Only a few weeks removed from calls from fans to replace defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, the defense kept the Saints out of the end zone for the first time in 155 games (spanning the entire Payton era) and Drew Brees from throwing a touchdown pass for the first time in 45 games (spanning the entire Brees era).
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Following the Saints getting crushed in Philadelphia, I said the 2015 Saints would never win a game where they fell behind by two scores.
Texans defensive end J.J. Watt sends Saints quarterback Drew Brees…
The result in Houston extended the Saints’ losing streak to three and dropped them to 4-7, their worst record through 11 games during Payton’s tenure.
“I thought offensively, we hurt our defense”, Payton said.
The Houston Texans become the first side in 10 years to prevent the New Orleans Saints from scoring a touchdown on their way to a 24-10 victory at NRG Stadium. We are not able to make that play to Ben Watson and then pretty soon it’s third and long.
The last time the Saints didn’t score a touchdown was December 24, 2005 against Detroit and Brees’ last game without a touchdown pass came on November 29, 2012 against Atlanta. J.J. Watt picked up another two sacks in the game Sunday afternoon, but deflected credit to his teammates. No, the reason is the Saints have the appearance of a slow motion vehicle crash, and I guess they will win another game, but I surely wouldn’t bet on it.
“We just got completely out-executed and outplayed”, New Orleans tackle Zach Strief said. Tampa Bay rookie Jameis Winston threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked five times – four coming during a second half in which the Bucs (5-6) were shut out.
Brees’ pick was a awful throw near the goal line, with Kareem Jackson jumping a route. “In those types of situations, I think as a defense, we’ve been making those plays lately”. The Broncos have a very good defense, but they still lack offensive identity. The Texans limited Brees to just 228 yards on 25-of-44 passing, including the Jackson interception. Brees was sacked twice and often couldn’t get his feet set when he did get the ball out before being hit. In the last four games, the Texans defense has held three of their opponents to just six points.
Miami Dolphins rattled the Texans in week 7. And you understand that’s going to happen when you’re playing against a guy like that. And that may still be true, but there is a much larger, increasingly apparent truth with the team, that is that a personnel change needs to occur. There are some things that I know when we watch on tape, we’re going to be upset about. His streak was the fifth-longest in National Football League history.
The Saints actually did manage to intercept Hoyer once, which helped illustrate how bad their pass defense has been.
And after forcing another Texans punt, the offense drove from its 20 to the Texans’ 39 befor bogging down there and turning to Forbath, who converted a career-best 57-yard field-goal attempt, the thid-longest in franchise history.
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The Saints cut the lead to 14-3 on a 30-yard field goal in the second quarter. “If we keep playing with this level of energy, we’re competitive with anyone”.
