New Orleans Could Send a Big Message on Monday Night

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Saints have an opportunity to send a message to the rest of the NFC South on Monday night.

If they can straighten some stuff out.

The Saints meet the Atlanta Falcons in the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans’ first division game of the season, and the winner of the game will be in first place even though they will be just 2-2.

Last season New Orleans finished just 6-11 as the only team in the NFC South that didn’t finish 8-9. Carolina won the division on a tie-breaker.

So the NFC South is clogged with mediocrity and the title can be anyone’s – including New Orleans’.

The Saints won four of their last five games last season and half of their victories came within the division. That strong finish was guided by rookie head coach Kellen Moore and rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, who won five of his nine starts after taking over at mid-season.

The combination of a smart young offensive-minded head coach and a talented young quarterback has raised the ceiling in New Orleans and given the Saints the ingredients necessary to be one of the ascending teams in the NFC.

But there’s a problem – the team’s biggest assets have had a difficult time getting started, both last season and this season.

New Orleans was outscored 122-29 in the first quarter last season, being shut out 11 times in the first quarter and scoring just two first-quarter touchdowns all season. Moore made getting off to better starts a point of emphasis throughout the offseason and training camp.

Then the team got shut out for more than half of its season opener and trailed Detroit 21-0 in the third quarter and got shut out in the first quarter of its second game and trailed Baltimore 14-3 in the second quarter.

The good news for New Orleans is that Shough led the team back in both games, pulling it into overtime in Detroit and falling just a two-point conversion of short of winning, then sneaking 1 yard for a late tie-breaking touchdown that produced a 24-17 victory.

The bad news is that the poor starts, which have been caused primarily by slow starts by the offense, are requiring dramatic in-game turnarounds that aren’t sustainable over the course of a 17-game season if the Saints are going to make the playoffs – even in their average division.

A week ago against Las Vegas in the Saints home opener they showed significant improvement with the slow starts. They actually scored a touchdown in the first quarter and grabbed a 27-16 lead in the third quarter before seeing the Raiders score the final 19 points. New Orleans committed turnovers on each of its final four possessions.

Shough is second in the NFL in passing yards and has directed scoring surges of 30 points in slightly less than 28 minutes in week one, 24 points in slightly less than 29 minutes in week two and 27 points in slightly more than 25 minutes in week three.

And the players have shown enough belief in Moore and his staff to play three one-score games despite two poor starts and one poor finish.

The challenge is now for Moore, Shough and Co. to expand their best moments into a complete 60-minute performance.

Doing so on Monday night could shake up the NFC South.