METAIRIE, La. – Coach Dennis Allen knows the New Orleans Saints are capable of being a good football team.

Statistically, New Orleans is still the top scoring offense in the league with 31.8 points per game and 15 touchdowns. They rank seventh in scoring defense, having given up 17.5 points per game, although the defense has only allowed four touchdowns so far.

But for the Saints, it was a tale of two halves in the first quarter of the season. The team that held out through the first two weeks struggled to finish games. New Orleans’ recent losses could be attributed to a number of reasons, including miscommunication, mistakes and injuries.

“It sucks to lose a game like that,” Allen said after a 26-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. “These are the kind of games that rip your fucking heart out. Excuse me. But I know we have a good football team in this locker room.”

Losing close games is a problem that has existed since the start of the 2023 season. The Saints, also 2-2 in Week 4, blew a lead over the Green Bay Packers in Week 3, failed to close out the game late against the Houston Texans in Week 6 and dropped a potentially game-winning pass against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7 and failed fourth-quarter comebacks against the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams in Weeks 10, 12 and 13.

That’s the kind of team they don’t want to be this season.

When the Saints defeated the Carolina Panthers (47-10) and the Dallas Cowboys (44-19) in easy losses, several players on the team warned that it didn’t mean much this early in the season. That proved to be true after the Saints fell to 2-2 following losses to the Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles.

“When you play a lot of football in this league, you realize that it doesn’t matter to throw people out and do all that. This is fanfare,” running back Alvin Kamara said. “I mean, that’s cool. …These kinds of games? These are the types of games that matter. When it comes to thrills, a result… these are the games winning teams win. And if you look further down the line… if you look at the teams that are playing, they can complete these things… We have to get a W.

Now the Saints must figure out how to get back on track if they want to keep up with the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night (8:15 ET, ESPN).

“Defending Super Bowl champion. Multiple Super Bowl champion. They are a really good team. I think they are really well trained. I think the quarterback is outstanding,” Allen said Monday. “They are playing good defense at the moment. They were always really good at the kicking game. And it’s hard to go to Kansas City and win. We have a lot of work to do, but that is the task we have.” “The problems have been solved and we must be able to rise to the occasion.”

The Chiefs’ scoring numbers (23 points per game) are slightly lower than in the first four games of last year, when they averaged 25.25 points per game. But unlike the Saints, they were able to make the plays necessary to end close games.

There was a communication error in the defense against the Eagles that led to players running into each other and setting up a game-winning touchdown. Paulson Adebo’s pass interference penalty with 29 seconds left set up a game-winning field goal for the Falcons.

There were other mistakes, like Rashid Shaheed’s botched punt and Derek Carr’s pick-six on Sunday.

“We gave our hearts on the field and tried to score in the last fourth quarter and try to put ourselves ahead and win the game. But overall, as a team, we had some mistakes that we really couldn’t overcome,” offensive lineman Landon Young said. “And that’s a team thing. It’s not just a play, it’s not just a penalty. You never know when that crucial moment will come in the game where your play, if you had done it a little bit better, could have changed the outcome of the game.”

The team has also overcome a number of injuries, including key players such as tight end Taysom Hill (rib), linebacker Demario Davis (hamstring), offensive linemen Erik McCoy (groin) and Cesar Ruiz (knee), and safety Tyrann Mathieu (calf). , heel and groin). Chris Olave (hamstring) and Kamara (hip/ribs) also played through a big game against the Falcons despite their injuries.

“Last week, I don’t know if we played well enough to win, and yet we put ourselves in a position where we had a chance,” Allen said. “This week I felt like we played well enough to win a lot of areas and still came away with a loss. So that was frustrating.

The Saints will likely still be dealing with a number of these injury issues even with the extra day of rest before their game against the Chiefs. Of those, the injuries to Hill and the linemen are significant. When Hill was on the field against the Falcons, the Saints averaged 6.1 yards per rush, compared to 2.6 yards per rush without him in the lineup.

But the Saints know that will be no excuse. The Chiefs are dealing with injuries of their own, including injuries to wide receivers Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown and running back Isiah Pacheco.

“We have a lot of tough guys,” Kamara said. We have a lot of guys who want to play, who fight through things. We scratch, we scratch. … I think we’re a violent team. We are a strong team. We find ways to put ourselves in a position to win. We just have to win. This is it.”