METAIRIE, La. (BRPROUD) — The Saints used part of their bye week, like many other NFL teams do, by taking a deep dive and self-scouting themselves to see what they're doing well and what's still going wrong. Things haven't been perfect for the Saints this season. The offense continues to struggle with consistency, especially when it comes to being consistent from the first half to the second half. The black and gold defense is the biggest problem of them all this season. They ranked 31st in the NFL in total defense. Interim head coach Darren Rizzi said while self-scouting, he found two big areas for the Saints defense has to improve on in these final few games. “We did a deep dive in all three phases and really all three phases have the pros and cons," Rizzi said. "There's things we've done very, very well and we got to continue to do well. The emphasis yesterday in our team meeting was more focus on us and hey, these are the areas we've got to improve. We've talked about defensively, we've got to limit explosive plays. We can tackle better. I think we've been better the last couple of weeks. But overall, through the whole season that's been. I've mentioned that it's been a little bit of our Achilles heel.” What We Learned: LSU football star Josh Williams shines against Vanderbilt, Alabama’s up-and-down season To put in perspective the explosive play problem the Saints defense is having, they allowed five explosive plays that went for 20 yards or more against the Browns in Week 11, including an 89-yard touchdown pass. Latest News Agbaji and Battle rain down 3s as the Raptors beat the Pelicans 119-93 3 arrested after shooting at Zachary restaurant Sunday, police say Big Game Bound: Family, food and football Perkins Rowe in Baton Rouge announces Black Friday discounts, deals. See stores New Orleans Saints focusing on one game at a time in final stretch of season