Question: Should the Saints start selling officially licensed paper bags next season?
The New Orleans Saints have been playing like their 2010 Championship year was a fluke. They are on a 10-season Super Bowl drought and four season playoff appearance drought (they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 in the NFC divisional game).
Recently, the (then 5-10) Saints had a disappointing home finale loss to the Las Vegas Raiders (then 3-12). The Raiders are one of the weakest teams in the NFL, and the loss highlighted the need for a complete change within the organization.
Former Saints’ head coach Dennis Allen was fired Nov. 4, after a paltry start to the 2024 season, and a seven-game losing streak. Darren Rizzi was then named the interim head coach.
Rizzi was handed the team on a dirty platter, made of cheap plastic, found in a dumpster. The front office then wiped it off with a piece of torn merchandise and presented it to him with a smile. The job was his, and they, apparently, had no intentions on finding a permanent coach for a season that most had already foregone as being over. Rizzi snapped the seven-game losing streak in his first game, and went 3 – 2 in his first five games.
It wasn’t enough, though. Sure, there are other issues within the Saints organization, and, maybe with a few different players, Rizzi could have improved their record. Still, if the Saints have any hope of improving their record and ending their playoff drought, Rizzi needs the boot—or, at the very least to be booted.
Rumors are the Buc’s offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, is in the running for the head coach position. However, it’s just rumors, considering teams aren’t even allowed to talk to potential coaches right now.
Considering the defensive and offensive struggles the Saints have been facing this season, it’s possible Rizzi won’t be the only coach getting the boot out of the Boot. The Saints have one of the worst defenses in the league, with blown coverage and missed tackles abundant. There have also been discussions about getting Klint Kubiak, the offensive coordinator, out as well.
Before Allen was fired (and after a loss to the Carolina Panthers that should not have been a loss) some Saints’ players took to X. Some made jokes about the pitiful season the Saints were having, and others were downright mad.
Khalen Saunders, for example, tweeted, “Fans say keep losing so we can get #1 pick.. hell throw me in at QB shit let’s have something fun to watch.” Maybe Saunders attempted to show fans he understood where they were coming from. Maybe he was sympathizing with fans. Whatever his reason, it was indicative of a much bigger issue in New Orleans: low team morale.
Saunders went on to call the Panthers-Saints game the “Cottonelle DooDoo Bowl.” The Saints had lost to the team, at that time, with the worst record in the NFL—a game they were predicted to win and bounce back from.
After that same game, Cam Jordan didn’t go straight to the locker room, but had to be retrieved by Derek Carr. Jordan later posted on X, “We just lost to the panthers… I love y’all New Orleans truly had higher expectations and the best of hopes for us, y’all deserve it.”
While the social media posts and comments died down after Allen was fired, players can only lose so much before the team morale dies down. This, of course, can be changed by the next season if the front office uses the offseason to update the roster and coaching staff.
After losing Drew Brees as quarterback, fans expected it to be hard for Mickey Loomis to replace him. They did not, however, expect Loomis to make a series of unfortunate decisions regarding the open QB position.
Carr’s signing was a terrible idea. His biggest accomplishment was leading the Raiders to the postseason a few times. He’s never played for a division title. He had played previously under Allen, and he hadn’t performed well with him then. It made little sense for Loomis to sign him.
Carr continued the subpar play in New Orleans during his first season, and this season he’s missed nearly half the games. He missed 7 games earlier this season with an oblique injury, and he sustained a hand injury on Dec. 9 against the New York Giants that has kept him out since then. It’s still up in the air on whether he will play in then season finale.
The best the Saints can do is release Carr this offseason, halfway through his four-year, $150 million contract. This would free up only $1.3 million in cap space for the Saints.
Outside of Carr, who, arguably, is the biggest cause for fans’ headaches, the Saints have rookie Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener.
Rattler is 0 – 6 in his starts with more interceptions (5) than touchdowns (3). He has been lacking in assistance, though. Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, and Rashid Shaheed have all missed games when Rattler was at the helm. That being said, the rookie can’t be completely discarded based on his current play.
Second-year quarterback Haener has played in eight games this season, including a Week 15 start against the Washington Commanders. This season, Haener completed 18 out of 39 pass attempts for 226 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception. He may be known more for his “sassy” viral photos than his production on the field.
Loomis should look to draft a quarterback. The position is ready to be filled, and Carr, obviously, is not the one to fill it.
The past four seasons have been disappointing at best for the Saints. While they can blame a myriad of problems—quarterback issues, coaching issues, player accountability—everything can be traced back to one person: Loomis.
It seems that fans and players are both reaching their breaking point with the Saints’ organization. There has been criticism about Loomis that could definitely be justified: not firing Allen last year, not drafting a replacement for Brees, always having salary cap issues.
It would’ve been okay for the Saints to enter a rebuilding period. It would have been expected after losing both Sean Peyton and Brees. However, hiring Allen and not getting the rookie replacement to build up in place of Brees was a new level of negligent even for Loomis.
In order for the Saints to move forward, Loomis has to go. He’s overstayed his welcome in New Orleans.
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