Every Thursday right here you can read Inside the Dome, where we’ll get into a different topic on the Saints/the NFL as a whole, break down the Black and Gold, and talk about where things stand in the shield. In this week’s edition, the Saints are coming off an absolutely brutal loss in Green Bay where they blew a 17-0 lead and starting quarterback Derek Carr suffered a shoulder injury that is described as “week-to-week”:
The loss to the Packers on the road was inexcusable, even when factoring in that Derek Carr was lost for the game in the second half. You simply cannot have a three possession lead in the 4th quarter of an NFL football game and lose. It’s unacceptable. The Saints offense went stagnant while Jordan Love found a rhythm and was able to put together three scoring drives in the 4th quarter to put Green Bay on top.
In all fairness to Jameis Winston, he did get the Saints in field goal range at the end of the game with a chance to reclaim the lead, but rookie kicker Blake Grupe was unable to get the job done and the Packers took a knee to finish it out.
Moving forward for the Saints, the Carr injury complicates things. Winston is capable of keeping things afloat in the short term with two winnable games against Tampa Bay and New England coming up, and if Carr is out for both, you’d like to see the Saints at least still win one of the two.
A home matchup this week against a Tampa Bay team coming off a blowout loss to Philadelphia is a game the Saints should still win. The Saints are favored by 3 points.
Alvin Kamara returns from suspension this week as well, which should help out Jameis Winston tremendously. Look for Dennis Allen and Pete Carmichael to get Kamara involved both in the rushing game and passing game right out of the gate.
Prediction: Saints 16, Buccaneers 13
