The New Orleans Saints were so close to stealing a win on Thursday Night Football against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Driving late in the game with a chance to tie it up from the red zone after trailing 24-9 heading into the fourth quarter, they came away empty, falling to 3-4 on the season.
A dropped potential touchdown by Foster Moreau doomed the Saints as they drove all the way to the Jaguars' six-yard line. Derek Carr threw a whopping 55 passes and completed just 35 of them for 301 yards and a touchdown to both teams. The Saints' ability to make a game out of what could have been a blowout leaves some optimism left to be felt, though.
New Orleans turned to a more up-tempo pace in the fourth quarter and found a successful recipe. They started going to no-huddle sets much more often after Carr's pick-six and, in those five drives where they went quicker, came away with two touchdowns, a drive deep into opposing territory that resulted in a turnover on downs (the drive that included Moreau's drop) and two three-and-outs.
Michael Thomas, who tallied three catches, a tuddy and 42 yards in the loss, sounds ready to commit to more tempo if that’s what the Saints have to do to win.
“At the end of the day, you do whatever it takes to win,” Thomas said, according to Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “Whatever your coach asks you to do. We don't have to dress up in that situation. We just have to get better.”
Saints offensive lineman Erik McCoy emphatically sounded off on the Saints doing what needs to be done.
“We're willing to do whatever it takes for this team to win. If that means we have to do extra conditioning after practice…that's what we'll do,“ McCoy said, according to Jeff Nowak of WWL Radio.
The NFC South title is there for the Saints to seize. In one of the least competitive divisions in the NFL, New Orleans has the talent to compete. It will come down to how well they execute and make the most of what they have (as well as potentially adding more ahead of the trade deadline, which is less than two weeks away).
The Saints' next shot at improving their offensive game plan is Week 8 against the Indianapolis Colts.