That game will be a tough pill for the team to swallow. The New Orleans Saints had the lead, but after some extremely confusing calls, including one that, per the rulebook, against the Detroit Lions, should have been an incomplete pass. New Orleans played a really great game overall, and of course, there were some worrying performances, such as the defense against TEs, but this team should feel better than what the result shows. And no, this is not a moral victory; the Saints should have won

Here are some performances that stood out in the Saints' loss:

This is an interesting first choice for me, especially with how critical everyone has been about the Saints' run game, but Etienne had a nice game in the home opener. It was clear in the first half that Etienne had some space to make plays and get by defenders, and because of that, it allowed the Saints' offense as a whole to have more consistent success. Tyler Shough didn't need to be a hero all game, and although we still saw that, Etienne's elusiveness helped in this game. 

He left with what looked like a hamstring issue, but before that point, it was a really great performance. 

It may get boring to see Shough's name on this list all the time, but it's clear he is the Saints' franchise QB moving forward, and he keeps playing like it. As I mentioned in Etienne's section, Shough had some pressure taken off of him due to the run game's success, but he still needed to be accurate and his normal self, and he was.

Shough looked on target, made nice throws on the run, faced pressure and dealt with it, and was a real threat as a rusher. He threw a bad interception in the fourth quarter, which does bring down his performance a bit, but overall, he had another good game. 

Another surprise name on this list, Fuaga did really well against Maxx Crosby in this game. Fuaga has had a bad start to the season, to the point that I wondered if he was dealing with an injury.

Going into this game, I worried about how he'd handle Crosby, but overall, he did really well. I think the running game helped, too, but Fuaga looked like he would do well even if the running game struggled. 

The WRs have been getting enough love, so let's talk about the TEs. Juwan Johnson and Noah Fant delivered incredible performances as both pass-catchers and blockers. Each had multiple TD games, and both made really important catches to keep the drive going.

I also wanted to talk about Oscar Delp, who has really become a standout blocker for this team.