Studs and duds from the Saints' Week 7 loss to the Broncos

The New Orleans Saints have lost as many as five in a row as they lost 33-10 at home to the Denver Broncos. Throughout the game, the Saints struggled to gain traction on both sides of the ball and now find themselves down 5-2 heading into Los Angeles next week to face the Chargers. Although the game was extremely ugly, some players stood out with positive plays despite the poor overall performance.

Stud: Matthew Hayball

Matthew Hayball continues his strong season and it's not like he won't be used. Hayball prepared for 6 punts against the Broncos. He placed half of his attempts inside the 20-yard line. It's about losing effort, but he was an outstanding player in an ugly situation.

Dud: Dennis Allen

This has been going on for some time, but we are starting to see players become visibly upset with Dennis Allen and unwilling to play for him. The defense he was originally hired to run is significantly worse than when he was just defensive coordinator, as the run defense has been broken for several weeks in a row now. It's time for him to be fired and it has been for weeks, the Saints need a spark of life going forward and Allen isn't it.

Stud: Kendre Miller

Kendre Miller showed juice in his first game of the season. There's a reason he stuck around despite his injury history. Miller showed explosiveness that the Saints don't have at the running back position. There just wasn't that much room to work.

Dud: Home defense

The entire team struggled tonight, so it's difficult to pinpoint any specific problem areas, but central defense was certainly one of them. The defense gave up 225 rushing yards on 35 attempts (6.4 yards per carry) and every opposing running back playing had a rush of 13 yards or more, as did Bo Nix. The problem has been going on for a few weeks, but especially since the last few games.

Stud: Jermaine Jackson

Jackson stepped in for the injured Rashid Shaheed. He looked good returning kickoffs. Jackson averaged 25 yards per return and 32 yards per return. It was a bad day at the office and he was a slight bright spot.

Duds: offensive line

Last week we gave the tackles the benefit of the doubt because they were at least playing decently, but this week the entire offensive line collapsed. Spencer Rattler ended up being sacked six times for 36 yards and also gave up two fumbles due to pressure. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if he was under pressure on 80% of the plays, because almost every dropback he took ended with him rolling out or trying to find a gap to make a throw. It's hard to evaluate his play when the offensive line isn't helping him, but Jake Haener was able to get some done in the end because he was able to get the ball out very quickly.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Headlines from the Saints' Week 7 loss to the Broncos