Despite present gloom, Saints’ future is bright

METAIRIE — The skies outside the New Orleans Saints training facility were steely and the air was frigid Tuesday morning.

And trying to find a ray of sunshine was as difficult inside the building as it was outside.

The team convened for the final time this season, some 36 hours after the devastating 29-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC Divisional Playoff game.

Only a dozen or so players passed through the locker room during the 45 minutes that reporters were allowed access. Afterward, coach Sean Payton limited to nine minutes his question-and-answer session to recap the season and preview the off-season.

No one felt much like talking, and who could blame them?

The manner in which the Saints’ resurgent season ended made this season-ending wrap-up uniquely difficult. After trailing 17-0 at halftime, New Orleans had dominated the second half, taking leads of 21-20 and 24-23, the last coming with a mere 25 seconds left.

Fifteen seconds later, the Vikings were at their 39-yard line, facing a third-and-10 with no timeouts.

On the Saints sideline, punter Thomas Morstead, who had continued to play despite suffering torn cartilage in his ribs only moments into the game, cautioned teammates not to celebrate prematurely.

“I’ve been a part of some bad defeats,” Morstead said Tuesday.

Another one was added to the list as the Vikings’ desperate attempt to get into field-goal range turned into an improbable touchdown.

Case Keenum’s pass completion to Stefon Diggs should have been the final play in a Saints victory, but when rookie safety Marcus Williams dove at Diggs’ legs and whiffed, the receiver sprinted to the end zone on the final play of a Vikings victory.

In a matter of seconds the virtual certainty of a trip to Philadelphia to play for the NFC Championship and a spot in the Super Bowl gave way to the finality of the season’s end.

Williams, a rookie second-round draft choice whose third-quarter interception was a key to the Saints’ comeback, wasn’t among the players meeting the media Tuesday, but he had done his job post-game Sunday. He answered questions, took responsibility for the breakdown and vowed to learn from it.

“I’m really proud of how Marcus handled himself,” Morstead said. “Everyone on this team loves him.”

Morstead said he encouraged an understandably shaken Williams to “face the music” after the game. The punter learned the responsibility to do so from former Saints kicker John Carney, who is in the team’s Hall of Fame and yet is as well known for a missed extra point that kept New Orleans out of overtime in a game at Jacksonville as he is for any of the countless kicks he made.

Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins stood in front of his locker answering the easy and difficult questions as he had all season, which recently earned him an annual award from the local media for appreciation of his cooperation and professionalism.

“As much as you want to forget it, you’ll never forget it,” Rankins said of the loss. “You got to learn from it. Use it as motivation in off-season training and come in with a mindset next year that we’ve got to play until the end and can’t allow anything to take away from the goals we want to achieve.”

Next year looks brighter than it has in a few years for the Saints. After three consecutive 7-9 finishes borne of poor drafts and inadequate forays into free agency, last year New Orleans had its most productive draft in at least a decade and harvested a solid crop in free agency that yielded a division title and a younger roster capable of duplicating if not exceeding 2017’s success moving forward.

But …

Each conversation Tuesday seemed to feature an implied if not spoken “but”. But, the turnaround season ended short of where it could or perhaps should have. But, this year’s success guarantees nothing going forward.

“Nothing is promised,” Payton said. “As a team, we have to look at every area we can improve — every area — not just one specific area. That requires passion, energy, effort and commitment.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, and a lot of areas we’ve got to address. I think there’s a lot we have to get better at.”

Nonetheless this team has been revitalized with rising stars such as cornerback Marcus Lattimore, running back Alvin Kamara and, yes, Marcus Williams.

There is another free agency period beginning in two months, another draft a month or so after that, off-season work and training camp.

In the not-too-distant future it’ll be warm again and the sting of how this season ended will be less acute. The Saints will be back on the field trying to earn another opportunity like the one that slipped through their fingers last Sunday.

But on this bitterly cold January morning, that seemed an awfully long way away.