NEW ORLEANS — The season finale was fun and weird.
But mostly fun. A bobbling touchdown catch from Chris Olave was one of the many offensive highlights.
The 2023 season ends with a winning record. A strong start and finish and not so good in the middle. The ending was truly fun.
The weird part is that Dennis Allen won a game by 31 points and walked off the field genuinely mad.
How often does that happen?
Let's start our 4 Takeaways with that.
#4 The controversial TD
It's the most controversial meaningless touchdown ever.
With under two minutes to go, the Saints were up 24. Tyrann Mathieu gets the interception and returns it to the Falcons one-yard line.
Dennis Allen puts in Jameis Winston and tells him to kneel and run out the clock. Winston said that the eleven men on the field decided as a team not to do that and instead get Jamaal Williams his first touchdown of the season.
The Falcons expected a kneel-down. And Williams scored. After the game, ex-Falcons coach Arthur Smith called Dennis Allen classless to his face.
Allen apologized for the score, and everyone talked about it after the game, and it exploded on social media.
The team actively not doing what the coach ordered, and us finding out about it was certainly unusual.
This was not pre-meditated. It took a perfect storm of circumstances to make this happen.
It had to be week 18. The Saints had to have a big lead in the final two minutes, and they had to somehow get the ball on the opponent's one-yard line. All that happened.
And the coaches and players viewed it differently.
The coaches said that's not how you play the game. That's embarrassing to the other team, and it's wrong.
I think players don't look at it that seriously. They just wanted to get their guy a touchdown. The coaches thought it was a big deal, but the players didn't.
Which is why I wouldn't read too much into it. It's not like the players don't respect Dennis Allen, and it's not a great look for DA, but personally. I really don't think it's that big a deal.
#3 Young players rising
At number three, we did see some young players emerge. For me, Carl Granderson was the Saints' defensive MVP, and Bryan Bresee looks like a really good pick.
AT Perry and Kendre Miller played well in the finale.
The Saints have one of the NFL's oldest rosters, but there are some young pieces to build with.
#2 The Carr facts
At number two, Derek Carr finished strong. He put up his best numbers this season against the Falcons.
Both he and Dennis Allen explained his late-season surge by saying. He's finally healthy.
Carr was hurt in week three against Green Bay.
So, using those first three games and the last five when he says he felt better. Carr's combined passer rating in those eight games is 106.7, which is excellent.
In the nine games in between, when he wasn't right. It's a poor 90.6. That's a huge disparity.
The Saints were 6-2 when he was healthy, which backs up what Carr and Allen said. But If he was hurt so badly that it affected his performance this much. Maybe he shouldn't have been playing. Because he obviously didn't help the Saints win.
Carr's strong finish put him 10th in the NFL in passer rating. Despite the popular opinion, this is about as good as you could have hoped for pre-season. His season overall wasn't bad.
#1 Mystery ahead
At number one, I think there is great mystery heading into this off-season.
Mickey Looms and company have always seemed to find the money for free agency. In theory, the caphole is larger this year.
In the last three seasons. The Saints are 25-26, and now the roster is older and needs more help.
That's the downside of the mystery. The upside is the finale was excellent.
Maybe winning four of their last five can translate to 2024.
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