Khalen Saunders wants the Saints to do something after their Week 6 loss to the Buccaneers.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers blew out the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, 51-27, for Week 6 of the NFL season. In their win, the Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield went 24-36 for 325 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Meanwhile, Spencer Rattler debuted in place of the injured Derek Carr, who suffered an oblique injury in their loss to the Chiefs. Rattler went 22-40 for 243 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. However, Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders noted that their mistakes cost them the game, despite coming into halftime with a three-point lead.
“Absolutely we're all professionals,” he said, via Saints beat reporter Matthew Paras on X, formerly Twitter. “We get paid very generously to play this damn game. So I think if we can't fix it, we're just going to have to make changes. And that's how it's going to have to be.”
Week 6: Buccaneers def. Saints
After a solid first half, Rattler and the Saints collapsed to the Buccaneers in their Week 6 matchup. For instance, the Bucs picked Rattler off twice in the fourth quarter and sacked him four times in the second half (for a total of five).
Moreover, the Saints' new quarterback only completed 11 of 23 passes for 103 yards in the second half. The team's sputtering offense combined with their porous defense to give away the game to the Buccaneers.
“I think we came out, we were sloppy as a group throughout the whole second half. Couldn't really get anything going,” Rattler said, via Katherine Terrell for ESPN. “Shot ourselves in the foot a few times, made a few mistakes, starting with myself. Got to play better in that second half, but we fought, we battled, and we'll learn and get better from it.”
Meanwhile, Saints coach Dennis Allen echoed the team's defensive problems, along with their failure to help out Rattler.
“I thought that was the biggest thing in the game,” Allen said. “We didn't tackle in the game. And look, make no mistake about it, when it comes to defense, that's on me.”
Besides Derek Carr's injury, the Saints are also playing without the hurt Chris Olave, out with a concussion, and Tyrann Mathieu, with a forearm injury.
Possible changes?
Still, despite Khalen Saunders' comments, it remains unclear how the Saints can make changes. Rumors indicate they are active players in trading for Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders, reuniting the wideout with former teammate Carr.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets, who just fired coach Robert Saleh, are also involved in the trade rumors.
However, the latest reports said that the Raiders may keep Adams after all, as the receiver has forged a solid relationship with Aidan O'Connell, who started their game versus the Steelers.
