The Saints' Bye Week Is a Repair Job on a Run Game That Has All but Vanished

The New Orleans Saints limped into their bye at 2-5, and the timing is about the only thing that has gone right for them lately. They've lost four of five, their last outing was a 16-10 slog against Pittsburgh in the NFL's first regular-season game in Paris, and their most recent form reads L-W-L-L-L. But the bye itself isn't the story. The story is what has to get fixed before Cleveland comes to town in Week 9.

The run game is the number that jumps off the page

New Orleans has rushed for 602 yards this season — the fourth-fewest in the league, ahead of only Green Bay, Cincinnati and Houston. That's 86.0 rushing yards per game over the last ten, and the trend is flat, not improving: 89.2 over the last five, 82.7 over the last three. Against Pittsburgh, in a game the Saints had to have, the entire offense managed 4.13 yards per play across 68 snaps and one touchdown.

The distribution tells you why. Kendre Miller leads the backfield with 57 carries for 159 yards. Alvin Kamara has 41 carries for 125, though he's been far more useful as a receiver (22 catches, 133 yards, one score). Travis Etienne has just 30 attempts. No one is getting fed, and nobody is breaking anything open.

Everything funnels through Tyler Shough

Shough's raw line is respectable: 1,721 yards, 13 touchdowns, six interceptions, a 90.9 passer rating and 67 percent completion. But he's thrown 273 times in seven games, taken 15 sacks, and put the ball on the ground six times. He threw for 278 yards against the Steelers and it produced ten points. Asking a quarterback to be the entire offense every week is a recipe for exactly what happened in Paris.

The splits sharpen it. In four home games (including the Paris designation), Shough has 915 yards, six touchdowns and four picks with a negative passing EPA. On the road, he has 806 yards, seven touchdowns, two interceptions and a strongly positive EPA. Some of that is opponent quality, but some of it is a team that can't generate anything on the ground and therefore can't protect its quarterback when the crowd is on its side and the margin for error shrinks.

The division is still there for the taking

Here's the part that should keep the locker room honest. Carolina leads the NFC South at 3-4. Atlanta and Tampa Bay are both 3-5. The Saints, at 2-5, are one game out of first place in the win column. This is a genuinely weak division, and the schedule after the bye — Cleveland at home, then Carolina at home — offers an immediate path back into it.

Cleveland arrives 5-3 but averaging just 17.4 points per game with a minus-4.2 point differential, a profile that should not terrify anyone. The Saints, meanwhile, are 0-4 in home games at 18.5 points per game, against 29.8 allowed. That home split is the other item on the bye-week checklist.

What actually needs to change

New Orleans is averaging 23.1 points and allowing 27.7, with a minus-4 turnover differential and a minus-4.6 point differential. The defense has been shakier over the last five (29.2 allowed per game) than the season average suggests, and a pass rush that has generated 18 sacks and 38 quarterback hits is doing its part without much help.

The fix isn't exotic. Commit to the run early enough to keep third downs manageable — the Saints converted 6 of 12 against Pittsburgh, which is survivable — and stop treating Shough as the only viable path to a first down. Until the ground game produces something, every week is going to look like Paris: close, low-scoring, and decided by one mistake.