The saints’ struggles

Coming into the season, the New Orleans Saints were going to start the season without Drew Brees running the offense for the first time since 2006. My immediate reaction was, can Jameis Winston fill his shoes? Winston came in and played well enough for the Saints to start the season with a 4-2 record. In a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Winston went down with an ACL injury in the second quarter. Great. With Taysom Hill out with a concussion, in comes Trevor Siemian

Image from: Myrtle Beach Sun News

Since Siemian started abasing the Bucs, the Saints are 1-2 with him as quarterback. Your immediate reaction would be to blame the quarterback for his teams losses, especially since he wasn’t the first OR second option for the team in the beginning of the season. The truth of the matter is that Siemian has been balling. In his 3 games that he’s played he’s averaging 235 yards per game (298 this week against Tennessee), 1.7 touchdowns per game (2 this week), and 0 ints.

The Saints have only lost their last 2 games by 2 points each. Their offense isn’t having trouble scoring even with Siemian, but the defense is having a hard time stop opposing teams, and they keep missing field goals/PAT’s. 21 PAT’s have been missed this year, as well as 3 field goals according to Statmuse.com. While their defense hasn’t been horrific, it has been worse this year than it was last year and I think losing linebacker Alex Anzalone as well as DE Trey Hendrickson, who was tied for second in the league for sacks last year with Aaron Donald and only trailed TJ Watt.

Image from Canal Street Chronicles

With this all said and done, Trevor Siemian is not the problem for the Saints’ struggles right now and if he keeps playing the way he is, the Saints could still make a run to and through the playoffs. They face off against the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday in Philly at 1PM ET.