The New Orleans Saints have 10 games to turn their 2026 season around.
The Saints are coming off their bye week after an embarrassing showing in Paris against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Saints (2-5) lost 16-10, but they rushed for only 18 yards while allowing 148 rushing yards.
Some of the Saints' problems in their Week 7 loss are problems that have persisted since the beginning of the season when New Orleans lost at Detroit in overtime.
As New Orleans prepares to host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS), here are five areas of concern that need fixing after a week in which Saints coach Kellen Moore said Monday that he was devoted to "self scouting" and figuring out the root of their issues.
Saints need to improve on running the ball
The most significant change the Saints made coming out of their bye week was firing run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti on Monday. Moore said moving on from the coach will improve "workflow" with offensive line coach Brendan Nugent, who will be preparing the run game plan moving forward.
It's unclear how much this move will change things as Moore said both Paganetti and Nugent both had a hand in the run game plan before.
"There's elements of what we do from a presentation standpoint. There's the back end of putting together the game plans," Moore said. "And so Nuge has done some of the installations as far as in front of the team. I think we'll keep that consistent and there'll be some other changes as we go, but again, this is just trying to maximize our workflow."
Moore said "there's no exact science," when asked why Nugent was retained over Paganetti, but repeated that this would help the team's process.
"These decisions are never easy. Again, we'll shuffle some other stuff within the staff just to help our workflow and I think it'll put us in a good position," Moore said.
Moore said he made the decision to cut ties with Paganetti over the weekend after a week of evaluation regarding the team's performance to date.
"Some of the adjustments that we'll do schematically and fundamentally," Moore said. "Some of the adjustments we'll do from our workflow standpoint. Just felt like this was the most beneficial thing we can do."
The Saints' 29th-ranked run game has averaged only 86 rushing yards per game and has been one of the team's biggest disappointments after the signing of free agent guard David Edwards and running back Travis Etienne.
"I know that TJ had a great impact on our room ... and has been in successful systems. And so I feel like he had a big impact on us and he's a great human being, a great coach." Edwards said. "You feel somewhat responsible because us as players, us as linemen, we're not having success and you feel directly responsible for a decision like this. That's what makes it hard."
Etienne, currently on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, has played in three games this season. His best game prior to the injury was a 57-yard rushing game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3. The Saints have not had a 100-yard rusher this season, although Kendre Miller came close with a 70-yard game against the New York Giants. The Raiders (31st in run defense) and Giants (26th in run defense) were the only teams the Saints were able to run the ball against.
Miller said the Steelers in particular had an answer for anything they tried to do on the ground.
"They definitely had us schemed-up every run we had, had an answer for it," Miller said. "So I feel like it's just kind of one of those deals. They get paid like we do. So it's kind of just tough, but we just got to go out and execute better if that happens."
Moore said he felt good about the emphasis on the run game in the offseason, particularly in training camp and joint practices. But he said the lack of consistency has been the issue.
"For us it's about defining how we can play more consistent football, what from a schematic standpoint can we focus in on and what from a fundamental standpoint," Moore said.
Kicking decisions are still up in the air
Moore said he doesn't plan to bring in kickers this week despite the struggles of veteran kicker Daniel Carlson, who has made just 66.7% of his kicks this season -- tied with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, among others, for the second-worst percentage in the league.
The Saints signed Carlson after neither Charlie Smyth nor Tanner Brown (who is no longer on the team) showed enough in training camp to win the job.
"Obviously we just got to continue to evaluate the field goal opportunities," Moore said. "And so that'd be something that we'll just have to work through and discuss and find the best solution for Sunday."
Moore did not say whether this would be an open competition with Smyth, only that the team would "see how this goes" this week.
Carlson has made 8-of-12 kicks and has also missed two of his 18 PAT attempts. Most of Carlson's misses have been at the 50- to 60-yard range, with a miss from 62 yards in Week 1.
If the Saints cut Carlson, they'll either go back to Smyth, who is on the practice squad and briefly kicked last season, or they'll have to find a veteran kicker available in November.
Slow starts and finding 'a way to score points'
The Saints have tried to fix their issues with slow starts by tweaking their practice schedule, but have made no progress.
New Orleans is last in the league in first-quarter points and have only scored points in the first quarter one time this season (Week 3 against the Raiders). That presents a problem in a game like the one against the Steelers, when possessions were limited and the Saints only got the ball six times on offense.
If the Saints can't fix the slow starts, then how do they fix the bigger issue that is leading to the team's losses?
"Obviously I'm going to spend a lot of time focused on how we can find a way to score points," Moore said during the bye week. "We've been able to defer a number of times to start the game. We've had a few instances like this past game where we've had some success, we've moved the ball and then we've just got stalled out as the drive has progressed."
The Saints had to punt on their first possession against the Steelers after driving from their own 15-yard line to the Steelers' 48-yard line, but they were able to kick a field goal on their next possession, which came in the second quarter.
"We just got to find a way to get ourselves in position to get those points in the opening drive. Second drive is obviously a field goal and third drive is a touchdown. That was a six-possession game. So obviously those don't come out around very often in this league, but obviously you recognize how valuable each possession is in those types."
Putting more effort into protecting QB Tyler Shough
Shough went into the Steelers game with an injury to his left hand, and he appeared to come out of it with an injury to his right hand after taking a sack early on.
Moore said during the bye week that Shough's new hand injury wasn't going to be a lingering problem, but it clearly affected QB during the game. Shough averaged 10.4 air yards per pass attempt before the sack and only 2.7 yards after, according to ESPN Research.
Shough has two broken bones in his left hand. While he has a week to heal both hand issues, the inability to protect him could turn out to be the reason the Saints lose games down the stretch. Shough has been sacked 15 times (tied for eighth most in the NFL), but he has also been hit on 42 of his dropbacks (tied for ninth most in the NFL). If the Saints can't figure out a way to elevate their offensive line and protect him, their season could be lost.
One key aspect could be getting left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. back after he went on IR because of ankle surgery. While Banks does not have a timetable to return beyond "later in the season," he has now been out since Week 2.
"He's doing a really nice job. Our training room has done a lot of work with him," Moore said of Banks. "He's in a good position to build and want to see what today looks like and then make a decision on what Wednesday needs to look like."
Saints to focus on stopping the run
The Saints didn't have linebacker Kaden Elliss for three games, and it would have been easy to pin the issues stopping the run on the loss of a single player. The Saints in Week 4 struggled to contain both Bijan Robinson and Brian Robinson without Elliss on "Monday Night Football," allowing a season-high 205 rushing yards.
But the return of Elliss hasn't stopped the opponents' rushing attack.
The Steelers ran at will against the Saints for 148 yards. When the Saints badly needed a stop at the end of the game, they let 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers run for a first down. Running back Jaylen Warren ran for 101 yards even though the Saints knew the Steelers would keep moving the ball on the ground as long as they could.
The Saints fell to 29th in run defense after that game and they are allowing an average of 139.4 rushing yards per game. The Saints have allowed at least 100 rushing yards in every game this season but one (against the Giants).
The Saints have faced some of the best running backs in the league this season (Jahmyr Gibbs and Derek Henry among them), and they'll get a reprieve from some of those top rushers in the second half of the season, but their inability to stop the run will be a pressing issue if they can't figure out a solution.
"We got to do a better job of playing team defense in the run game. It takes all 11. Got to do a better job," Moore said. "... We've got some great opportunities to improve there and put ourselves in a good position."