2 yards per return compared to the Vikings' 27.7. On nearly every phase of special teams, the Phil Galiano-led unit was getting beat. They didn't even attempt a punt return, with two fair catches.
That didn't give the offense much favorable field position, and maybe that's part of the reason they struggled to get the ball moving. The best field position they had to start a drive didn't even come from a kick-return or punt-return unit; it came from defensive end Chase Young running a fumble down to the Saints' 34-yard line.
As the team gets ready for next week's game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, they have to emphasize special teams in practice. There should also be some shuffling around in terms of their returners, because it's only been somewhat acceptable so far this season. A kicking change should needs to be considered as well, either via bringing up Charlie Smyth from the practice squad or another kicker from outside the building, because Carlson's missed PAT was just painful.
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