NEW ORLEANS — The 2020 New Orleans Saints are so good right now, they can push the self-destruct button, have things seem to be falling apart, and win anyway. I'm not sure if it's a sign of how good a team they are or how lucky they have been in 2020? Maybe both.
The universe loves them right now.
The New Orleans Saints attempted to do what the Atlanta Falcons are experts at — give away a football game they had locked away in the refrigerator.
The Falcons are the Frank Lloyd Wright of designing and building a lead but then set it on fire and watch it burn to the ground. You may not know it but they had a 25 point lead in a Super Bowl and lost.
The Saints turned a comfortable Sunday into a 21-16 nail-biting, tear your hair out win. It was the most uncomfortable way to get to 10-2 and clinch a playoff spot you’ll ever see.
The New Orleans Saints are in the playoffs for the fourth straight season for the first time in franchise history and also for the fourth straight season have that playoff spot wrapped up before most of us have even started our Christmas shopping. The Golden Age of Saints football is incredible.
The Saints rushed for over 200 yards for the second straight week and had the ball for over 36 minutes — and yet needed to defend a Hail Mary from Matt Ryan to escape Atlanta with a win.
Is it just me, or does it seem like every year at least one Saints-Falcons game gets weird and doesn't make any sense? Then again Sunday makes perfect sense if you viewed the Saints performance as going through a Christmas list of how to lose a game to an inferior opponent.
Miss short field goal? Check. ✅
Drop a fourth-down conversion throw where you were forced to go for it because you are worried your kicker was injured on the short kick he missed and didn't want to attempt a long field goal? Check. ✅
Commit 10 penalties to Atlanta's 1? Check.✅
To top it all off, have your quarterback fumble twice, including one where only the luckiest of fortune had the ball roll out of bounds instead of the Falcons picking it up and walking to the end zone for the lead? Check.✅
Seriously, how did Taysom Hill's second fumble not turn into a catastrophe?
The ball seemed to roll in slow motion by the sideline forever and was practically screaming, “Hey, Falcons! I'm right here. Come take me to the end zone.”
Creating fumbles might be a skill but picking them up is 100% luck. On Sunday the Saints were as lucky as you could be.
The thing is, the Saints have a dominant soul crushing defense, and having one gives you a wide margin for error. The Saints for 3 plus quarters made Matt Ryan a basket case again. Ryan finished the game 19 of 39.
The Falcons might've scored a touchdown to snap the Saints' defensive streak of not allowing a touchdown at 14 quarters, but the Saints — except for the Falcons' final 2 drives — were in complete control.
It's a strange feeling believing in the defense more than the offense while watching a Sean Payton team, but 2020 is the weirdest, craziest, year of our lives. So, of course, the Saints are a defensive team now.
“We like us, especially if we’re defending a touchdown,” Cam Jordan said. “We love us.”
We love y'all too Cam.
The Saints defense held the Falcons to 332 yards, added 3 more sacks, and defended a very good Atlanta receiving corps after having to move safety P.J. Williams back to corner because of more injuries in the secondary.
While the defense continued to make its case for being the best in football, Taysom Hill made his case to be the starting quarterback for the Saints when Drew Brees retires, and then, he fumbled that case all over the Mercedes-Benz Stadium field.
Hill knows the fumbling can't continue, “I’m obviously disappointed about that. That’s something I certainly need to fix,” he said.
Sean Payton admitted after the game he didn't do his quarterback any favors with the play call that led to Taysom's first fumble with Saints up 21-9.
“Every once in a while, I’ll have regrets on a situation, and that one certainly will be one of them,” Payton said.
Fumbles aside, Taysom looked like an NFL starting quarterback, and that 3rd and 17 throw he made to Michael Thomas in the first half was a ridiculously hard sideline throw Drew Brees doesn't even attempt anymore.
If you want to know why Sean Payton gushes about Taysom being the next Steve Young, it's because of throws like that and Hill's 43-yard run. Those are special plays only Hill can do, and it becomes crystal clear why Payton wants Hill to be the heir to Drew Brees.
By the way, Michael Thomas had 9 catches for 105 yards, and 2 of the past 3 weeks have looked like 2019 Michael Thomas. The 2019 NFL offensive player of the year has arrived for 2020.
In the last 4 years the Saints have had win streaks of 8, 10, 6, and now 9.
Before the anxiety of playoffs failures past overtake our every thought when the postseason arrives at our door, let's enjoy all this winning.
The Saints win when they play great, win when they play kind of terrible and need luck, and win when they mix the two.
The last two years the Saints are 23-5. They've won 15 games when Drew Brees starts and 8 games when he doesn't. The 2020 Saints are the football Santa Claus.
Santa delivers gifts to children all over the world no matter what, while the 2020 Saints deliver wins to the Who Dat Nation no matter the adversity in front of them.
Ralph Malbrough is a contributing writer and Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at @SaintsForecast or download the Saints Happy Hour Podcast.
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