Dennis Allen described the difficulties New Orleans Saints He came up short in a 23-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The defeat marked the first 7-game lead for the Saints since the 1999 season.

“It’s pretty hard to come out of the negative ending,” Allen said in his opening post-match interview. “I thought we had some guys that stepped up and did some good things, especially in the secondary. I thought overall I played a solid game. There were some good things we did. We ran the ball exceptionally well. We had two opportunities to score in the red zone early in the game and we didn’t do it, and I think that’s what we did in the game.” That was the difference.”

Allen described Derek Carr’s return to action as “a little rusty.” He completed 18 of 31 passes for 236 yards and one touchdown.

Carr took a six-yard sack on the final drive toward New Orleans. On 2nd-and-16, Alvin Kamara caught a 12-yard touchdown pass, resulting in 4th-and-4. OC Klint Kubiak threw a weak pass to wide receiver Cedrick Wilson down the left sideline, and Panthers linebacker Jackson defended it well.

Alvin Kamara had a tremendous effort, rushing 29 times for 155 yards and catching six receptions for 60 yards.

Substitution errors, poor tackles and execution issues highlighted missed opportunities in the red zone. Carolina was more efficient, scoring 100% on two trips inside the red zone, compared to New Orleans, which scored 50% on four visits.

saints He struggled with third-down efficiency, converting 5 of 15 attempts for 33%. They also completed 2 of 3 fourth-down attempts for 66.7%.

Allowing the Panthers to go on a 9-play, 86-yard drive in the second half and a 4-play, 64-yard drive to close the game hurt New Orleans’ quest for a win after six losses.

Chris Olave’s injury in the first quarter may have affected the team’s performance mentally. “Losing Chris at the start of the game I think was tough for us. But sometimes when you see a guy you know go down for the second time in the season and you’re trying to emotionally recover from those things, I think it was a little bit hard to come back from that but we had our opportunities.”

Allen is not focused on a possible coaching change regarding his job. “Yes, we have to do better… So we will evaluate where we are and make changes based on what we think.”

The New Orleans Saints (2-7) will host the red-hot Atlanta Falcons (6-3) in an NFC South matchup on Sunday, November 10 at Caesars Superdome. The kick-off of the competitive game will be at noon.