NEW ORLEANS — The LSU Tigers and New Orleans were THIS close to both pulling off the most miraculous, unexpected wins in their histories this weekend. Instead, much like daylight savings time turning everything dark early, both had our dreams disappear into a black weekend of football sadness.
LSU nearly won as a 30-point underdog in Tuscaloosa against Mighty Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide with basically a junior varsity team because of injuries, while the Saints nearly turned a Sunday afternoon disaster into the greatest ever win against their most hated rivals.
I will leave the LSU analysis to others, I’ll just say chances to beat Bama are rare and wrecking Nick Saban’s entire season would have been the perfect ending to the wild Ed Orgeron Era of LSU football.
On Sunday the Saints played like a bag of dog poop for 3 quarters complete with penalties, dropped passes, horrible defense and such all around ineptitude I was questioning my decision to catch a Sunday morning 9am flight from Houston to race to be in the Caesars Superdome
It was 24-6 Atlanta and there was zero indication the final 10 minutes would be anything but a likely quick ending to the Saints worst beating of the year.
Then madness erupted. The Saints receivers ,who were so terrible all day I was openly tweeting at Odell Beckham Jr to sign with Saints next week, started making plays.
The Saints scored to make it 24-13 but it felt more like a garbage time worthless TD. Then the defense forced a quick Falcons punt, just 51 seconds later it was 24-19, and suddenly the Superdome had that ‘OMG magic is happening! The Falcons are about to do one of those epic collapses they specialize in’ feeling. There is nothing better in sports than the feeling of “is this insane, beautiful thing happening? It IS HAPPENING!”
Huge comebacks always need a confluence of events and it seemed like the Saints were getting every break didn’t it? From a pass interference to a roughing the passing call on huge play by Falcon defense. The air was thick with the aroma of another Falcon meltdown.
The Falcons defense wasn’t really good all day, the Saints had just managed to repeatedly shoot themselves in both feet while stepping on rakes. If the Saints receivers had caught like 2 more passes in the first half the Saints might have run for 250 yards. The Saints ran for 109 yards and averaged 4.4 yards a carry and the only thing stopping them was their own incompetence of 7 offensive penalties.
The defense was bad but Matt Ryan was also brilliant. He avoided the Saints pass rush most of the day and ripped the secondary to shreds with some great throws.
The first Atlanta pass play and their last one were almost identical except the one to open the game was dropped and the final one was a dagger to the heart of the Saints' defense and a roaring Dome crowd.
I could lament Sean Payton’s play calls on the 2-point tries, but the defense giving up a 64-yard bomb to Cordarrelle Patterson on the first play after the Saints took a 25-24 lead meant the Saints winning was unlikely even if they had led 27-24. Matt just beat them in a way Tom Brady couldn’t last week, which is both infuriating and hysterical.
The Saints didn’t really deserve to win, but the chance to overcome a 24-6 Falcon deficit was a once in a lifetime experience they failed to gift us.
The 2021 Saints are going to spend most of the final 9 weeks in the one-score Tilt-a-Whirl where about 25 NFL teams live.
Trevor Siemian proved ok at quarterback when his receivers managed to catch the ball. Dear Mickey Loomis, please do whatever cap shenanigans or magic you can to create $7.5 million in cap space and claim Odell Beckham Jr., because the Saints receivers as currently constructed will absolutely sink the season. Imagine how this group will do against defenses not a burning tire fire like the Falcons.
/shivers
The 2021 Saints are 5-3 and the season is far from lost, but they did lose the chance to give us the greatest win against the team we hate the most. For the Saints and LSU it was the weekend of almost miracles.
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.