The New Orleans Saints lost their third straight game in Week 11 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Aside from the Saints normally-stout run defense allowing over 200 rushing yards, one of the most telling things from the game was something that occurred off the field by the man pacing the sidelines. With his team seizing some momentum back, Saints head coach Sean Payton had a chance to take the game by the horns. However, the aggressive Payton took a passive approach instead and it speaks volumes to how he feels about the current state of the team's offense.

Sean Payton opted to kick the field goal on 4th-and-7 down 14 points with 7:17 remaining in the fourth quarter rather than go for the first down- and potentially, a touchdown and two-point conversion. Payton couldn't have liked the chances of his defense, which was helpless against the Eagles run game, getting a key stop and allowing the Saints to get the ball back.

Payton opted for the Saints' horrid kicking game over the chance to win the game. The normally-aggressive Payton exhibited a rare moment of concession- and it speaks volumes about his true feelings on this offense.

Payton had no faith in the offense to get that first down. Payton had no belief that Trevor Siemian, who had somewhat bounced back from two first-half turnovers to give the New Orleans' offense a feeble sign of life, could lead the team into the end zone. To make matters worse, Payton's go-to-guy in such situations, Taysom Hill, was warming the bench.

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Does anyone really think a Drew Brees-led team, or even a Jameis Winston-led team would have kicked the field goal there? Of course not. Payton would have had considerably more confidence in those two signal-callers than the ounce of faith he showed that he had in Siemian on Sunday.

Look, Siemian was poor in the first half. However, the former Denver Broncos quarterback deserves some credit for bouncing back in the second half. Whether or not Siemian is the quarterback moving forward, this was an opportunity for Payton to show some faith- even blind faith- in the backup, who had come oh-so-close to delivering victories in the Saints' last two games.

To be fair, the Saints were without talented halfback Alvin Kamara, who can often make even the most lackluster offensive days exciting and productive. However, if Sean Payton, a wizard of a play-caller, had so little faith in his quarterback and offense that he couldn't scheme up one creative play to try to convert the first down, then that speaks volumes about his true feelings on this offense.

That's troubling for the Saints and their fans.