The New Orleans Saints had a historic start to their season, winning their first two games and scoring 91 points in dominant fashion.
That’s when the injury bug started to hit, mistakes compounded into losses, and now the team finds themselves 2-5 after back-to-back embarrassing losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos.
The rash of injuries has only gotten worse as Derek Carr and Chris Olave have missed the last two games. Also, Erik McCoy has been out since Week 3 with an injury and Taysom Hill and Cesar Ruiz has also missed multiple weeks.
Now, speedy Rashid Shaheed is gone for the season with a meniscus tear while cornerback Paulson Adebo broke his femur on Thursday night and will miss the season as well.
Once again, the Saints are playing one of the easiest schedules in the league and struggling to find wins down the stretch. How can they make a positive out of what has become a brutal season?
Of course, the injuries have been the key story because you know what this team is capable of when healthy. But since the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, it feels like this team is just doomed. How do you fix it?
Coaching changes are always the first thing people look at, but I don’t see the front office making a change in the middle of the season. Dennis Allen is now 26-51 as a head coach and 18-23 in New Orleans. Allen was hired after the departure of Sean Payton to keep the continuity within the building, but injuries and poor decisions have put the Saints just one win from the playoffs the last two seasons but haven’t been able to get over the hump.
Going forward, the Saints will be looking to get healthy in multiple positions, but is it too late with their 2-5 start? Can this team recover and have a fighting chance at a spot in the postseason?
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