Saints offense sputters in 26-9 loss to Bucs

The oddsmakers clearly have miscalculated the 2023 New Orleans Saints. Las Vegas had the Saints at 9.5 wins and the favorite to win the NFC South.

That could still happen but any observer has to have doubts with what they have seen of the New Orleans offense in four games.

The oddsmakers had the Saints as a 3-point favorite. That was up to 3.5 points by Friday but inched back up when Derek Carr was confirmed to start at quarterback despite a sprained AC joint.

Tough and durable, Carr has proven that throughout his career. He decided he was fit enough to play, lobbiing coaches and got the blessing from team doctors to give it a go. Give him credit for wanting to compete and being willing to play hurt.

It did not work out, not even close.

Carr was ineffective, the play-calling left something to be desired, the execution was poor. Other than that, all was well.

The 2023 Saints have one of the worst offenses in the NFL through four games. That is where this team was much of last season. Nothing has changed, despite the addition of Carr and a healthy Michael Thomas.

This game also saw the return of Alvin Kamara from suspension. Everyone wanted to see he get touches, and he got plenty. It simply was not effective enough.

Most notably, Kamara was on the receiving end of 13 passes from Carr. It became dump-off city in Caesars Superdome. Those 13 receptions covered 33 yards. That summarized the New Orleans offense. It was hard to watch, unless, of course, you had a rooting interest in the Buccaneers.

It was ugly. It was poor. It was unacceptable.

Here are my Quick Takes from the 26-9 Tampa Bay win over New Orleans:

**Inactives for the Saints included Paulson Adebo, Foster Moreau, Jordan Howden, Jake Luton, A.T. Perry, Kyle Phillips and Cesar Ruiz.

**Tampa Bay won the toss and deferred, giving the Saints the ball first.

**Cam Jordan appeared in his 196th career regular season game, surpassing Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Rickey Jackson for the most games played in by a Saints defensive player and tying Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Morten Andersen for second in club history. Drew Brees is the all-time leader with 228 games played.

**Juwan Johnson went out of the game early with a calf injury, leaving the position to Jimmy Graham and Taysom Hill. Johnson did not return.

**Safety Ryan Neal went down early for the Bucs with concussion symptoms and was out for the remainder of the game.

**Carr looked solid on the opening drive. The Saints went 56 yards in 11 plays, taking 5:40 off the clock. A loss of seven yards on a shovel pass from Carr to Kamara lost seven yards and stalled the drive and Blake Grupe kicked a 37-yard field goal to give New Orleans a 7-0 lead with 9:20 to play in the first quarter.

**It was important for Grupe to connect after the failure in Green Bay.

**Kamara got involved immediately, with four touches on the opening series.

**Both offenses went stagnant before Tampa Bay got rolling in the second quarter, going 87 yards in 17 plays, taking 8:51 off the clock with Baker Mayfield hitting an uncovered Cade Otton on a 4-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-3 with 5:19 to play in the half.

TD 8️⃣8️⃣

📺: #TBvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/Gh2Z3aR3t3

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 1, 2023

**The chopped-up Saints secondary suffered another loss when Lonnie Johnson Jr. went to the locker room late in the first half with a hamstring injury.

**Mike Evans went down with a hamstring injury for the Bucs and would not return.

**Tampa Bay, which controlled the half, had another nice drive which could have added to the lead at halftime but Mayfield, who had played very well to that point, made a poor decision, trying to throw for the end zone up the right sideline for Chris Godwin and Isaac Yiadom picked it off.

**The officials originally placed the ball at the 20-yard line but then changed it and said Yiadom’s momentum carried him into the end zone so the ball was placed at the 1-yard line.

ISAAC. YIADOM.

HUGE INT 41 seconds before half

📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/AgCon2WTdb

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 1, 2023

**On the next play, Adam Prentice, who earlier dropped a pass wide open, fumbled the ball on a hit by Antoine Winfield and Winfield recovered at the New Orleans 6-yard line. The questions are why Prentice is even on the field on a passing down and why he is trusted to run the football in that situation?

**It took two plays for the Bucs to capitalize with Mayfield hitting Trey Palmer with a 1-yard touchdown pass to give Tampa Bay a 14-3 lead with 19 seconds to play in the half. Palmer prepped at Kentwood and played at LSU before transferring to Nebraska.

.@bakermayfield with a dime to @treythekiid3 🎯

📺: #TBvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/c5A5EQrqAF

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 1, 2023

**The Bucs amassed 206 yards in the first half to just 98 for New Orleans.

**The longest pass completion of the half for the Saints was 13 yards to Michael Thomas. It was thrown by Taysom Hill. It was also the only catch of the half for Thomas. Olave had no receptions in the half and was targeted just once.

**The Saints defense forced just its second three-and-out to start the second half, thanks to a sack by Bryan Bresee to force a punt.

**New Orleans finally mounted a drive, going 57 yards in 12 plays and took 7:09 off the clock but once again, the Saints could not finish the drive and Grupe kicked a 32-yard field goal to make it 14-6 with 49 seconds to play in the third quarter.

**On the drive, Kamara accounted for 36 of the 57 yards, including 29 rushing.

**Tampa Bay got it back, going 42 yards in six plays with Chase McLaughlin booting a 51-yard field goal to give the Bucs a 17-6 lead with 13:31 to play in the game.

**Andrus Peat went down in concussion protocol and was out for the remainder of the game. Max Garcia replaced him and was flagged for holding quickly, negating a first-down run by Kamara.

**New Orleans overcame the hold and drove 49 yards in 13 plays, taking 5:02 off the clock but once again, the drive stalled and Grupe kicked a 44-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 17-9 with 8:29 to play in the game.

**The Bucs put the game away, if there was ever any doubt, driving 75 yards in 10 plays with Mayfield connecting with Deven Thompkins on a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 23-9 with 3:44 to play in the game. The try for two points on the conversion failed.

Catch of the game by @GrandmasterDT 🤯

📺: #TBvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/G5J7o4JeEV

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 1, 2023

**To add insult to injury, Carr was sacked with 3:22 to play in the game by Vita Vea, fumbled, and Logan Hall recovered at the New Orleans 19-yard line.

**That set up a 28-yard field goal by McLaughlin to finish off the Saints.

**Jameis Winston then entered the game with 2:24 to play. He threw a pass on his first play, intended for Olave. It was intercepted by Dee Delaney.

We'll take that 😁

📺: #TBvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/w6CfFQ3g2J

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 1, 2023

That the coaching staff elected to go with Carr and not with Winston is a testament to its confidence in Carr and its lack of confidence in Winston. Perhaps Carr was limited. Then again, this staff and organization has made a huge commitment to Carr.

This offense went nowhere, yet again, and the result is a bad, make that very bad home loss as a favorite to a marginal division opponent.

What comes next for this team?

Most everyone would agree that Olave is a good player.

Michael Thomas has returned and he has been solid.

Rasheed Shaheed can fly.

Kamara is back and Hill is still there.

There are sufficient playmakers.

The plays are not being made.

The New Orleans defense has forced at least one turnover in each of the four games. For the second straight game, the defense failed to pressure the quarterback enough and recorded just one sack for the second straight week.

The New Orleans offense has scored just four touchdowns in four games and is averaging a paltry 15.5 points per game. Carr averaged a miniscule 3.4 yards per pass attempt and a very small 5.5 yards per completion.

Mayfield is playing under a one-year, $4 million deal with the Bucs.

Carr is playing under a four-year, $150 million deal with the Saints.

Mayfield completed 25-of-32 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns with one interception and he rushed five times for 34 yards, posting an impressive 116.9 quarterback rating.

Carr was 23-of-37 for 127 yards for a 68.2 quarterback rating.

Make your own determination.

Mayfield has played well in four games and the Buccaneers are 3-1.

Carr has not played well enough in four games and the Saints are 2-2.

There is plenty of football to be played but is there truly reason for optimism that this New Orleans offense will actually improve?

We are beyond the “new quarterback getting used to a system and teammates” narrative.

The lack of rhythm on offense is astonishing. New Orleans posted just 197 yards of offense, at home, as a favorite, against a Tampa Bay defense down three defensive backs before the first quarter ended.

Peat is hurt again. Nothing new there, either.

The Saints head to New England next Sunday to take on the Patriots.

There are no excuses to be offered. You will see none here.

Being 2-2 is not awful but the manner in which the Saints have gotten to that mark is very unattractive, unappealing, underwhelming and uninspiring.

[contentcards url=”https://crescentcitysports.com/somehow-saints-offense-regressed-with-kamara-and-carr/”]