During each of Alvin Kamara’s first four NFL seasons, the New Orleans Saints were a playoff team and even the NFC’s top playoff seed during the dynamic running back’s second year on the club.
So Kamara knows what it feels like to be on a team of such quality, and it’s not a feeling he has now.
The Saints (5-6) missed a chance to take control of the NFC South when they lost to Atlanta on Sunday and enter Week 13 plagued by numerous injuries and lingering red zone issues that are sinking their season.
“We don’t have an identity as a team,” Kamara said. “We’re a team that says we want to do and we don’t do — and it shows.
“It gets to a certain point where all the talking in the world doesn’t matter,” he added. “You have to find a way to do it.”
Second-year Saints coach Dennis Allen on Monday disagreed with the notion that the Saints lack an identity. He sees a team that is “explosive” on offense and “opportunistic” on defense.
Two interceptions on Sunday by veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu, for instance, gave the Saints 20 takeaways this season, tied for fourth most in the league.
Meanwhile, the Saints outgained Atlanta in total yards, 444-396. And that was without starting receiver Michael Thomas, who is out at least three more games with a knee injury, and for most of the game without fellow starter Rashid Shaheed, who injured his right leg in the first half.
Leading receiver Chris Olave had seven catches for 114 yards before being knocked out of the game with a concussion in the second half.
But Allen says that what the Saints have done well this season has been repeatedly undermined by game-changing mistakes, be it untimely penalties, botched assignments or turnovers.
“The message to the team was that’s unacceptable. We’ve got to be better,” said Allen, who has an increasing number of fans calling for his firing on social media and local sports talk shows. “I can appreciate the fans’ urgency and I can assure you that the people inside the building feel the same sense…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/alvin-kamara-says-saints-dont-have-an-identity-as-a-team-as-losses-mount
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Publish date : 2023-11-28 01:44:47
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