New Orleans Saints: 5 Things That Need to Be Fixed in Second Half of the Season

The New Orleans Saints are 5-2 this season after dismantling the Indianapolis Colts Sunday night 62-7, but the Saints will need to do some fine-tuning for the remainder of the season if they want to win another world championship.

After dropping a divisional clash against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week ago, the Saints rebounded well with a blowout victory over the Colts, but it was a Peyton Manning-less Colts team also.

Even with the Colts not having Manning at quarterback, the Saints played a nearly perfect game, and this game could serve as a momentum builder for the remainder of the season.

After a successful first half of the season for the Saints, these are five things the Saints need to work toward improving as they move forward.

Improve the Running Game

At times this season, the Saints have showed that they are able to hurt opponents by using the legs of Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles, but at other times, the Saints have shown vulnerability in their rushing game.

A lot of this lies on the shoulders of the big guys upfront. Going into the season, I thought this New Orleans Saints’ offensive line had the chance to be the best in the league, but so far, they’ve really let me down.

They haven’t been terrible, but they haven’t been the dominant group I thought they would be either. The loss of Olin Kreuz at center will make matters even more difficult, but this team still has the ability to pound the ball. The fact that Drew Brees is throwing the ball 44 times a game is ridiculous, and the Saints really need to give defenses something to fear besides the air attack.

Every week, Ingram looks better and more matured, Thomas consistently runs the ball with authority and Sproles turns little cracks into gaping holes, so there’s no reason this team should be 18th in the league in scoring.

It’s time for this rushing attack to put it all together and truly give the Saints another dimension to their heavy aerial assault.

Improve Rushing Defense

If there’s a chink in the Saints' armor, you’re more likely to find that chink on the defensive side of the ball.

Defensive coordinator Greg Williams provides a lot of pressure on the quarterback with his defensive schemes, but that’s proved to be vulnerable against the run.

Going into the game against the Colts, the Saints were giving up 5.1 yards per rush, and that’s far too many for a championship-caliber team. Even against the Colts, the Saints gave up a couple of long rushes.

If New Orleans wants to party with the Lombardi again this year, the Saints need to see better play out of the defensive line and Jonathan Casillas needs to become more than just a good pass-rusher.

Take Better Care of the Football

The Saints have turned the ball over way too much this season, and that really cost them against the Bucs.

You can’t win a football game when you turn the ball over four times and the opposing team doesn’t commit one turnover.

The fact that the Saints were even in a chance to win that ball game speaks volumes about how talented this Saints team is.

Heading into the Sunday night matchup against the Colts the Saints had a turnover ratio of -7. That stat is grotesque. That’s not how the Saints made it to the Super Bowl in 2009.

Lucky for the Saints, they forced a few turnovers in the Colts game, and hopefully, they can build on that moving forward.

Drew Brees has to be Drew Brees

He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league and Saints fans should be more than happy to have him leading their team, but he has to play like the Drew Brees of old.

I’m going to contradict myself for a second and say that Brees needs to take better care of the football and make better decisions, but I love the fact that he’s fearless.

His faith in his receivers make him so great, but it can also be his Achilles heel. Brees has eight interceptions so far this season, and that’s uncharacteristic for the All-Pro.

Until the Saints find a solid running game to rely on, Brees is going to have to be a little more cautious with the football, but I still support him taking a few risks here and there.

After all, that’s what has made Brees one of the best quarterbacks in the league for the past five to six years.

Brees had five touchdowns and only four incompletions in the Saints' win over the Colts. I'd say that's a perfect case of Brees being Brees.

Stop Digging Yourself into Holes

The Saints desperately need to start coming out of the gate better. A trend this team has had for most of their games this year is that they’ve had to battle from behind.

They’ve battled well, but if they can stop digging themselves into these holes, the team will be far better off.

Against the Green Bay Packers, the Saints were down 14-0 with six minutes left in the first quarter against the Houston Texans. The Saints were down 10-0 in the first quarter, and when they played against the Tampa Bay Bucs, the Saints were down 20-7 in the second quarter.

This is sort of new for the Saints, because this is a team that in the past has more than often scored on their first drive. That hasn’t been the case for the Saints this year.

Sunday night was a good first step in coming out of the gates hot, and over the next couple of weeks, I look for the Saints to make improvements in all of these areas to be that dominant team every Saints’ fan knows they can be.

They’re not there yet, but hey, I’d be worried if they were this early into the season.