RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Abomination was one of the best words to describe the New Orleans Saints in their second preseason outing. The Saints were trashed by a 34-0 count to the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday. New Orleans had 12 penalties, turned the ball over three times, gave up 405 yards to Los Angeles, and produced just 293 yards of total offense themselves. This was a beatdown in every sense. Here is our good, bad, and ugly analysis from the Rams loss.
The Good: It's only preseason
It might sound like a cop-out but it's a fact. All Saints starters and most significant contributors did not see a snap on Saturday. For what it's worth, the first-team offense and defense held their own and for the most part did well in joint practices against the Cowboys and Rams this week.
What this game did expose was the New Orleans lack of depth in several spots. This will be an especially huge concern if injuries hit the team. However, it's important to note that several of the projected second-team also saw little action against Los Angeles. It might be grasping at straws, but this is one positive to take away from this shellacking.
The Bad: The Saints defense
Again, important to note that the starters didn't play. But, that was on the Rams side as well. New Orleans allowed 405 total yards, including 151 on the ground and over five yards per rush. Rams quarterbacks Stetson Bennett and Ty Simpson completed 63% of their throws. Worse yet, neither was sacked and very rarely rushed.
New Orleans was pushed around in the trenches. This is certainly a concern regarding the defensive line rotation heading towards the season opener. The lack of pass rush isn't quite as concerning, considering Cam Jordan, Chase Young, and Carl Granderson weren't on the field. However, it did highlight the pre-training camp question over the lack of pass rushing depth and quality defensive linemen.
Coordinator Brandon Staley will put together a good unit and the Saints certainly have defensive talent. At all three levels, however, it's becoming clear that New Orleans starters will have to stay healthy.
The Ugly: The Saints offense
New Orleans had nearly as many penalties (12) as first downs (13). The team had one significant drive, a 12-play march in the second half. Spencer Rattler ended that with an awful throw into quadruple coverage that was intercepted and returned for a 100-yard touchdown. Rattler was again bad, but Zach Wilson was much worse. Wilson went from being a frontrunner for the backup spot last week to the abysmal player he's been since being the second overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Tyler Shough had better stay healthy for 17 games, or the Saints are clearly in deep deep trouble.
It wasn't all on the quarterbacks. The offensive line again looked like an incompetent bunch. Rookie Jeremiah Wright went from a solid outing against Jacksonville to looking overmatched against Los Angeles. Torricelli Simpkins III was again a sieve in the middle before leaving with an injury. Undrafted rookie tackle Alan Herron gave up a mind-blowing 9 pressures, seemingly making his roster decision easy.
New Orleans is expected to be far better offensively. Kellen Moore has some pieces to work with, but the drop-off in talent past the first unit is astounding. The Saints go back to the drawing board, facing the Dallas Cowboys to finish out their preseason. We'll likely see the starters for a series or two, but it's more important that some of the backup establish themselves in a positive way. It couldn't get much worse.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Good, bad, and a whole lot of ugly from Saints' preseason loss to Rams
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