After failing to score even three points in the preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams, the New Orleans Saints might have come up with a different definition of the word sloppy. Committing 12 penalties for 96 yards, it's also a reappearance of one of their main issues last season.
In 2025, the New Orleans Saints finished fourth in pre-snap penalties (49) and eighth in total penalties committed overall (118). So far this preseason they haven't shown that they've grown out of that habit, committing 20 for 162 yards through two games this preseason. That's just not acceptable, and if they were playing the regular season right now, they'd be on pace for an NFL record of 170 penalties.
The Saints have to clean up their act before the regular season starts, because no one wants to watch an offense break that kind of record. If, when September rolls around, the team shows that it's going to keep getting in its own way, then it doesn't matter what kind of plays the offense and defense can make. Luckily, the team still has time to prepare and mitigate the now big issue.
The Saints are lucky to have caught the penalty issue in the preseason
The Saints still have over two weeks until they kickoff the regular season in Detroit against the Lions. They need to use that time to figure out why they keep committing penalties and see if they can keep themselves under control on the field.
It's a good thing that this was something that came up now, rather than in the regular season. However, it's almost go time, and the Saints really don't have much time to waste. They need to use this last bit of training camp/the offseason to get some accountability in the locker room and to refine pre-snap communication.
On the bright side of this, if there even is one, is that Kellen Moore might've been the most animated we've seen him on the sideline as a head coach, and following the loss, he called it an obvious step back from progress.
"It was just a lack of discipline and detail; a lot of them were under our control. 12 penalties in a football game is... you're just not going to win football games," he said to the media. "It's going to be a lesson.
That falls directly on coaching. The starters may not have been in the game, but lack of discipline always reflects on coaching regardless of who is on the field. It's on the staff to ensure this problem from last year and the preseason doesn't carry over into this regular season.
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