Saints enter a pivotal 'self-scout' week as they try to avoid a 6th straight non-playoff season

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints and coach Kellen Moore have returned from France, where their latest performance left them looking like a team with a lot of work to do in a short period of time if they want to restore hope of making the playoffs for the first time since the 2020 season.

“It’s self-scout week,” Moore said Monday. “Obviously, we’re going to evaluate everything.”

While the 16-10 score of their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers might lead one to believe that the Saints (2-5) were competitive right to the end, some of the important statistical trends from the game presented a different picture.

New Orleans spent most of the game struggling along the line of scrimmage, which was never more evident than when the Steelers kept the ball for nearly all of the final six minutes.

The Saints' best chance to get the ball back as time wound down was when Steelers kicked a late field goal. But the Saints jumped offside, and the Steelers elected to take points off the board and keep the ball so they could run out the clock

The Saints had just six possessions which consumed less than 28 minutes. Four of those drives crossed the Pittsburgh 40-yard line, but one series ended with a missed field goal and another with a turnover.

“I’m going to spend a lot of time focused on how we can find a way to score points," Moore said.

This week, the Saints won't have a game, but it doesn't sound as if Moore and his staff will be taking much time off.

Considering how much the offense struggled as a whole, quarterback Tyler Shough's performance — 30 of 38 passing for 278 yards and a touchdown — demonstrated that he and the passing offense are not the problem, his red zone interception notwithstanding. Had the Steelers been forced to respect the Saints' running game at all, throwing on a short field likely would have been an easier task.

Through Sunday's games, the Saints ranked in the top half of the NFL — albeit barely, at 15th — in yards passing per game at 229.7.

New Orleans' running game and rush defense both struggled.

Although the Saints set a season high for yards rushing in a Week 6 victory against the New York Giants , New Orleans' anemic production on the ground was more in line with how it has fared in most games this season. Through Sunday's games, Saints ranked 26th in the NFL in rushing, averaging 86 yards per game. The Saints' offense has been held to 91 or fewer yards five times this season, losing four of those games.

Meanwhile, the Saints allowed 148 yards rushing to Pittsburgh and allowed the Steelers to run out the final 5:52 of the game on mostly running plays. New Orleans has held just one opponent to fewer than 100 yards rushing and ranks 29th against the run.

Rookie receiver Barion Brown had three catches for a team-high-tying 57 yards against the Steelers, including a 49-yard reception on a deep ball over the middle that went down as the Saints' most explosive play of the game.

While kicker Daniel Carlson has been a perfect 5-for-5 this season on field goals from within 50 yards, he missed his fourth this season — of seven total — from beyond 50.

Running back CJ Donaldson left Sunday's game in the first half with a shoulder injury. Safety Justin Reid is recovering from an apparent concussion that sidelined him for part of the game in Paris. While right guard Cesar Ruiz was able to return to practice from a knee injury late last week, he was left out of the starting lineup, replaced by rookie Jeremiah Wright.

27 — the number of years since the Saints gained fewer than the 18 rushing yards they had against Pittsburgh. Sunday’s total in France was not quite as low as the 11 yards on the ground they had against Baltimore in 1999, during a 3-13 season under then-coach Mike Ditka.

The Saints play next at the Superdome — where they are 0-3 — on Nov. 8 against Cleveland.

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