The New Orleans Saints are 7-8, but they aren’t a 7-8 team. It’s hard to recall the last time a team played more shorthanded than they did Monday against the Dolphins in a 20-3 loss, even with the entire league battling COVID in its own way. The Saints threw a rookie out behind a makeshift offensive line and told him to do his best, and the Ian Book-led offense went 0-12 on third downs. That isn’t an indictment on Book or his future. That just is what it is.
The consensus among analysts is that the Saints are a better team than this, but we won’t find out how much better this season.