The Sports Xchange

NEW ORLEANS — One of the big questions entering the regular season for New Orleans Saints fans focused on the red zone offense following the trade of 6-foot-7 tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seattle Seahawks.

Their fears were realized Sunday when the Saints, opening the season on the road against a playoff team, dropped a 31-19 decision to the Arizona Cardinals in a game they could have won after trailing 17-13 going to the fourth quarter and 24-19 with just 6:45 to play in the contest.

The culprit: A poor showing in the red zone. The Saints’ offense managed just one touchdown in four trips inside the 20-yard line, which forced them to settle for three Zach Hocker field goals and nine points instead of 21.

A year ago, the Saints scored a touchdown on 60.0 percent of their red-zone opportunities to rank among the league leaders.

On their 10 snaps inside the 20 on Sunday, the Saints managed just 22 yards. More than half of that total came on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to first-year wide receiver Brandon Coleman.

All told, Brees was 6 of 7 for 20 yards in the red zone while being sacked once. The Saints also ran the ball twice for 3 yards.

“It is a point of emphasis,” Saints coach Sean Payton said Monday. “We had enough opportunities down there.”

While disappointed, Payton pointed an accusing finger at his team’s poor third-down conversion rate. He said the Saints had an “alarming number” of third-down snaps with 18 and moved the chains just seven times.

“It’s Week 1 and typically we’ve been a pretty good red zone team,” he said. “It starts with the efficiency on first and second down and the emphasis (on that). There’s no magic wand. You have to work on it and improve it.”

–The Saints’ injury-riddled secondary took another major hit in Sunday’s season opener with the Arizona Cardinals when free safety Rafael Bush left in the second quarter with a chest injury and didn’t return.

The NFL Network reported Monday that Bush suffered a torn pectoral muscle, which potentially could end his season. Payton on Monday declined to talk about the report of Bush’s injury.

Bush was starting in place of Jairus Byrd, who’s still recovering from a knee injury he suffered in practice last October. He missed the final 12 regular-season games and spent training camp and the entire preseason on the active/physically-unable-to-perform list.

Veteran Jamarca Sanford replaced Bush after he was hurt. He likely would move into the starting role until Byrd gets back, which Payton said could be before the sixth game of the season.

The Saints were also missing starting cornerback Keenan Lewis against the Cardinals. He was believed to be recovering from recent hip surgery, but FOX announcers said Sunday he had a sports hernia operation.

INJURIES: RB C.J. Spiller had arthroscopic knee surgery on Aug. 14 and may return this week after missing Sunday’s game with the Cardinals. … LB Dannell Ellerbe was held out of Sunday’s game because of the toe injury he suffered early in the preseason and it’s not known when he’ll return.

REPORT CARD VS. CARDINALS

PASSING OFFENSE: C — The Saints didn’t have the greatest day as Drew Brees hit on 30 of 48 pass attempts for 355 yards with one touchdown and a long of 63. He threw an interception that glanced off the hands of Marques Colston, was sacked twice and had a passer rating of 83.2. Most of the passes went to his backs as Mark Ingram caught eight balls for 98 yards with a long of 59 and Khiry Robinson had five catches for 51 yards with a long of 22. Wide receiver Brandin Cooks caught four balls for 49 yards with a long of 30 and Brandon Coleman had 41 yards on four catches with a 12-yard touchdown.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D-minus — The Saints are supposed to run the ball better this season after making it a point of emphasis, but it was virtually nonexistent against the Cardinals. They managed a mere 54 yards and a 2.7 average on 20 attempts with Ingram leading the team with 24 yards on nine carries. Robinson had 19 yards on eight carries. Ingram’s 9-yard run was the longest of the day for the Saints.

PASS DEFENSE: B — A banged-up secondary playing without two injured starters was taken advantage of early and often by Carson Palmer, who hit on 19 of 32 attempts for 307 yards with three TDs and no interceptions. Palmer wasn’t sacked although the Saints did get some pressure on him at times and he finished with a 122.8 passer rating. Palmer was exceptionally sharp on the Cardinals’ first possession as he was 5-of-6 for 62 yards with TDs of 10, 17 and 55 yards. Larry Fitzgerald caught six passes for 87 yards, while tight end Daniel Fells had four catches for 82 yards and a 17-yard TD as well as a 48-yard reception that set up another score. The Saints also had six flags thrown against the secondary, including three on one play.

RUSH DEFENSE: C — The Saints did a much better job later in the game after Andre Ellington broke off some nice runs when the Cardinals got touchdowns on their first two possessions. The Cardinals wound up rushing for 120 yards and a 4.8-yard average with a long of 18 yards. Ellington had 69 yards and a 5.8 average on 12 attempts before leaving with a leg injury in the third quarter. Ellington also had a 1-yard scoring run to give his team a 14-0 lead.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C-minus — Thomas Morstead had a solid day punting with four kicks for 171 yards, including a long of 54 yards. He averaged 42.8 gross yards with a net of 39.0 and had five of his six kickoffs go for touchbacks. The Saints had only one punt return for 2 yards and one kickoff for 10 yards, while giving up a 43-yard kickoff return. The Cardinals averaged 7.5 yards on two punt returns.

COACHING: B — With 12 rookies on his rebuilt 53-man roster, Sean Payton knew there going to be some growing pains. They were evident from the start — especially with an injury-riddled secondary that was missing two starters, then lost another one during the game, drawing six penalties. The Saints did hang around longer on the road against a playoff team than most people expected and trailed by four points going to the fourth quarter and by five with 6:45 remaining.