Have the New Orleans Saints given up?

They lost to the rolling Houston Texans, 24-6, and Brees didn’t throw a single touchdown pass for the first time since November 11, 2012.

Brian Hoyer, who threw two touchdown passes, went 7 for 7 on the opening drive, capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Griffin, to make it 7-0 and give Houston a score on the opening possession for the first time this season. And he has been involved with some of the greatest National Football League moments of all time as the Saints’ coach.

“It’s not a fluke”, Texans free safety Andre Hal said. “We continue to believe in each other and I still feel like we can do something special”.

How bad was it after watching a replay of the game? Allen has been the one who packaged the Saints third-down defense, which is arguably the only moderately decent part of the Saints defense as of late. The Texans also snapped Brees’ streak of having at least one touchdown pass in 45 consecutive games. Houston has now picked off each opposing quarterback in each of their four-consecutive wins and forced a turnover in the last six games.

Miami Dolphins rattled the Texans in week 7.

Three of the Texans’ last four opponents haven’t scored a touchdown, allowing just 35 points during that span. Watt for a quarterback hit and a sack.

The key was stopping Brees, though.

Tyrod Taylor had 291 yards passing and three touchdowns for Buffalo (5-6), but he was mostly held in check in the second half. Due to that drought, New Orleans entered the game tied with three other teams for the fewest interceptions in the league. “Those kind of stats boost your confidence”. As long as you’re putting wins on the board, right? “We’re playing hungry and staying humble”. That would be Ryan Griffin, who had 72 yards on four receptions. Josh Stewart rushed for 68 yards in 21 attempts.

“It felt good just to be back out there with the guys”, Jackson said. Receivers could not get open most of the time. “This is a good locker room and we just have to be better at what we are doing and look closely at eliminating mistakes that are being repeated and evaluate those”.

It all started with Watt repeatedly slamming Brees to the ground as he had seven of the Texans’ eight quarterback hits.

“I figured ol’ Les was going to stay there”, Blue said.

DREW’S DAY: Brees was 25 of 44 for 228 yards on the day his touchdown streak ended.

Up until Sunday’s game, Forbath’s career long was 50 yards. He was unable to pad his stats, though, against the Texans.

“You get in 3rd-and-long against these guys, you are asking for trouble because obviously they dial up the pass rush”, Brees said after the game, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com). No, the reason is the Saints have the appearance of a slow motion vehicle crash, and I guess they will win another game, but I surely wouldn’t bet on it. “Everybody up front, on the back end executing their assignment, knowing what they’re supposed to do and doing it very well”. It’s just tough sledding. And you understand that’s going to happen when you’re playing against a guy like that.

The offense was 3-for-13 on third and fourth downs and only had two rushing first downs in the game. Every time they got the ball, they went down and got points. Their defense did a good job of disrupting our rhythm.