Saints vs. Broncos 2012: Complete meltdown dooms New Orleans

The New Orleans Saints' disappointing season trudged on Sunday night, as the Saints were manhandled, 34-14, by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. The Saints were dreadful on both sides of the ball, with Drew Brees scuffling and the defense giving up a whopping 530 yards.

Dave Cariello of SB Nation's Saints blog Canal Street Chronicles was not really surprised by the poor defensive showing, but he was very disappointed in the play of the normally explosive offense:

Giving up 34 points to Peyton Manning and the Broncos shouldn't come as a surprise considering what we know about this Saints defense. But the offense only scoring 14, including a garbage time touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham late in the fourth quarter, is what's most shocking about this loss.

After three straight dominant weeks passing the ball, Brees completed just 22-of-42 passes for 213 yards, two scores and an interception. The offense as a whole gained only 252 yards.

With the loss, New Orleans dropped to 2-5, and Cariello is pretty much writing off the Saints' playoff hopes:

You can pretty much kiss any chance of making the playoffs goodbye. At least the Saints can still be the first to spoil the Falcons undefeated season.

New Orleans will look to turn things around in another primetime game next Monday, when they host the also underachieving Philadelphia Eagles. Before the season, this matchup looked like a possible NFC Championship Game preview. Now, both teams are just desperate for wins.