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Saints' D sets record for TD passes allowed in season

Drew Brees stacked points to earn the New Orleans Saints a 38-27 home win Sunday over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

New Orleans' defense, however, continued its inept play in the secondary.

On Sunday, the Saints conceded four touchdown passes to Blake Bortles, including scores of 90 and 20 yards.

Through 15 games, the Saints have given up an NFL-record 43 touchdown passes. The previous record was 40 TD passes allowed by the 1963 Broncos.

The Saints have allowed 57 total touchdowns this season, the most in the NFL. Their franchise record is 60 allowed in 1980.

New Orleans is also on pace to blow away the record for highest passer rating allowed in the Super Bowl era at 117.1. The 2008 Detroit Lions currently own the dubious achievement, when opposing quarterbacks had a 110.9 passer rating against them. That Lions team went 0-16.

The Saints fired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan during the season, and replaced him with Dennis Allen. While the team insists there have been less alignment errors under Allen, the incompetence continues in the passing attack.

Delvin Breaux aided the touchdown record, giving up 10 TD passes this season, most in the NFL. On balance, the young corner has played exceedingly well otherwise -- ranking third overall among corners in the Pro Football Focus ratings.

The larger issue is Brandon Browner, who each week gets burned worse than a white dude on a beach.

Browner has allowed six touchdowns and leads the NFL in penalties with 21 -- 14 of which have been either defensive holding or pass interference -- putting his team in terrible spots.

Even if you don't trust your own eyes enough to know Browner has been terrible this season, consider this: Pro Football Focus ranks Browner dead last among every corner who has taken a snap this season. He's not 210th by a small margin either. Browner's -40.6 rating is 12.9 points worse than the next closest player (Antwon Blake). In coverage, he grades out the worst by 12.0 points. Browner is allowing a 120.1 passer rating on passes thrown his direction, the fifth-worst mark in the NFL among corners playing 50 percent of a team's snaps.

The Saints' defense is setting records for futility this season, which has become an annual problem for Sean Payton. Thank the football gods for Drew Brees.

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