Dalton Criticized 1-3 Saints a Spark, But Bigger Problems Remain – New Orleans Saints Blog

LONDON — New Orleans Saints Coach Dennis Allen for sure Will LutzThe 61-yard scoring attempt went well on Sunday.

Lutz took a 60-yard kick in the fourth round, and when the second kick was within range, Allen raised his hands to signal success. Moments later, he lowered his head and frowned as he watched Lutz’s unsuspecting kick hit a vertical, then hit the crossbarbefore finally turning away when time ran out at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

That is the story of the Saints (1-3), when they fell 28-25 arrive Minnesota Vikings (3-1), and the whole season so far: Hope then despair, with a lot of bad play in between. Even a change in midfield – Andy Dalton start on behalf of an injured person James Winston – can’t fix group problems.

“Feels like I made a really good offense. Feels like we played well. It feels like at the end of the day two spins decide the factor in this game,” Dalton said. “And it’s tough, because you go back and watch this game, and feel like you played really well and you can go back and watch it and say, ‘Oh my gosh, if I could just play it again. ” But that’s the story of this story. Really hard. But I think we definitely did some good things there. “

The first leg, penalties and slow start saw the Saints lose three games in a row. They scored three aggregate points in the first quarter of those games, and they served comfortably, eclipsing their 2021 total by six this season.

“We probably played better today”, Saints center Erik McCoy speak. “Two legs in our territory, however, gave them six points. We lost three.”

The Saints lost to the Vikings behind the tournament in net revenue disparity and lost two more times. Their 11 goalscoring games are the most in four games since the 2007 season, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.

The Saints have regularly lamented the moves this season after some of them were potentially game-changers.

Mark Ingram IIgroping against Tampa Bay Buccaneers robbed the Saints of scoring opportunities, and Alvin Kamaragroping against Carolina Panthers was returned for a single touch down. Dalton’s Fumbles and Kick People Back Deonte Harty gave the Vikings short gaps leading to two goals on Sunday.

“I think we have to emphasize that,” said Allen, who is in his first year as the Saints head coach. “I think we also have to see who’s doing what and where.”

Sunday’s results against the Vikings show that Saints’ problems are bigger than a simple fix. Even if they want to consider starting some new players, they don’t exactly have other options to use at the moment.

They ran into some annoying starting bugs – obviously with Winston, the wide receiver Michael Thomas suffered a toe injury and Kamara was out with a rib injury.

Dating back to training camp, trauma is what the Saints pointed to because of their lack of chemistry.

“There are some adjustments that have to go with that,” Allen said. “We’ll keep fighting and keep fighting, and we’ll figure this out and we’ll play better football.”

The only potential change the Saints might consider is a move to Dalton, or at least until Winston fully recovers. Dalton isn’t perfect, but he can lead some touchdowns and make some key throws, including a 33-yard pass for Marquez Callaway in the third quarter, set up a test run by Latavius ​​Murray.

Complete his 32 yards to Chris Olave only 24 seconds left to create a chance for Lutz to make a shot deep into the goal.

“I can say Andy is great – calm, composed, charming,” McCoy said.

The problem is still bigger than Dalton. There are special teams coverage issues against the Vikings, including giving up a fake game. At the end of the game, The Saints are leading the league with 34 penalties.

The saints had three important penalties for the upcoming “drive” with safety Tyrann Mathieu says he doesn’t believe he committed an illegal hand penalty that caused the Vikings to switch for the third time or less.

“I don’t think I touched his face. Yeah, I don’t think I touched him. I know I didn’t,” Mathieu said. “But, you know, the call has been made. You have to live with it. Even then, I think we keep fighting. You know, so I’m going to prepare for this defense. any day.”

Allen and several players say the Saints have a long season to fix their problems, but unless they fix them quickly, the hole they’ve dug could quickly deepen.

“I think things are going to change. I’ve been on teams with talent and won and teams with talent that lost. … [I’ve] kind of have seen it all. “Saints receiver said Jarvis Landry. “I think we have a great culture. We have a lot of great leaders. I think you learn a lot about yourself through adversity. It’s still early days. We just need a quick start. more when committing crimes… People might say we can be 0-4, but we can also be 4-0.”

Dalton, made his Saints debut in the regular season after joining the team one year agreement during the season, completing 20/28 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown with no interception.

“We haven’t left any of the games we’ve played,” Dalton said. “It’s only a turn or two, and we have to find a way to make those plays allow us to win and not create plays that hurt us. Looking back on today, I was said from the beginning, two turns, six points, completely changed the way this game was, and you know, it started with me.”