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Katherine Terrell, ESPN Staff Writer
METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Saints tight end Juwan Johnson said the team can’t afford to give much thought to a matchup against former coach Sean Payton on Thursday night.
The Saints are coming off a 51-27 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where they were shut out offensively in the second half, turned the ball over and gave up 594 yards on defense. Johnson said the Saints, who have lost four straight games, have to worry about self improvement before anything else.
“I think we just need to win, man. I think we are desperate for a win. Losing five games straight is just not something that I even want to utter anymore or utter at all … because we need to win,” Johnson said. “I think the city is in need of that. We are more than in need of that. So yeah, we’re desperate.”
The Saints (2-4) have to shake off one of their worst defensive performances in years without a full week of practice to work on their mistakes. They’ll host Payton and the Denver Broncos (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video) on Thursday night.
The short week didn’t give them much time to lament their performance against the Buccaneers. They were already turning their attention to the Broncos on Monday afternoon. A subdued Cameron Jordan supplied the phrase “pissed off” twice when discussing the mentality of the team after their loss.
“Five-hundred-and-ninety-something friggin’ yards in a game. Embarrassing,” Jordan said.
The Saints are in their longest losing streak since Payton’s final season in 2021. That team lost five straight games after starting quarterback Jameis Winston tore his ACL before finishing 4-1 to end the season 9-8.
New Orleans started a combination of Trevor Siemian and Taysom Hill during that losing streak. The team is dealing with a similar injury situation now with Derek Carr out with an oblique injury.
The Saints are currently without Hill (rib) and a number of other starters, and potentially might not have No. 1 wide receiver Chris Olave (concussion). Saints coach Dennis Allen called the current issues a “rough patch” and said they’ll have to lean on the leaders in the locker room to get through it.
“I think it is challenging on all of us and I think that’s why we’ve got to rely on the guys that we have in the locker room … and the competitive nature that those guys have,” Allen said. “So we’re dealing with some injuries right now. We’ve got to fight through this rough patch and hopefully get some guys back. … But I’ve got all the confidence in the world that our guys are going to stick together.”
The Saints also have to deal with outside factors as well. Johnson rattled off potential distractions such as the Payton factor and former quarterback Drew Brees’ Saints Hall of Fame induction on Thursday. There’s also the losing streak itself and the fact that the Saints will likely be starting rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler for the second-straight game.
“But if you kind of just block the distractions by … just focusing on what we need to focus on, it’s a short week, so you can’t really do a whole lot,” Johnson said. “We have to be so good with our game plan. We have to be so good in being locked in with the keys, being locked in on your preparation. … We just have to block out the noise. I mean we have to. We literally have to, we don’t want to put ourselves in a hole after this game.”
Allen said the biggest problem right now is fixing the tackling on defense and limiting the explosive plays. Tackling was emphasized leading up to their loss to the Chiefs and their loss to the Buccaneers, but has yet to be fixed.
“We emphasized it last week and it showed up again. So now it’s no longer just an issue. It’s a glaring problem that we have to solve in the next 48 hours before we go take the field. … So it’s going to be very interesting to see how that gets done, but that’s just it now,” Jordan said. “It’s clearly something that’s been brought up twice now and it has to be corrected.”
Allen and Jordan both defended the team’s effort and said that’s not in question after reviewing the tape. Allen said the team got worn down late but didn’t quit, and doesn’t believe that they will.
“I know the guys that are in that locker room. They’re tough, competitive people. And so I don’t question effort with our guys,” Allen said. “Obviously we have to be better but that’s not really a question that I have with our guys.”
The Saints defense is now ranked last in the league in yards allowed (395.8 yards per game), 29th in passing yards allowed (262.2 yards per game) and 20th in rushing yards allowed (133.7 yards per game).
Allen said everybody in the building has “got to perform better” and it falls on him to get that done. He acknowledged that major changes can’t be made in a short week but thinks they’re capable of turning things around.
“Players aren’t going to change. We’ve only got so many guys, it’s not like there’s anybody that’s going to come in from outside. We’ve gone through rough patches before. We’ll come out the other end on this thing, but yet we got to figure it out and that falls on me to get that done and I’ve got confidence in my ability to do that. I think my track record here as the defensive coach would say that,” Allen said.
