NFL Analyst throws shade at Bill Belichick’s Patriots for letting Derek Carr, Saints score 34 in Week 5
Bill Belichick is taking fire from everywhere these days and Derek Carr's performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars brought out NFL analysts calling out the New England Patriots. The New Orleans Saints' offense has struggled mightily this season and continued to do so against the Jacksonville Jaguars, except for a productive fourth quarter.
The Saints went in at half-time trailing 17-6 without a single touchdown pass. They repeatedly failed to get forward movement on the ball and their red zone performance was atrocious. Derek Carr could not get anything going and kept chucking it down and hoping his receivers gain some yardage. The rushing game was also non-existent.
This was part of a pattern this season, where the Saints have not scored 25 points in any game. Expect one, when they blew out the New England Patriots 34-0. It was an epic failure and Bill Belichick arguably deserves some blame for that. NFL analyst Kevin Wildes piled in:
"This Saints team went into Gillette and won 34-0."
Is Bill Belichick more to blame or Mac Jones?
Even though Bill Belichick must share part of the blame for their horrendous loss against the Saints, the main problem for them remains that they have not found an elite quarterback to replace Tom Brady. Just as Derek Carr is blamed when New Orleans struggles on offense, Mac Jones deserves a lion's share of the responsibility for executing so poorly on the field.
The Saints game was the second consecutive one in which he was benched towards the end of the match. He has to improve and Bill Belichick has to find an option. If Robert Saleh can make Zach Wilson look half-decent in the past few games with the New York Jets, then the greatest coach of this generation deserves to do better.
Saints' fourth quarter against the Jaguars a joyous exception as Derek Carr finally comes to play
Even as the Saints struggled and lost against the Jaguars, they finished this game with a creditable 31-24 scoreline. As bad as they were over the first three quarters, they did briefly come to life in the fourth.
Taysom Hill replaced Derek Carr on a fourth-and-goal and ran the ball in for a touchdown. That brought some confidence to the offense and the starting quarterback took over and got a touchdown and a two-point conversion in another drive to tie the score 24-24. But a Trevor Lawrence touchdown pass to Christian Kirk took the game beyond them.
Even then, it was an aberration compared to what the Saints have served all season. The New Orleans faithful will hope that this portends an upswing in fortunes.