3 Saints to blame for Jaguars loss featuring still-frozen Carr-led offense

The final score makes it look as if this was a game for four full quarters. It wasn't. The Saints impressively bounced back from their early-game (majority of the game) struggles with an almost unfathomable comeback, but ultimately fell short.

New Orleans remarkably sits 3-4 after another loss and two games out of first in the NFC South. The division's mediocrity may keep them in for an extended period.

Another loss? Who is to blame? These figures take the most of it.

Absent from this list is tight end Foster Moreau who dropped a very catchable pass on third-and-goal that would have put New Orleans an extra point away from tying.

The ball bounced off his fingertips. While black and white, those points would have put the Saints in a good position to win the game, this was a loss that has to be shouldered by other figures first and foremost who had better and more frequent opportunities to get a tally in the win column.

Dennis Allen

Most of the concerns and issues having to do with the Saints the last several seasons have landed on Dennis Allen's shoulders, whether fair or not. Such is life as the head coach and ultimate leader of a pro football team.

Tonight, I keep him on the list of people to blame, though I feel more guilty about it this week than usual.

The Saints defense -- which Allen calls plays for -- was OK but not necessarily good or great, but that was not the problem on a night like tonight. The chokepoints of the performance were all on the offensive side. Allen carries the blame for the team at large but doesn't catch quite as much flack for the offensive performance.

That said, the defense should have looked way better tonight than it did. Trevor Lawrence was a game-time decision quarterback with a brace on his knee. Such a predicament should have rendered the Jags offense virtually one-dimensional, yet, they managed to put up 31 points. Worse, Lawrence, who was thought to be pocket-locked given the concerns over his knee, escaped the pocket eight times and scrambled for 59 rushing yards.

Then, there is the offense. No, Allen doesn't call the offensive plays, but the more this problem continues, the more one has to start thinking he's not exactly tackling the issue with much aggression. Outside looking in, he seems quite passive in regards to the whole paralysis of the scoring side of the ball.

I'm not saying come out with fire and brimstone in press conferences, but put the heat on a little bit. Say something about all 11 starting jobs being on the line if things don't change. Anything to make us feel like the issue is at least as big to the coaches as it is to the fans.