The New Orleans Saints are digging themselves quite the hole in the NFC South. They're fresh off a breakdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6. The Saints led 27-24 at halftime. 

The offense took advantage of some mistakes, and the defense picked off Baker Mayfield twice. Rashid Shaheed added a punt return touchdown, too. The second half was a completely different ballgame. New Orleans' offense scored zero points, and their defense fell apart. 

Ultimately, the fell by a score of 51-27. 

At multiple levels, it was one of the worst defeats in the career of Dennis Allen as the team's head coach. His unit, the defense, is most to blame for the loss to a division rival.

Saints defense makes horrible history vs. Bucs

The 2024 Saints are the first team since the 1950 Baltimore Colts to intercept 3 passes on defense, score 27 points on offense, and still lose a game by 24 or more points, according to Pro Football Reference.

Allen discussed the team's performance after the game. He was clearly frustrated. There's no reason he should not be, either.

 "Thoroughly disappointed in the game. It was not acceptable. It wasn't good enough."

— Allen

Missed tackles were a massive problem for the Saints in the second half. 

They suffered injuries that pushed depth players into bigger roles, but there was no excuse for how many tackles that were broken by just Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin and RB Sean Tucker. Allen was asked if those issues can be fixed, and his response was blunt.

"It's something we better fix in four days." — Allen

Allen also described the tackling as atrocious. That's accurate. 

Sean Tucker, the backup running back for the Bucs, had a career day. He entered the game with seven rushing yards this season. He averaged 9.7 yards per carry against New Orleans and totaled 136 yards on the ground. 

The Saints allowed 594 total yards of offense in Week 6. That's the second-most by a Saints defense in team history. You read that correctly.

There have been much less talented groups on that side of the ball during the franchise's time in the NFL. There's no arguing that, whatsoever. 

Simply put, the Saints' depth on defense struggled badly, and starters, including Chase Young and Carl Granderson, had their fair share of struggles as well. The entire unit would probably relay the same concepts that Allen described after the game.

We will see if the defense for New Orleans looks any different against one of the worst offenses in the AFC on Thursday night. They have a reunion matchup with former HC Sean Payton on deck on a short week. 

The Buccaneers punched New Orleans in the mouth. Normally, under Allen as their head coach, that has not woken up Saints teams enough to get back on track very quickly. Will 2024 be different? We will see.

Spencer Rattler should be the last person to blame for Saints’ loss to Buccaneers in Week 6

He was impressive in his first start.