A season that started with great promise for the New Orleans Saints quickly turned into a disaster. After a stunning 2-0 start, the Saints have lost their last seven games. This makes it the second-longest single-season losing streak in their 58-year history.

There are plenty of accusations to go around. Topping the list was Dennis Allen, who became the fourth coach to be fired by the Saints this season in 58 years. Injuries, ineffective depth, aging players and undisciplined play have also been major contributors to New Orleans’ misery.

Now in the 17-game regular season, there is no real “halfway” point when it comes to games. The Saints have nine games completed and eight remaining plus a bye week, so this qualifies as the midseason mark.

CRIME = D

Professional Football Focus Rankings (PFF): 21st.

Total = 17.
Pass = 18.
Haste = 13.

To be fair, this unit would just as easily qualify for an ‘incomplete’ grade as a D. Injuries have absolutely depleted this unit since the third week of the season.

These are key players on the offensive end who have missed three or more games.

• Derek Carr (missed 3 games)
• Taysom Hill (4 games)
• Chris Olave (3 games)*
• Rashid Shaheed (3 matches)*
• Bub Means (3 games)*
• Erik McCoy (6 games)*
• Cesar Ruiz (4 matches)
• Lucas Patrick (3 matches)
• Nick Saldiveri (3 games)
• Shane Lemieux (8 games)
• Jamaal Williams (2 games)*
• Kendre Miller (8 games)*

* = Eliminated for Week 10

Shaheed is out the rest of the year, Means is still on injured reserve, McCoy will be out after groin surgery and Miller is serving his second stint on injured reserve. Olave could also be added to injured reserve or miss extended time after a series of concussions.

New Orleans had to practice with bench players or make emergency signings off the street for a period of time at all three spots on the interior offensive line. Combined with the fact that the receiver and running back positions were depleted, neither Carr nor rookie QB Spencer Rattler had a realistic chance of making it big for much of the season.

Still, only RB Alvin Kamara, Olave and Shaheed can be considered consistently successful this year. Kamara, in particular, was a true warrior and was effective despite the extra focus of opposing defenses. Without him there would be no offense at all in many games.

As long as the chamber remains healthy, there is progress to be made. Carr and Hill are back, with McCoy likely to return soon as well. There is a big problem at wide without Shaheed and Olave, but the health of Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning and the continued development of young players could at least mean physical ball-control attack in attack.

DEFENSE = F

PFF Ranking: 30th.

Total = 28.
Pass = 27.
Haste = 25.

Unlike the offense, the New Orleans defense has been relatively healthy until the last few weeks. The abysmal performance of a defense thought to be among the best in the league is one of the biggest things that cost defensive specialist Allen his job.

This unit’s analysis late in the fourth quarter directly cost them wins against the Eagles, Falcons and Panthers. There was a six-game stretch where the defense gave up an average of 429 yards per game, 180 yards on the ground, and 6.1 yards per rushing attempt.

Philadelphia racked up 460 yards without top receiver AJ Brown. Kansas City also had 460 total yards in its first 400-plus games in 16 outings. They did it with an incredible 251 yards after the catch, and they did it with no first two rushing, no first two running backs, and no gaping holes at left tackle.

Tampa Bay went an embarrassing 51 points in the Superdome for a record 594 total yards and 277 yards on the ground. Denver had its first 200-plus rushing performance in 24 games with 225 yards, just its third in 90 contests.

The Saints gave up 130 yards to JuJu Smith-Schuster. Tampa Bay RB Sean Tucker had 53 career yards in 16 games before facing the Saints this season. Against New Orleans, Tucker had 192 total yards and 136 yards on the ground. Since facing New Orleans, Tucker has 70 total yards in his last three games. For these reasons alone, the Saints deserve the lowest grade possible on the defensive end.

It can only get worse. New Orleans linebackers, mostly healthy for the first six or seven games, have been declining rapidly over the last two or three weeks. This is especially true in the minors, where CB Paulson Adebo is out for the rest of the year and rookie Kool-Aid McKinstry is currently sidelined. To make matters worse, Marshon Lattimore, the unit’s only consistently featured player other than Alontae Taylor, was dealt at the trade deadline.

SPECIAL TEAMS = C

PFF Ranking: 30th.

I’m not sure I understand the Pro Football Focus logic used here. new orleans Bet coverage units are well above the league average, allowing only 7.7 per bet. Starting coverage was almost as good.

Rashid Shaheed returned a punt for a 54-yard touchdown and averaged nearly 12 yards on other punt returns, while also nearly breaking up a couple of kickoffs. The other kickoff returners the Saints used were adequate, if not outstanding.

Blake Grupe missed two extra points. Grupe was also 17-of-16 on field goals, including a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond 50 yards. He was also extremely accurate at kickoff, allowing defensive teams to force their opponents into worse than league average starting position.

Punting lowered the overall rating of this unit. Matthew Hayball had a net average of 40.2 yards but was wildly inconsistent and rarely turned the field for the team’s struggling defense. Hayball also successfully executed a fake punt, which was indicative of Rizzi’s aggressive nature.

Shaheed’s absence is a huge blow to the offense as well as special teams. In order for this unit to maintain at least an average rating in the final part of this season, someone will have to increase this capacity.