Everyone watching last night said the same thing. “The Saints are beating themselves here tonight.” Here’s a list of key factors that caused the Saints to lose on Monday night. If any one of these hadn’t occurred, the odds of winning the 30 - 27 game would have been much more in the Saints’ favor:

• 11 penalties for 102 yds. against the Saints.
• 4 Saints turnovers
• 1 Blocked field goal attempt that was run in by the Vikings for a touchdown
• 1 missed field goal attempt
• A missed facemask penalty against the Vikings on a play that resulted in a Reggie Bush fumble
• A questionable “no fumble” call on an Adrien Peterson carry

Sean Peyton and the team need to handle up on the things that they have the most control over: turnovers and penalties. The Saints need to be more disciplined if they want success in the NFL. They are one of the worst teams in the NFL when it comes to turnover ratio, and that has got to change. There is also a problem with accountability on this team. Players who continually fail to perform are left in starting positions. This appears to be the case again this year with the kicking game. Hopefully changes will be made.

As far as the defense goes, last week’s optimism proved valid as we watched the Saints defense hold Adrien Peterson to 32 yds. rushing. I really hope they can maintain the kind of consistency that we’ve seen the past 2 weeks. The one thing they need to get better at is creating turnovers.