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REVIEW: Broncos-Saints on NFL+

1. Payton’s return to New Orleans will be painful for Saints fans. Sean Payton didn’t return to the Superdome with a chainsaw. Instead, he killed his former team – and the energy levels of the infamous Saints fans – with a death by a thousand paper cuts. The Broncos hardly produced an offensive gem, with Bo Nix I’m missing some receivers and those receivers are dropping a few too. But they moved the ball consistently all night against the chewed-up Saints defense, leaning on the run game and imposing more punishment. Even without an All-Pro cornerback Patrick Surtain IIdominated Denver’s defense for most of the game. It’s easy to come up with slick offensive plays and bold risks in the game with Payton, but he also doesn’t mind methodically grinding down his opponent. Saints fans lukewarmly greeted Payton with a mixture of cheers and boos as he entered the field. You know he had to enjoy this victory, as ugly as it was. It was also a great evening of revenge for former Saints kicker Will Lutzfor whom Payton traded to Denver and made all four of his field goal attempts. Even Lucas Krul had a career high in receiving yards (41), and Kwon Alexander recovered a key fumble in the first half. Yes, both are ex-Saints. The Broncos rolled into New Orleans and held a Second Line Parade up and down the Superdome on Thursday.
2. The Saints season has been derailed. After two wins and 91 points scored, the Saints have lost five straight games – including three in the Superdome – for a paltry 79 points overall. That now marks back-to-back home losses of more than 20 points for the first time since the end of the 2001 season, five years before Payton took over the Saints’ job. The Saints lost by more than 20 points at home twice in Payton’s 15-year Saints career. The Broncos kept the door open early, but the Saints had no real response. They are already missing their quarterback, two starting receivers and two offensive linemen, and on Thursday the defense took two big hits – cornerbacks Paulson Adebo (knee) and Marshon Lattimore (hamstrings). Saints fans appeared to have checked out after the Drew Brees Hall of Fame halftime ceremony, with many leaving afterward. Maybe Dennis Allen called a timeout just before halftime and then got it Spencer Rattler kneel, did it. Or maybe it was Tyrant Mathieu‘s drop from a gift-wrapped interception just before half-time. Or the strip sack or the missed tackles. Whatever it was, the fans seemed almost numb to the suffering — or perhaps shocked because their former head coach was the one who had stakes in their season. At 2-5, things are really dicey now for Allen’s team, too excited to compete and the bye week still well over a month away.
3. Broncos defense deserves credit for putting in a good effort. It’s hard to gauge how strong this was given the Saints’ offensive injuries, but Denver’s defense came into action Thursday night. Four days ago, the Chargers had run roughshod over this group for most of three quarters, but the Broncos held their belts and turned in a good performance on a short rest – and without arguably their best player in Patrick Surtain II. They pressured Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler and only allowed him to break free twice. The coverage was also good on the back end, even if the Saints’ broken group of receivers didn’t appear to be a huge challenge. Cody Bartonwho is developing into one of Denver’s more reliable playmakers, was everywhere. He sacked Rattler, should have been given a pick and after a first-half scoop-and-score was erased by a penalty, Barton hauled in a deflected Rattler pass and ran it back 52 yards for the fatal touchdown. It was a four-quarter loss and perhaps their best statistical performance of the season on that side of the ball.
4. Both starting quarterbacks had their share of struggles. The 2024 NFL season featured some pretty impressive rookie QB play overall, but Thursday’s game – the first meeting of two rookie quarterbacks this season – may not be the year-end highlight. Bo Nix defeated Spencer Rattler, as you would expect from a quarterback who was selected 12th overall and has held the position since training camp. But Nix was rather sloppy at times, seriously misfiring a number of his targets and getting away with an interception of Saints’ Tyrann Mathieu before halftime. He was effective with his legs and limited his mistakes, but Nix still has plenty of room for growth. Where was Courtland Sutton? Nix didn’t look his way once for the first zero-target game of Sutton’s career. In his second start, Rattler got upset after the first strip sack and was under duress for most of the night, unable to find much rhythm after a promising opening drive. Like Nix, he had a few effective attempts. But the passing game never got going, as his short WR corps let him down several times, and Rattler’s two lost fumbles were costly. Jake Haener replaced him in the final few minutes after Rattler suffered a hip pull, leading the Saints to a touchdown in garbage time, so it will be interesting to see how Allen will handle the situation if Derek Carr is not healthy ahead of the Chargers’ next game.
5. Even with injuries, the Saints defense shouldn’t be that bad. Over the past eleven days, the Saints have allowed 110 points and nearly 1,500 yards. Two of those games in four days took place at home. The run defense wasn’t as awful as it was against the Buccaneers on Sunday, but it wasn’t good against the Broncos on Thursday night. Poor gap discipline, poor tackling and physical dominance all plagued the Saints up front. Missed tackles were also a problem. Then the secondary was stung with two major injuries, losing Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore midway through the game, further bleeding the depth chart. But there were too many open receivers and, other than a few blitzes, not enough pressure. There was also a noticeable lack of effort in places, which further troubled Dennis Allen. He is a defensive coach and his former boss came in and controlled the game. Allen’s lack of aggressiveness – even with a rookie QB – put his defense in some tough spots, and the tough offense certainly led to Denver points. But this Saints defense shouldn’t be that bad. There better be a big improvement from the mini-bye or this could end up being one of the bottom statistical groups come season’s end.

Next-gen metrics insight for Broncos-Saints (via NFL Pro): The Broncos defense generated 14 quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds) in their win over the Saints in Week 7, tied for the fastest pressures by a defense in a game this season. In weeks 1 through 6, the Broncos generated 51 league rushing pressures.

NFL Research: After Sean Payton defeated the Saints on Thursday, NFL head coaches are now 2-6 in their first road games against their former team in over ten seasons since the 2000 season. The only previous win came from the Chiefs’ Andy Reid in week 3 of the 2013 season, when he defeated the Eagles in Philadelphia.