The New Orleans Saints fell to 1-2 on the season with today’s 22-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
The offense struggled mightily, going scoreless for three quarters, and quarterback Jameis Winston was intercepted twice. Winston also fumbled twice, but the Saints maintained possession both times.
The former No. 1 overall pick is playing through a painful back injury, described as four fractured vertebrae. Despite his physical issues and up-and-down play, Winston’s job is not in jeopardy.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen said postgame he is not considering a quarterback change.
“No, no. We all have to play better,” Allen said, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com. “I’m not looking to single anything out, obviously we’ve got to make some corrections and we’ve got to do a better job as a group. . . . I think everybody, when you get in these situations, is kind of looking for a place, to place blame. There’s enough mistakes to go around, I don’t really want to go there. I feel confident with Jameis. Certainly, we all need to do better and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Allen is not wrong about the Saints having other issues. Kicker Will Lutz missed a field goal and had another blocked, running back Alvin Kamara lost a fumble and even the New Orleans defense, which kept the team in the game, surrendered a 67-yard catch-and-run touchdown to Laviska Shenault Jr. in the fourth quarter.
Still, it will be interesting to see if he contemplates a change if the team’s struggles continue. Winston is not the QB of the future for the Saints–the really don’t have one right now–so it wouldn’t be crazy for them to bench him for Andy Dalton, a solid veteran backup, at some point.
On the season, Winston is completing 63.5% of his passes for 858 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions.