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Saints limp into November having dug themselves another big hole

Saints limp into November having dug themselves another big hole

Like a bad apple, candy corn, or another remake of Halloween or Friday the 13th, the New Orleans Saints ruined Halloween. Unlike the ghouls, ghosts, and scary monsters of the season, these saints have created tricks and terrors of their own.

New Orleans came out of the gate stronger than even its most diehard supporters could have imagined. They beat the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys by a combined score of 91-29 and started 2-0. As the fall leaves began to change, so did the team’s fortunes.

Mistakes late in the fourth quarter cost the Saints two winning games in the final minute against Philadelphia and Atlanta. These losses dropped the Saints to 2-2 at the end of September. A calendar change to October brought even more problems for the Saints.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Sean Tucker fends off a tackle attempt by New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Sean Tucker (44) fends off a tackle attempt by New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis (56) / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Like a zombie apocalypse, injuries were rampant across the New Orleans squad in October.

Starting in late September, the Saints temporarily lost Derek Carr, Taysom Hill, Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Lucas Patrick, Demario Davis, Pete Werner, Paulson Adebo and Will Harris. Shaheed and Adebo are out for the year, while McCoy remains on injured reserve.

A skeleton crew on offense and mostly terrible defense made the Saints look like helpless victims in a horror movie. New Orleans lost all four games in October. They averaged a measly 14.5 points in those four games, but gave up a shocking average of 34 points.

Much like the incompetent leaders in horror movies, New Orleans’ coaches were unable to stop the decline. The Saints are getting regular coaching week in and week out. But the team’s front office refuses to consider change, stubbornly believing that all is well while the world is falling apart.

December 21, 2015; New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton speaks with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen

December 21, 2015; New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton speaks with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen / Chuck Cook-Imagn Images

New Orleans once terrorized the rest of the NFL over Halloween until at least Thanksgiving. In 15 years under Sean Payton, the Saints were 46-15 in October, a winning percentage of .754. Even in the worst four years of the Drew Brees/Sean Payton era (2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016), the Saints went 11-4 in October, a winning percentage of .733.

Between 2011 and 2021, New Orleans was 33-8 in October. Fall and Halloween were particularly good between 2014 and 2021. The Saints were 26-4 in October during that span, including an incredible 20-2 between 2016 and 2021.

Saying Dennis Allen’s Saints struggled in October is like saying Michael Myers had a bit of a temper problem. Including this season, New Orleans has a nightmare record of 4-10 in October under Allen.

This basically means that the Saints often took control of the NFC South under Payton. At least they are in a very good position for the playoffs. In three years under Allen, New Orleans has put itself in a position where it needs outside help to regain a chance at the postseason before Thanksgiving even approaches.

To make matters worse, Sean Payton came back to New Orleans this October and basically played the role of Freddy Krueger. In front of their home crowd, Payton’s Denver Broncos defeated the Saints by a score of 33-10 in a prime-time game on Thursday night.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr (4) throws a pass against the Atlanta Falcons

New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr (4) throws a pass against the Atlanta Falcons / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

At 2-6 and on a six-game losing streak, New Orleans has played two crucial games in two consecutive weeks against NFC South opponents Carolina and Atlanta. Any hope, no matter how small, of saving the season has to start with winning both games.

Mathematically, New Orleans can at least climb back into the division race with a win over these two games and a little outside help. They’ve definitely dug their own grave, but they’re also making sure some of their players get healthy.

Hoping for that to happen could be a whole different fairy tale. Before this season’s nightmare, the Saints posted a terrible 6-15 record between Weeks 3 and 13 under Dennis Allen, which worsened to 6-21 with this year’s disaster.

New Orleans simply needs to get a win against the 7-1 Carolina Panthers this Sunday. They’re hoping to put this year’s October horror film behind them. To achieve this, they must also turn around their own poor on-field performance and overcome their recent nightmare history.