With the season on the brink, the Saints offense duly turned in its worst statistical performance of the year (and indeed the Payton/Brees era) scoring just 6 points and spluttering to a paltry 268 yards of offense on route to a 24-6 drubbing. Defeat in Houston leaves the 4-7 Saints on “life support”, with the red-hot unbeaten Carolina Panthers on deck. Read on below for our full analysis of how – and why – the “disaster down I-10” unfolded on Sunday.

After disastrous defeats to Tennessee and Washington, the Saints came out of their bye week in Houston on Sunday knowing that they had precious little margin for error the rest of the way. The week off had been eventful in itself – with the “bye” taking on an altogether more literal meaning for ailing (now former) defensive co-ordinator Rob Ryan. After a coaching staff reshuffle and a fortnight of preparation, it seemed unfathomable that the Saints would put in anything other than a fired-up improved showing against the Texans on Sunday… Right?

For those of you viewing our Player Grades for the first time, our Player Performance Grading System uses a 9-point color-coded “temperature based” scale to produce an easy to understand visual indicator of the performance of each player on rushing plays, passing plays and in the game overall. You can find a more thorough explanation of our grading system, along with diagrams of what exactly everything means, by clicking here.

And as always, for ease of reference, our 9-point color-coded grading scale is pictured below:

OFFENSE

Editor’s Note: Click on each individual table below to open a full-sized version in a new window/tab (it makes them easier to read).

It’s hard to dress up the performance of the Saints offense on Sunday. Just six points scored, a lackluster 268 yards of total offense and a 25% 3rd down “efficiency” rate all point towards how toothless New Orleans really were in Texas. As you can see in the grades above, there were a number of reasons for this.

However, before tackling the “on the field” reasons, we’ll begin with a brief word on the rather questionable game-plan/play-calling from the sidelines on Sunday. Obviously fearful of JJ Watt and the Texan pass rush, Payton’s plan for Sunday seemed to comprise dialing up a constant stream of quick hitting outside passing to nullify the threat. What Payton didn’t seem to have accounted for, though, is the fact that the Texans haven’t actually blitzed that often this year, and instead rely on their 4-man rush to generate pressure. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was the case on Sunday, with the Texans bringing 5 or more on just 17% of Brees dropbacks (8 of 48). This meant Houston were able to drop 7 or 8 men into coverage nearly every snap, effectively nullifying any screens/swing passes/quick hitters called by the Saints. The offensive gameplan was disastrous – during the first three quarters on Sunday, the six screen or swing passes that the Saints managed to complete were for the pitiful net total of -1 yards. Most disappointingly, there was no “Plan B” offered from a seemingly emotionless Sean Payton on the sideline.

Another questionable decision was suddenly throwing rookie Andrus Peat in to start at left guard when the Saints were still (mathematically at least) in the NFC wildcard race. For us, Tim Lelito hasn’t had that bad of a season. He’s been poor at times in pass protection, but he’s consistently graded out well when run blocking and generally looks a serviceable (albeit upgradeable) NFL guard. Peat, on the other hand, struggled in his only start this season (at LT) and hadn’t played a snap at LG all year. Nevertheless, Peat got the nod for Sunday’s “must win”, proceeding to have a torrid time as he graded out the worst of all Saints offensive starters. Whether Lelito would have done better we’ll never know, but the way he’s now seemingly been thrown on the fire seems rather harsh. If Lelito was indeed playing terribly we could understand the merits of this impromptu position battle, but as it is, the only rationale seems to be that of Payton wanting to prematurely shoehorn in his first round pick. This is no knock on Peat, who may well develop into a quality offensive lineman – but right now he certainly is not. On a related note, the revolving door at left guard certainly doesn’t seem to be benefiting Terron Armstead either, as he put in another questionable showing on Sunday playing alongside yet another new face.

In the “skill positions”, Ingram was the only player to come out of the game with any real credit. The half-back put up 97 total yards – meaning he alone was responsible for over 36% of the Saints offensive output. Aside from Ingram, Brees and the rest of his supporting cast were impotent. The Saints receivers were unable to get open against Houston’s comprehensive zone coverages. In total, Cooks, Snead, Colston, Coleman and Graham put up just 122 yards on 22 targets, with Cooks’ 35 yard outing representing a season low for the second-year wideout. Watson, Hill and Hoomanawanui all had games to forget, while CJ Spiller reverted back to “2015-type” this week, with a 12 snap, 3 touch performance that again leaves you wondering why the Saints made him a priority pick-up in the off-season.

At this juncture, there’s a lot of questions on and off the field regarding the excruciatingly inconsistent Saints offense, and with a match-up against the rampant Panthers D around the corner, any immediate answers seem rather unlikely.