Saints playoff loss was team effort as several best players came up short

Mickey Loomis, Jeff Ireland and Sean Payton have done a superb job of building an excellent roster.

That is why the New Orleans Saints have an impressive 38-16 record over the last three years. They deserve enormous credit for jobs well done.

The 2019 Saints overcame many key losses to key players, including Alex Anzalone, Drew Brees, Andrus Peat, Zach Line, Eli Apple, Sheldon Rankins and Marcus Davenport. They played without both starting guards, including Larry Warford, one week. They were without Jared Cook for two weeks.

The Saints simply plugged in others from their deep roster and did not miss a beat. That is a well coached team with a well built roster.

It is hard to build a roster when you are winning.

The NFL draft is set up to benefit losing teams.

The Saints have drafted very well and identified diamonds in the rough in undrafted players who make an impact.

The result is a consistent winning team playing an exciting brand of football, electrifying a fervent fan base. The season ticket waiting list is enormous for Saints games.

Then, there is the reality of what you have accomplished.

In 2009, the New Orleans Saints started 13-0 and went on to win Super Bowl XLIV.

In 2010 season, the Saints were good but were beaten on the road in the playoffs by a lesser team in Seattle to end their season. New Orleans was favored in the game but lost.

In the 2011 season, the Saints had the best roster and team in the NFL but had to travel to San Francisco and lost in the final seconds, the shape of things to come with postseason disappointment. While the winning play did not occur on the final play of the game, it was close. It came with nine seconds left.

In the 2013 season, the Saints lost in the playoffs to a better team on the road in Seattle to end the season.

Then came the last three seasons in which every playoff game ended on the last play of the game in negative fashion.

As I have stated many times, the great teams make their own breaks. Good teams become great teams by making breaks, avoiding controversial situations, being good and being lucky.

The Saints have not been lucky in the postseason. They have not been good enough in the postseason.

Sunday’s loss to the Vikings, at home, favored by more than a touchdown, was the latest chapter for an ugly book which you hope never gets published.

You can analyze it vertically, horizontally, numbers wise, schematically. The bottom line is the bottom line. You either win or lose.

The Saints win a lot, thanks to a good roster, led by Brees, Michael Thomas, Cam Jordan, Demario Davis, Alvin Kamara, Deonte Harris, Cook, Ryan Ramczyk, Terron Armstead, Marshon Lattimore, Taysom Hill, Wil Lutz and Thomas Morstead. Young players, including Erik McCoy, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, J.T. Gray have good futures.

Apparently, that roster is not good enough to win it all. Only one team ends each NFL season with a win. That has not occurred for the New Orleans Saints in a decade.

What was painful among the most painful cuts to take away from the 26-20 overtime loss to Minnesota was the play of some of the best players on the roster.

Michael Thomas did what he could.

Despite being the focal point of the Minnesota defense, Thomas caught seven passes for 70 yards on eight targets. Cook came on late in the game with big catches. He caught five passes for 54 yards.

Taysom Hill was tremendous.

He nearly blocked a punt, covered kicks all afternoon and was great on offense. Hill threw a 50-yard completion to Harris to set up the first New Orleans touchdown. He then threw an excellent lead block to clear the way for an Alvin Kamara touchdown. He caught two passes for 25 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown reception. He rushed four times for 50 yards, an average of 12.5 yards per carry.

Harris was brilliant.

He caught the 50-yard pass. He returned four kickoffs for an outstanding 33.3 yards per return. He returned four punts for an average of 11 yards, constantly improving field position for New Orleans.

Morstead changed field position frequently. He averaged 45.8 yards per punt on five punts, including one downed inside the 20-yard line. He remains a huge asset and is a good holder for Lutz.

Demario Davis has seven tackles, including one for loss and had two passes defensed. Jordan had a sack and a tackle for a loss. Both had fabulous seasons.

Then, there was the play of the other key players.

Brees was not good enough.

The Saints, who had the fewest turnovers in the NFL in the regular season, committed two turnovers and both were on Brees squarely.

Brees had not turned the ball over since Nov. 24 against Carolina, playing clean for five straight games.

He threw an ill-advised deep ball to Ted Ginn Jr. which was intercepted by Anthony Harris and returned 30 yards. That set up a Minnesota touchdown.

Then, after Hill had thrilled the crowd, his teammates and a national television audience with huge plays, Brees inexplicably took a sack with his team already in field goal range for at least a tie in the fourth quarter. Worse, he did not protect the football, was hit and fumbled, resulting in another crucial turnover.

In a critical playoff game at home, Brees was outplayed by Kirk Cousins, who had a 78.1 QBR and a 96.4 rating to 51.1 and 90.4 for Brees.

Drew Brees is still an excellent quarterback. No, he is not the Brees of even three years ago but he has taken great care of himself, competes as hard as anyone who has ever played the game, is smart and provides great leadership. He has a future in the league, if he wants it. My guess is that he signs a new deal with the Saints for one or two years but nothing would surprise me. The Saints are better with Brees than with any other option available.

Alvin Kamara is a superb player who did not have a superb year.

Kamara was solid, rushing 171 times for 797 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 4.7 yards per rush. He caught 81 passes for 533 yards and one touchdown.

Those are good numbers.

The issue is that without Mark Ingram in the fold, the Saints needed Kamara to be the player he was the previous two years.

In 2017 as a rookie, Kamara averaged 6.1 yards per carry and ran for eight touchdowns. He caught 81 passes but for a 10.2 yard average and five touchdowns.

In 2018, Kamara averaged 4.6 yards per carry and 883 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. He caught 81 passes, averaged 8.8 yards and had four touchdown receptions.

Clearly, Kamara was bothered by an ankle injury incurred early in the season.

On his rookie contract, Kamara has been a tremendous player with tremendous value.

He was not tremendous Sunday.

He rushed seven times for 21 yards and a touchdown on a very well blocked play. He caught eight passes for just 34 yards.

On the final drive of the game for New Orleans, Kamara caught a flat pass. Rather than run out of bounds when the clock was a huge factor, He cut back and gained a couple of extra yards for a six-yard game.

That move cost the Saints a minimum of 10 seconds. The play started at the 1:55 mark. The next play, a short pass to Jared Cook, ended at the 1:31 mark. Every second counted.

Then, Kamara caught a short pass from Brees for nine yards. Kamara, facing the quarterback (obviously), caught the ball and fell down. He had yards ahead of him to make and the real possibility of turning, making those yards and running out of bounds to preserve time again.

That play began with 1:26 to play in the game. The next play, a first-down completion to Michael Thomas, occurred with 40 seconds left. Again, extremely valuable time was lost.

Then, with 21 seconds left at the Minnesota 26-yard line, the Saints were flagged for a false start with Kamara being identified by network television as the culprit.

That caused a 10-second runoff, giving New Orleans just 11 seconds left with one timeout remaining, giving the Saints little or no chance at a touchdown.

In 2017 and 2018, it was hard to find any back in the league that made more people miss than Kamara. That was not the case in 2019.

The expectation is that Kamara will bounce back in 2020. He is that kind of talent.

Lutz is a an outstanding kicker.

He is going to the Pro Bowl for the season he enjoyed and deservedly so.

On this day, Lutz missed a 43-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. It would prove fatal.

If Lutz had made that kick, we would not be having this conversation. While no one is perfect, with a good snap and hold, kicking indoors, you have to make that kick.

After a rough start with a lost fumble and a penalty, Adam Thielen had a huge game. Of course, he made a great catch on the 43-yard catch over the shoulder against Patrick Robinson on a great throw by Cousins.

Still, Thielen had six catches for 86 yards prior to that catch with many against the best New Orleans corner in Marshon Lattimore.

On the decisive play, Lattimore was out of the game and the Vikings went right at Robinson. One wonders if free safety Marcus Williams should have shaded more toward Thielen, considering that Lattimore was out of the game. Williams arrived after the ball was caught.

Lattimore is a good player, not a great player. He is the best corner on the New Orleans team and above average. He is a keeper who figures to get a new deal after next season.

When your best players play at a normal or below average level on the biggest stage, the result, most often, will not be desirable.

This was a team effort in the loss.

The kicking game failed with the Lutz miss.

The offense failed with the Brees turnovers.

The defense failed by allowing an average quarterback to drive his team 75 yards for the winning score for his first-ever playoff victory, on the road against a better team, the first road playoff win for Minnesota since 2004.

The coaching staff cannot avoid blame as well.

The Vikings were extremely well prepared for the Saints. They limited Thomas. They got pressure most often with just four-man rushes. They did not allow any plays to Kamara, aside from a well blocked 4-yard touchdown, and Cook was silent until the fourth quarter. It took a wild card in Hill to get anything going.

Minnesota had a good plan to run the ball to the edges with Dalvin Cook. That allowed the Vikings to control the football for 36:56 to just 27:24 for New Orleans. Cousins identified open receivers against man coverage and he was efficient.

The Saints ran the ball just 17 times and for an average of 5.7 yards per rush. When running ball fewer than 20 times this season, the Saints were 2-3. Balance matters. So does time of possession as defenses can wear down and will wear down if on the field too long.

Payton gave credit to the Vikings and to Mike Zimmer and his staff afterwards in correct, classy fashion.

Finally, there is the issue of home field advantage.

While the Saints have as good of a fan base, if not the best and loudest in the NFL, it is not having the desired effect on opposing teams.

In 2018, the Saints lost at home to a below average Tampa Bay team as a double-figure favorite at home, yielding 48 points to a reserve, journeyman quarterback.

New Orleans had to steal a win from a bad Cleveland team, thanks to the bad kicking game of the Browns. They escaped with a win over Pittsburgh when a call actually benefited the Saints. They lost with some reserves playing to Carolina. Of course, they lost to the Rams at home in the famous “NOLA no-call” game.

This season, the Saints needed a 58-yard field goal as time expired to edge the Texans. They lost to a 1-7 Atlanta team 26-9 coming off a bye as a double-figure favorite. They lost by giving up 48 points to San Francisco as a favorite. They lost yesterday as a favorite to Minnesota.

To be a good team, you win more games than you lose.

To be an elite team, you have to win the games you are supposed to win.

The Saints were a better road team in 2019 than they were at home. They won their last seven games on the road. The only loss came at Los Angeles when Brees left the game in the first quarterback with his injured thumb against the Rams.

With that in mind, New Orleans opted to wear the road “white-out” look Sunday at home for the first time. It did not work as the 2019 season has faded to black, leaving Saints fans blue.

Saints fans suffered in the wilderness for 21 years before the moribund franchise had its first winning season in 1987. It took 25 years for a division title to finally arrive in 1991. It took 34 years for the first playoff victory in the 2000 season. It took 40 years for the first appearance in an NFC championship game in the 2006 season. It took 43 years for the first Super Bowl victory.

While fans suffered for many years with bad teams, management and some bad coaching in the John Mecom regime, respect and winning followed under Tom Benson, Jim Finks, Jim Mora, Randy Mueller and Jim Haslett. Loomis and Payton took it to a different level with Ireland becoming part of the equation in recent years.

Loomis and Payton, with the addition of Ireland, have given New Orleans a consistent winner. The bar was raised. That is what always occurs with winning. Expectations are huge. The team appeared good enough to win it all the last two seasons, if not in 2017. It certainly was good enough in 2011. It has not happened.

While there are good young players in place, it will not be easy to rebound from the latest crushing disappointment, given the advancement of many teams in the loaded NFC and the advancing age of Brees. That is why the loss to Minnesota stings so much.

While suffering fans will always lament the no-call against the Rams and the no-call against Kyle Rudolph, let us not forget that the Saints still had their chance to beat the Rams, winning the toss.

Go score a touchdown and go the Super Bowl.

Instead, an interception occurred and a loss followed.

Against the Vikings, there were many chances to win it. Make a field goal before the half. Do not fumble when driving for a likely game-winning touchdown. Handle the final drive in regulation better. Do not allow Minnesota do drive 75 yards to end the game.

The overtime rule still stinks.

How you can decide a game with only one team getting the ball, based on a coin toss, is ridiculous.

Minnesota experienced that in 2010 in New Orleans. The Saints experienced it yesterday. How is it that high school and college games allow both teams to get the ball in overtime but not at the highest level?

In the end, it is all about results.

If you are looking to assign blame, place it squarely on the team, not an individual. Despite some gallant, great individual efforts and performances, this truly was a team loss for the New Orleans Saints.