Staggering Saints Need Klint Kubiak to Turn Water Into Wine | Saints

The honeymoon is over for Klint Kubiak.

He’s about to earn his paycheck.

After the New Orleans Saints’ bitter 13:26 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night, the team’s first-year offensive coordinator is facing the biggest challenge of his young coaching career.

Not only does he have to restore confidence to a faltering offense that has looked utterly mediocre during a three-game losing streak, but he must also do so without the services of his starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.

Derek Carr is expected to miss several weeks after suffering an oblique muscle injury during a pass late in the game.

Carr hasn’t missed a start since arriving in New Orleans in 2023, but he’ll miss several soon. And the first is a showdown at Caesars Superdome with the NFC South Division champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in five days.

This isn’t the first time a Saints quarterback has struggled with an oblique injury. Drew Brees missed several weeks of the 2014 preseason with a similar setback. While he didn’t miss any time during the regular season, Brees later admitted that he “developed bad habits” and changed his mechanics because of it.

Without Carr, backups Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler are next in line. Haener has thrown eight passes in his two-year career. Rattler has never played in an official NFL game.

If Carr were the only injury the Saints had to worry about, the situation might be manageable. But they also have to contend with an injury-plagued offensive line that has seen four players sidelined in the last three weeks, and the continued absence of Taysom Hill with broken ribs.

The crisis along the line reached DEFCON 1 levels Monday night when backup center Lucas Patrick was temporarily sidelined and veteran Connor McGovern was placed on emergency duty. McGovern had joined the team just days earlier and is still living in temporary accommodation.

If you were to create a worst-case scenario for this Saints team, losing Hill, Carr and three-fifths of the offensive line during this early game plan would be at the top.

When Kubiak took the job eight months ago, he probably did not expect to face such a crisis so early in his term. But here we are.

His offensive attack, which was booming at the start of the season with brilliant ball losses by the Panthers and Cowboys, is suddenly losing oil. The unit has been held to 12 and 13 points in two of the last three games and ranks just 17th in the NFL in total offense (323.2 yards per game) and 20th in rushing yards per game ( 4.16) and 21st in passing offense (196.0).

The rushing attack that dominated against the Panthers and Cowboys has ground to a halt. The Saints rushed for a season-low 46 yards on 15 carries against the Chiefs. Her longest run was 9 yards.

The offensive struggles would be less stressful if the defense was at its best, but even this normally reliable group has suddenly lost its way. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs harassed the Saints for 460 yards and 28 first downs, consistently converting first downs on the ground and through the air from awkward down-and-distance situations.

After holding their first two opponents to 63 yards per game, the Saints averaged 133 yards per game and 5 yards per carry against their last three opponents.

The pass rush has been subdued, producing just three sacks in the last two weeks, and cornerback Paulson Adebo has missed big plays and committed costly penalties while being targeted in coverage.

It’s a recipe for disaster. The defeat in three games is definitely qualified.

Honestly, this was the biggest concern when the Saints opened the season. The roster was precarious, a house of cards with little to no room for error.

The rebuilt offensive line had serious depth issues after Ryan Ramczyk was sidelined with a knee injury and James Hurst retired in the offseason. The Saints did little to improve the situation other than selecting Taliese Fuaga in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Now they’re trying to patch up a front five with baling wire and duct tape, and the results have been predictably unsatisfactory.

The responsibility now clearly lies with Kubiak and the offensive staff. They will have to do their creative best to overcome the turnover and come up with an effective game plan against the Bucs and Broncos over the next nine days.

Kubiak didn’t sign up for this. He didn’t come here to be a savior. He was tasked with improving and coordinating a crime. Now he is asked to turn water into wine. That is the challenge of his coaching career.

The Saints’ season could depend on how he handles this.