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Saints offer little resistance to Falcons on Monday night, fall to 0-3

Maybe it’s better for the New Orleans Saints’ defense that it was the rare night in which most televisions were tuned into something other than “Monday Night Football.”

As Hillary Clinton was talking about Iran and Donald Trump was trying to interrupt her again, the Saints’ defense was letting Tevin Coleman run over left tackle for a touchdown without a defender anywhere near him. Jon Gruden called that play “embarrassing” on ESPN. Drew Brees and the Saints offense scored 32 points and they never had a chance. The Saints lost 45-32.

The Saints were without five starters on defense, and obviously that didn’t help. But this was the worst defense in football last year and it doesn’t look like much has changed. None of those missed starters were going to make a huge difference. Linebacker Dannell Ellerbe is always hurt. Safety Kenny Vaccaro hasn’t gotten back to the level he was at as a rookie in 2013. Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins is an intriguing first-round pick, but he has never played an NFL snap and is a rookie. Cornerback Delvin Breaux would have helped, but nobody was going to save this defense.

Injuries or not, this wasn’t pretty.

The Falcons rarely slowed down on their way to the end zone. Atlanta put up 442 yards. Devonta Freeman had 152 yards rushing. Coleman had three touchdowns, including his walk-in score. Matt Ryan was efficient.

The Saints’ offense was good too, but that side of the ball is never a problem. They had 32 first downs and 474 yards. The problem is Brees and his crew have to be just about perfect to win, and they weren’t on Monday night. Brees, who reached 305 consecutive passes without an interception, had his streak snapped on a critical pick. Rookie linebacker Deion Jones caught a tipped pass and took it back 90 yards for the score in the fourth quarter. The Saints don’t have a defense that can help overcome that mistake.

The Saints had a lot of players sidelined with injury. They’ll help some when they come back. But they’re probably not going to turn around the season. They are 0-3 and this looks like a repeat of 2015, as a terrible defense wastes another season of Brees’ amazing career.

Tevin Coleman scores one of his three touchdowns against the Saints (AP)
Tevin Coleman scores one of his three touchdowns against the Saints (AP)


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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!