The DENVER BRONCOS, who defeated Kansas City 38-3, clinched home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and a first-round bye. The NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, who defeated Miami 28-0, secured a first-round bye. The remaining AFC playoff clubs are the HOUSTON TEXANS (No. 3), BALTIMORE RAVENS (No. 4), INDIANAPOLIS COLTS(No. 5) and CINCINNATI BENGALS (No. 6). Houston will host Cincinnati and Indianapolis will travel to Baltimore next weekend in the Wild Card Playoffs. The ATLANTA FALCONS are the No. 1 seed in the NFC and clinched home-field advantage and a first-round bye last week. TheSAN FRANCISCO 49ERS, who defeated Arizona 27-13, won the NFC West and secured a first-round bye.
Minnesota running back ADRIAN PETERSON rushed for 199 yards in the Vikings’ 37-34 win over Green Bay. Peterson finished with 2,097 yards, the second-most in a season in NFL history and nine yards shy of breaking Pro Football Hall of Famer ERIC DICKERSON‘s record (2,105 in 1984). Peterson recorded his seventh 150-yard rushing game of the season, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer EARL CAMPBELL(seven in 1980) for the most in a season in NFL history.
The DENVER BRONCOS, who clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC, defeated Kansas City 38-3, Denver’s 11th consecutive win. All 11 wins have been by at least seven points and the Broncos joined the 2005 Indianapolis Colts (13) and 1942 Chicago Bears (11) as the only teams to win at least 11 games in a row by a margin of seven points or more in a single season. Broncos quarterback PEYTON MANNING threw three touchdown passes, his 73rd career game with at least three passing TDs.Manning passed BRETT FAVRE (72) for the most such games in NFL history.
Rookie quarterbacks ANDREW LUCK of Indianapolis and RUSSELL WILSON of Seattle each led his team to victory on Sunday. Luck and Wilson each have 11 wins, joining BENROETHLISBERGER (13 in 2004), JOE FLACCO (11 in 2008) and MATT RYAN (11 in 2008) as theonly rookie starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to win at least 11 games. Luck, who passed for 191 yards and two touchdowns in the Colts’ 28-16 win over Houston, is the only rookie quarterback in NFL history with at least 4,000 passing yards (4,374) and 10 wins (11). Wilson had one passing touchdown and one rushing TD in the Seahawks’ 20-13 win over St. Louis. Wilson threw 26 touchdown passes and tied PEYTON MANNING (1998) for the most passing TDs by a rookie in NFL history.
Detroit wide receiver CALVIN JOHNSON had five catches for 72 yards in the Lions’ 26-24 loss to Chicago. Johnson finished the season with anNFL-record 1,964 receiving yards and is the only player in NFL history to record at least 1,600 receiving yards in consecutive seasons. Over the past two years, Johnson has 3,645 receiving yards, the most in any two-year stretch in NFL history.
New Orleans quarterback DREW BREES passed for 396 yards and four touchdowns in the Saints’ 44-38 loss to Carolina. Brees finished the season with 5,177 passing yards and 43 touchdowns. He is the first quarterback in NFL history with consecutive 5,000-yard seasons and three career 5,000-yard seasons. Brees is the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for 15,000 yards in a three-year span (15,273). Brees is the first player in NFL history with at least 40 touchdown passes in consecutive seasons. He will also finish the season as the NFL TD pass leader, tying BRETT FAVRE and Pro Football Hall of Famers LEN DAWSON, JOHNNY UNITAS and STEVE YOUNG for the most seasons leading the league in touchdown passes (four).
The TENNESSEE TITANS became the first team in NFL history with two interception-return touchdowns and two punt-return touchdowns in the same game in the Titans’ 38-20 win over Jacksonville. Rookie linebacker ZACH BROWN scored both interception-return touchdowns (79 and 30 yards) and DARIUS REYNAUD scored both punt-return touchdowns (69 and 81 yards).
In some ways I view the Saints’ defense (worst in NFL history) saving their most putrid performance (which is really saying something) for week 17 against a divisional rival at home in front of their fans as the ultimate slap in the face. I can’t mince words or paint this in a pretty picture.
If you want to read something positive you’ll have to look elsewhere. Normally I am positive, but I can’t ignore the effort, or lack thereof, that this defense put forward. It was inexcusable and only two players seemed engaged. Joe Vitt used the word “catastrophic” to describe it postgame, and I felt that was perhaps generous. To give up 210 yards on 21 carries to DeAngelo Williams, a back that has sucked all year, is unforgivable and anything short of a massive personnel overhaul wouldn’t be reactionary enough.
***
Will Smith: C (2.42) Officially credited with 4 tackles and a tipped pass. He helped out decently against the run but was a non event pass rushing. Another average performance.
Cameron Jordan: C+ (2.63) Was much better rushing the passer than Smith, showing some nice burst and moves to get to Newton – only to blow the sack. He had 5 tackles and played the run decently at times.
Martez Wilson: C (2.23) Forced an incompletion on the Panther’s opening drive on 3rd down with a nice pass rush where he hit Cam Newton as he delivered the football. I didn’t really understand why he saw little action after a nice play like that, but he did blow an open field tackle.
Junior Galette: C (2.42) He finished with a tackle and a nice hit on Cam Newton thanks to a nice pass rush. He played sparingly, though.
Turk McBride: C (2.00) He finished with a tackle and good activity rushing the passer, including two knock downs and one devastating blow on Newton that knocked the Panthers‘ QB out of the game for an extended period of time. He also had a bad facemask penalty on Mike Tolbert to hurt the Saints.
Sedrick Ellis: C (2.15) He finished with 2 tackles to end a mediocre season. Once a dominant interior player, he was like this all year – fragile, only periodically relevant, and a shell of his former self.
Brodrick Bunkley: A- (2.45) What was most impressive about Bunkley’s day was how well he moved laterally from sideline to sideline. Not only did he have an impressive 5 tackles, but so many of them were away from the interior. He was good against the run despite some correctable goal line stands and he even notched a sack. His best game of the season and he was one of the few on this unit that seemed to play hard on every snap.
Tom Johnson: C+ (2.36) In spot duty he had decent rush but was mauled in rushing attempts. He had 2 tackles and a nice hit on Newton.
Jonathan Vilma: B+ (2.24) His tackling was perfectible but it’s hard to complain too much about his performance. He ran well sideline to sideline and made plays. He led the team with 8 tackles, and he had a beautiful pick 6 reading a screen pass to perfection. One of the best defensive plays of the season.
Curtis Lofton: C- (2.77) Poor coverage and a less impactful game than usual, he just wasn’t all over the field. The cutback runs by Carolina seemed to cause him problems.
David Hawthorne: D+ (2.24) He finished with 4 tackles but missed numerous open field plays to turn what could have been average runs into big first downs. I’m not sold on this guy being a starter next year.
Patrick Robinson: C- (1.96) It’s sad when he’s the corner a quarterback goes after the most despite the fact that Corey White and Jabari Greer were absent, which SHOULD suggest the other guys are who you want to victimize. But no, Newton preferred to go after the opening day starter in P-Rob. This yielded mix results, but he did defend a pass and finish with 2 tackles. He was also helped out by a couple drops. He had a beautiful open field tackle early in the 1st quarter on Williams.
Elbert Mack: C+ (2.72) He was the best cover corner on the day, but missed some open field tackles that made him seem to lack physicality. He finished with 2 tackles and a break up.
Johnny Patrick: D+ (1.79) He had a couple decent plays, but too many bad ones, none worst than a back breaking defensive hold call on a third down in the 4th quarter. He’s going to have to show much more to make this team next year.
Roman Harper: C (2.42) More of the same. He wasn’t impactful enough against the run and seemed slow to the play. He was good in coverage, sometimes beat in tight coverage, other times breaking up a pass. He had 6 tackles and also a nice hit on Newton from a blitz. He was too slow in pursuit of Williams’ big runs.
Isa Abdul-Quddus: C+ (2.42) Did a good job tracking the ball and broke up some passes, at least a couple that could/should have been interceptions. He also finished with 4 tackles. He took bad angles as the last time of defense, though, and missed some plays that Malcolm Jenkins probably makes. It’ll be a tough call for the Saints next year. Jenkins is a more solid tackler and last line of defense, but IAQ has infinitely better ball skills. Which do you prefer in your safety?
Rafael Bush: C- (2.76) He had 4 tackles and was always very late to the play making a tackle after a nice gain.
Garrett Hartley: A (3.00) That 53 yard bomb of a field goal before halftime was pretty impressive and had some room to spare. That was his lone field goal, added to five perfect extra points.
Thomas Morstead: C (3.04) Rough day net average wise where he lost the record due to some unfortunate set of circumstances. Some of it was on his gunners, some of it was on poor field position, and some of it was on him for flubbing a couple punts. Still an okay day with a 46 yard average on 6 punts with two inside the 20, but his net was only 29.8. Needless to say that’s horrible. His kickoffs were good.
Courtney Roby: B- (2.72) Had one tackle but could have made a better impact.
Travaris Cadet: C- (2.07) His kick return prior to injury was lame at best.
My Defensive Player of the Game: Brodrick Bunkley
My Special Teams Player of the Game: Garrett Hartley
Losing sucks. While the offense scored a healthy 31 points and were helped out by a pick 6 from the defense, they were not totally immune from blame. The balance was piss poor (43 passes to 18 rushes) and lack of execution in the 1st and 3rd quarter allowed long stretches for their opponent to dig in. Still, in a perfect world they did enough to win with even a marginal defense. Oh well, hopefully this output will be enough to get double digit wins next year.
***
Drew Brees: B+ (2.79) His stats were 29 of 43 for 396 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. While those are astronomical, he did get a lot of garbage benefit late. Still, you take away some unfortunate drops and it’s scary enough to realize how much better his stats could have been. His interception was horrid, throwing into triple coverage with nowhere to go, though. Granted his margin for error was small due to horrid defense, but that interception was a very poor decision in a crowd that pretty much sealed the Saints‘ fate. A good performance by the Saints QB – but he was very good and they needed him to be perfect to win.
Mark Ingram: B- (2.42) 10 carries for 39 yards and some solid short yardage runs. Vintage Ingram really. At times beastly, at times disappointing. He probably didn’t get enough reps to fully illustrate his ability to impact the game.
Chris Ivory: B+ (2.95) Finished with 4 carries for 22 yards. I will never understand why, in a meaningless game where he had the hot hand, he wasn’t utilized more. It was clear he was running with authority and stopping him was something the Panthers couldn’t really do. Result? The Saints didn’t play him. How can Carmichael Jr. defend himself not giving this man the ball more this year?
Darren Sproles: C+ (2.74) The Panthers seemed to sniff out any plays where the ball was coming his way, save the late score. He had 3 carries for 1 yard and 8 catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. He also offered a very poor effort in the return game. The main drawback, as always, is his inability to break a tackle, ever.
Jed Collins: B+ (2.78) Really solid blocking all day long, particularly in pass protection on play action plays. He bought Brees more time every time he was asked to. He also contributed a 5 yard receptions.
Marques Colston: B+ (2.65) 5 catches for 52 yards and 2 touchdowns were his stats, including some big hits where he earned the tough yards. He did have a horrible drop on third down when wide open though, a weird habit in the second half of the season.
Lance Moore: A (2.93) He finished with 4 catches for 121 yards including one of the most ridiculous catches I’ve seen this season, or maybe in Saints’ history. He continues to have the type of hands that make him superior to most in the league. He continues to offer field stretching ability combined with chain moving capability.
Devery Henderson: C+ (1.93) He finished with 1 reception for 16 yards – a very tough and contested grab. Otherwise he offered decent blocking here and there. He showed field stretching ability and one dimensional route running due to play calling with not much else. He was wide open downfield on a couple plays and ignored by Brees. This was likely his last game as a Saint. If so, all the best Devery and thanks for the memories.
Joseph Morgan: C- (2.26) He had an end around for 1 yard, a reception for 8 yards, and was a non factor blocking. He was covered tightly and got no separation.
Jimmy Graham: B- (2.36) Every week I grade him with some high highs and really low lows. It’s gotten so old. The stats were as good as ever: 9 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. That doesn’t show a couple easy drops, yet again, as well as some bonehead penalties late on the onside kicks that were inexcusable. It’s just sad that you look at his stats, which are some of the best stats you’ll ever see from a tight end, and think that he played crappy. But that’s Jimmy Graham in a nutshell in 2012. This season couldn’t end fast enough for him. Hopefully he can show us something better in 2013.
David Thomas: C- (2.22) Poor blocking and subpar contribution from the usually reliable backup.
Jermon Bushrod: B (2.56) A pretty solid day both pass blocking and run blocking. His last second chip on that 11 yard run by Ivory was crucial, and he did a fantastic job finishing plays. He did allow some edge pressure but as always benefited from a quarterback with world class footwork.
Ben Grubbs: C (2.75) Didn’t get much push in the running game and was constantly chasing his pass rushers, allowing Brees to get hit on a couple of occasions. He also allowed a delay draw to Sproles to get blown up with poor blocking. Not his best game, but he wasn’t awful either.
Brian de la Puente: B+ (2.52) Good physical presence on the interior and clean pass protection. He’s cheap labor for the Saints at the moment as an undrafted free agent and fantastic value as a starter.
Jahri Evans: A- (2.98) Another rock solid performance showing from a deserving pro bowl lineman. His blocking and lateral movement is just fun to watch, and his dominance in the trenches is undervalued due to the team’s refusal to run the ball.
Zach Strief: C- (2.17) At times he was fantastic but he allowed two crucial sacks to Charles Johnson by flat out getting beat.
Eric Olsen: C- (2.29) He looked lost and didn’t get the usual push off the edge. Weak showing.
Same ol’ story | The Advocate Sheldon Mickles – Pardon the New Orleans Saints and their fans if they saw Sunday what they’ve seen so many times this frustrating season.
“It was totally unacceptable what happened today. We talk about keys to victory and what we have to do to win. We are outrushed by almost 200 yards and they converted almost twice as much as we did on third down, and as catastrophic as that is, you still have a chance, potentially, to get back in the game with two onside kicks, even though they recovered them. But you have two penalties at the end that put them in field goal range, it’s not acceptable and we are going to get it fixed. It’s not what this team is about. Very disappointing, very disappointing. There is no way to sugarcoat this. Very disappointing.”
(worse because it’s the last game?) “A loss is a loss. I don’t care when you play one. You play sixteen of these and to lose this the way we lost this, I don’t care if this is the opener, it’s not good.”
(what explanation did you get on the review?) “Yeah, the referee didn’t get the same angle as we did on the Jumbotron in his review and couldn’t see it so it is what it is. Every call is not going to go your way. When it comes to third-and-17, you can’t get beat over the top of your head on third-and-17. It’s unacceptable, but it is what it is.”
(did the life get drained after that call?) “It’s not an excuse. Well, if it did, it’s our fault. If it did, it’s our fault. You have to play the game out. Every call is not going to go your way. It’s not a perfect game played by perfect people. It’s not a perfect game officiated by perfect officials. It didn’t go our way, either you rebound or you don’t, and we didn’t.”
(did you think that Johnny Patrick’s foot was in bounds?) “It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the call was made. It doesn’t matter what I think. The fact of the matter is the call didn’t go our way and the game is going to go on. We either overcome that or you don’t and we didn’t. It is what it is.”
(can inconsistency be corrected pretty easily in the offseason?) “I don’t think anything is easy in the offseason. I think what happens and what you do in the offseason is going to dictate what you do during the season. So you can do as hard as you can to work as hard as you can to get the right group of players that are going to work hard and play together and be accountable to one another, put them in a position to make plays, then you go from there. That is what we are going to start doing tomorrow.”
(on allowing more than 7,000 yards) “Listen, I haven’t digested that yet. I don’t have a comment on it. It is what it is and we have to get it fixed.”
#9 QB Drew Brees
(On the momentum in today’s game) “I would say there were momentum shifts in this game. Early on, they had the momentum. I thought the touchdown to Marques (Colston) down 10-0 after we went for it on fourth down and got it was a huge momentum swing for us. We basically went on a 24-3 run. We got the interception for a touchdown from (Jonathan) Vilma on the very next series. We had the opportunity to kick a long field goal in the two-minute drive. Then, we scored on the first possession of the second half. There we were down 10-0 and all of a sudden its 24-13 and we are rolling. Then, we get them backed up on third and long. They hit the big pass play after the fumble that wasn’t given to us. From that point (on), they took the momentum. They get that touchdown, then a turnover and another touchdown. They get the big kick return in the fourth quarter. It just seemed like something over and over again. They just kept a drive alive or were getting great field position. For us offensively, we felt like we needed something to take us back. We weren’t able to complete some third down conversions late in the third quarter, which allowed things to get out of hand. I look at that as we have to do our part to sustain drives to keep their defense on the field for a while and score some points and to continue to narrow the gap a bit.”
(On what it will mean to get Sean Payton back) “He’s our head coach. I will say this. I think our coaches this year did a phenomenal job. I think Sean would have been so proud of the role that a lot of guys took on that might have been a little bit different than they would have otherwise had to in his absence. They had us ready to play every week. Offensively, the game plan had us extremely confident going into every game. Down the stretch we put together some solid performances. At times, they were not good enough to win, but our coaches did a phenomenal job.”
“It was very disappointing to lose the way we lost today. I’m disappointed in my team, the way we lost composure in the end. That’s uncharacteristic of us. That starts with the leadership, that starts with the captains. I should have found a way to get my team under control. Unfortunately, that cost us. That cost us big.”
(on inconsistency on defense) “Exactly how you said it – (we played) inconsistent. Some games we play lights out. Other games, we’ll give up 44 points, (and) who knows how many yards. You can’t win like in that in the league and it shows.”
(on allowing most yards in NFL history) “You get what you deserve. You don’t play good defense, that’s what’s going to happen. Be a man and suck it up.”
(on if defense impacted by off-field issues?) “Personally, of course. It’s draining, but it’s not an excuse. You’ve got a job to do on Sundays and we have to prepare during the week. Speaking for myself, that’s not an excuse. It was draining, having to fly right after a game just to go up to (Washington) D.C. and sit in for hours on hearings and things like that. As far as the rest of the defense, I would hope that it didn’t affect the rest of the guys. I really tried to make it a point not to make it their issue. It was my issue, mine and Will (Smith)’s, so I really hope it didn’t affect them on Sundays.”
(on Sean Payton’s return and starting the offseason fresh) “I think it’s great. I’m not a part of the management side, but I think it’s great that we have a foundation now to start with the offseason. We don’t know where everyone else is going to end up, but we know that Sean’s going to be here. I assume the rest of the (coaching) staff will be here; that depends on what Sean does when he gets back. We have some continuity now going into the offseason.”
(on looking forward to a normal season) “Yes, very much so. I can’t wait to finally take my mind off everything and get back to our winning ways.”
(on the issues that required him to be in court and at hearings) “The major issue was getting back on the field. I’m on the field, that’s over and done with. The rest of that stuff, I’m not going to worry myself over it. I have a day job to do. I’m not going to worry about what happens with that. Whatever the judge decides, she decides. If we move forward, we move forward. Outside of that, I have no control, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”
(on his future with the Saints) “It’s going to be whatever Mickey (Loomis) and Sean (Payton) decide. That’s management stuff. I don’t get into that. I never look at it. My job is football on Sundays. Hopefully I did a good enough job. Hopefully I’ll be here next year. If not, hopefully I’ll be somewhere. I don’t know how it’s going to work out. I never work about the management business side of it. For me, I just worry about Sundays.”
#91 DE Will Smith
(on today’s performance after playing well in previous weeks) “It’s tough. We played well. We were able not to shoot ourselves in the foot the past few weeks. Today, we started out well. We knew they had a big play offense and had to go the distance down the field to have a chance at winning. We gave them too many big plays. They had two or three big runs and two or three good pass plays.”
(on if the non-fumble call took a lot out of the defense) “No, not really. Guys were still fighting. We tried to make a run late, but we had some penalties. We just keep making the same mistakes week after week.”
#32 CB Johnny Patrick
(on how deflating the failed coaches challenge play he was involved in to the team) “It was devastating. Even on the field, some of the players didn’t know what the referee said. We didn’t know until we came to the sidelines. They have great players over there. They made some great plays. We should have stepped up and stopped them.”
-
Head Coach Ron Rivera
(opening statement) “Very emotional. It was a great win for our team. Our players played hard and that’s all you can ask for. Offensively we did so many good things and gave ourselves the opportunity to win the football game. We stayed steady; we did things the way we’re supposed to. Hat’s off to Cam (Newton) and how courageous he was. Hat’s off to the offensive line, patchwork as they were. The job that John Matsko and Ray Brown has done is tremendous. It was outstanding. I thought our running backs ran their butts off; kudos to them. It shows just what we can become as we go forward, and I was very proud of that. Very proud of what we did defensively. We held a very good offense in check early. They’re going to make their plays. Drew Brees is one of the all-time greats in this league and you know he was going to get his, it was just a matter of time. The thing we had to do is make sure that we controlled it, which I thought our guys did a heck of a job doing. That last screen pass to Darren Sproles, that’s who Darren Sproles is. But again, we stayed with it, we were resilient, and good things happened.”
(on the bond shared with his team) “I’m proud of the fact that those guys showed up every day to work and do the things that we asked, and did them very well. It’s a good group of men; it really is. They deserve this. They deserve the opportunity to win four in a row like they did. They came to work every day, they did what we asked of them, they practiced hard, and they played hard. It’s who they are. It’s a good group of men. I’m very proud of them.”
(on what happens next) “I will sit down eventually with Mr. Richardson and we will evaluate this season. The process is going to begin when we get back to Charlotte. Like I said, Mr. Richardson has been fair and I appreciate the opportunity that he’s given me and we’ll see how things unfold.”
(on why this win was so emotional) “Because they showed up and played. They’ve done that all year, and that’s all I’ve asked.”
(on whether or not he believes he will be back next season) “Well, I want to be back. We’ll see.”
(on the momentum shift following the Greg Olsen play) “You need something good to happen once in a while, and something good did happen at that point. We took advantage of it and we made a play, and then we made another play, and we kept going and that was the best thing. It could’ve gone the other way, but it didn’t. As I said, our guys were resilient, they kept fighting and fighting and fighting. It’s a good tribute to those guys in the locker room: that they played for themselves and they played for each other.
(on DeAngelo Williams) “It was awesome. I know this much: we found some really good things in terms of what we did today. I thought (Rob Chudzinski) made great adjustments. We hit a couple of runs early and we stayed with it. We were able to pound it, and pound it, and pound it. Probably the best thing is that DeAngelo was able to use his abilities and he made some plays for us.”
(on what team has done better in recent weeks) “Handling adversity. Like I said we got a couple of breaks, you go and look at a couple of the games we have played. The Atlanta game, we had a couple of breaks. We’ve made some plays, that’s also the big thing too. When you get into these crunch times you’ve got to make plays and we did. That’s probably the biggest thing is that we made plays. We are learning how to make plays. The big interception by (Charles) Godfrey, we went out and scored. We took advantage of those things, and that’s probably the most important thing.”
(on the Jonathan Vilma interception return for a touchdown) “Great call by Steve Spagnuolo. He played us for screens, so he played man coverage. Jonathan Vilma made a great read and when Cam came off of the fake, he turned and expected DeAngelo (Williams) to be there and Jonathan stepped in front of it for the interception and the touchdown. The biggest thing and the best thing is that we came back. We didn’t let that crumble us.”
(on his message to the team afterwards) “Thank you.”
#58 LB Thomas Davis
“This was a hard fought divisional game that was really important to us because of what they (Saints) did to us last year. I mean they tried to run the score up on us both games last season, and as a player and as a team you look at that stuff and it’s in the back of your mind. We didn’t talk about this during the week leading up to the game today but it was something that definitely motivated us.”
“The bottom line was we came down here to win a football game. We owed them one and we got the victory.”
(on the Interception in the third quarter against Drew Brees) “One of the things I pride myself on is watching film and knowing what’s going on out there. By watching him (Brees) over and over again I knew it was coming. It was nothing spectacular as I just made a play on the ball and got the pick.”
#34 RB DeAngelo Williams
“I have to give all the credit to the offensive line. They opening the holes and I ran through them. We had a lot of success against them (Saints) the first game this season on the ground and we committed to the run all day today.”
“This was a very emotional win for us. Coach (Rivera) hugged all of us as we left the field after the game and told us here in the locker room how proud he was of all of us for fighting and finishing the season like we did. It’s not how you start but how you finish. And with us winning the last four games against some really good teams shows the type of players and team we have.”
#2 QB Cam Newton
“This victory was real big for us for a lot of reasons. There’s a lot out there that’s evident that shouldn’t be said, but you have to tip your hat to everyone out there: the coach, us as players – everybody. It’s been a real tough month for us, as a lot of people could say we aren’t playing for anything. But there’s a lot of things we can do; to get back on that winning rhythm and that’s what we did today to end the season.”
(on getting hit and getting hurt) “The first time I got hit – I don’t know by who; and I injured my ribs. The second one I was in shock by the way my ankle bent. I was in shock and I didn’t know what was happening. But thank God everything was functioning well and I was able to come back in the game.”
“Looking back at the first game, we had a lot of success running the football against them. And we came out here today being balanced, by running the football when we had to. And we were running it even though people knew we were going to run it. And then we passed it well too. DeAngelo (Williams) did a great job running today by breaking tackles and so did Mike Tolbert. And it’s because of those two guys that we got the big win today.”
Same ol’ story | The Advocate Sheldon Mickles – Pardon the New Orleans Saints and their fans if they saw Sunday what they’ve seen so many times this frustrating season.
“It was totally unacceptable what happened today. We talk about keys to victory and what we have to do to win. We are outrushed by almost 200 yards and they converted almost twice as much as we did on third down, and as catastrophic as that is, you still have a chance, potentially, to get back in the game with two onside kicks, even though they recovered them. But you have two penalties at the end that put them in field goal range, it’s not acceptable and we are going to get it fixed. It’s not what this team is about. Very disappointing, very disappointing. There is no way to sugarcoat this. Very disappointing.”
(worse because it’s the last game?) “A loss is a loss. I don’t care when you play one. You play sixteen of these and to lose this the way we lost this, I don’t care if this is the opener, it’s not good.”
(what explanation did you get on the review?) “Yeah, the referee didn’t get the same angle as we did on the Jumbotron in his review and couldn’t see it so it is what it is. Every call is not going to go your way. When it comes to third-and-17, you can’t get beat over the top of your head on third-and-17. It’s unacceptable, but it is what it is.”
(did the life get drained after that call?) “It’s not an excuse. Well, if it did, it’s our fault. If it did, it’s our fault. You have to play the game out. Every call is not going to go your way. It’s not a perfect game played by perfect people. It’s not a perfect game officiated by perfect officials. It didn’t go our way, either you rebound or you don’t, and we didn’t.”
(did you think that Johnny Patrick’s foot was in bounds?) “It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the call was made. It doesn’t matter what I think. The fact of the matter is the call didn’t go our way and the game is going to go on. We either overcome that or you don’t and we didn’t. It is what it is.”
(can inconsistency be corrected pretty easily in the offseason?) “I don’t think anything is easy in the offseason. I think what happens and what you do in the offseason is going to dictate what you do during the season. So you can do as hard as you can to work as hard as you can to get the right group of players that are going to work hard and play together and be accountable to one another, put them in a position to make plays, then you go from there. That is what we are going to start doing tomorrow.”
(on allowing more than 7,000 yards) “Listen, I haven’t digested that yet. I don’t have a comment on it. It is what it is and we have to get it fixed.”
#9 QB Drew Brees
(On the momentum in today’s game) “I would say there were momentum shifts in this game. Early on, they had the momentum. I thought the touchdown to Marques (Colston) down 10-0 after we went for it on fourth down and got it was a huge momentum swing for us. We basically went on a 24-3 run. We got the interception for a touchdown from (Jonathan) Vilma on the very next series. We had the opportunity to kick a long field goal in the two-minute drive. Then, we scored on the first possession of the second half. There we were down 10-0 and all of a sudden its 24-13 and we are rolling. Then, we get them backed up on third and long. They hit the big pass play after the fumble that wasn’t given to us. From that point (on), they took the momentum. They get that touchdown, then a turnover and another touchdown. They get the big kick return in the fourth quarter. It just seemed like something over and over again. They just kept a drive alive or were getting great field position. For us offensively, we felt like we needed something to take us back. We weren’t able to complete some third down conversions late in the third quarter, which allowed things to get out of hand. I look at that as we have to do our part to sustain drives to keep their defense on the field for a while and score some points and to continue to narrow the gap a bit.”
(On what it will mean to get Sean Payton back) “He’s our head coach. I will say this. I think our coaches this year did a phenomenal job. I think Sean would have been so proud of the role that a lot of guys took on that might have been a little bit different than they would have otherwise had to in his absence. They had us ready to play every week. Offensively, the game plan had us extremely confident going into every game. Down the stretch we put together some solid performances. At times, they were not good enough to win, but our coaches did a phenomenal job.”
“It was very disappointing to lose the way we lost today. I’m disappointed in my team, the way we lost composure in the end. That’s uncharacteristic of us. That starts with the leadership, that starts with the captains. I should have found a way to get my team under control. Unfortunately, that cost us. That cost us big.”
(on inconsistency on defense) “Exactly how you said it – (we played) inconsistent. Some games we play lights out. Other games, we’ll give up 44 points, (and) who knows how many yards. You can’t win like in that in the league and it shows.”
(on allowing most yards in NFL history) “You get what you deserve. You don’t play good defense, that’s what’s going to happen. Be a man and suck it up.”
(on if defense impacted by off-field issues?) “Personally, of course. It’s draining, but it’s not an excuse. You’ve got a job to do on Sundays and we have to prepare during the week. Speaking for myself, that’s not an excuse. It was draining, having to fly right after a game just to go up to (Washington) D.C. and sit in for hours on hearings and things like that. As far as the rest of the defense, I would hope that it didn’t affect the rest of the guys. I really tried to make it a point not to make it their issue. It was my issue, mine and Will (Smith)’s, so I really hope it didn’t affect them on Sundays.”
(on Sean Payton’s return and starting the offseason fresh) “I think it’s great. I’m not a part of the management side, but I think it’s great that we have a foundation now to start with the offseason. We don’t know where everyone else is going to end up, but we know that Sean’s going to be here. I assume the rest of the (coaching) staff will be here; that depends on what Sean does when he gets back. We have some continuity now going into the offseason.”
(on looking forward to a normal season) “Yes, very much so. I can’t wait to finally take my mind off everything and get back to our winning ways.”
(on the issues that required him to be in court and at hearings) “The major issue was getting back on the field. I’m on the field, that’s over and done with. The rest of that stuff, I’m not going to worry myself over it. I have a day job to do. I’m not going to worry about what happens with that. Whatever the judge decides, she decides. If we move forward, we move forward. Outside of that, I have no control, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”
(on his future with the Saints) “It’s going to be whatever Mickey (Loomis) and Sean (Payton) decide. That’s management stuff. I don’t get into that. I never look at it. My job is football on Sundays. Hopefully I did a good enough job. Hopefully I’ll be here next year. If not, hopefully I’ll be somewhere. I don’t know how it’s going to work out. I never work about the management business side of it. For me, I just worry about Sundays.”
#91 DE Will Smith
(on today’s performance after playing well in previous weeks) “It’s tough. We played well. We were able not to shoot ourselves in the foot the past few weeks. Today, we started out well. We knew they had a big play offense and had to go the distance down the field to have a chance at winning. We gave them too many big plays. They had two or three big runs and two or three good pass plays.”
(on if the non-fumble call took a lot out of the defense) “No, not really. Guys were still fighting. We tried to make a run late, but we had some penalties. We just keep making the same mistakes week after week.”
#32 CB Johnny Patrick
(on how deflating the failed coaches challenge play he was involved in to the team) “It was devastating. Even on the field, some of the players didn’t know what the referee said. We didn’t know until we came to the sidelines. They have great players over there. They made some great plays. We should have stepped up and stopped them.”
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Head Coach Ron Rivera
(opening statement) “Very emotional. It was a great win for our team. Our players played hard and that’s all you can ask for. Offensively we did so many good things and gave ourselves the opportunity to win the football game. We stayed steady; we did things the way we’re supposed to. Hat’s off to Cam (Newton) and how courageous he was. Hat’s off to the offensive line, patchwork as they were. The job that John Matsko and Ray Brown has done is tremendous. It was outstanding. I thought our running backs ran their butts off; kudos to them. It shows just what we can become as we go forward, and I was very proud of that. Very proud of what we did defensively. We held a very good offense in check early. They’re going to make their plays. Drew Brees is one of the all-time greats in this league and you know he was going to get his, it was just a matter of time. The thing we had to do is make sure that we controlled it, which I thought our guys did a heck of a job doing. That last screen pass to Darren Sproles, that’s who Darren Sproles is. But again, we stayed with it, we were resilient, and good things happened.”
(on the bond shared with his team) “I’m proud of the fact that those guys showed up every day to work and do the things that we asked, and did them very well. It’s a good group of men; it really is. They deserve this. They deserve the opportunity to win four in a row like they did. They came to work every day, they did what we asked of them, they practiced hard, and they played hard. It’s who they are. It’s a good group of men. I’m very proud of them.”
(on what happens next) “I will sit down eventually with Mr. Richardson and we will evaluate this season. The process is going to begin when we get back to Charlotte. Like I said, Mr. Richardson has been fair and I appreciate the opportunity that he’s given me and we’ll see how things unfold.”
(on why this win was so emotional) “Because they showed up and played. They’ve done that all year, and that’s all I’ve asked.”
(on whether or not he believes he will be back next season) “Well, I want to be back. We’ll see.”
(on the momentum shift following the Greg Olsen play) “You need something good to happen once in a while, and something good did happen at that point. We took advantage of it and we made a play, and then we made another play, and we kept going and that was the best thing. It could’ve gone the other way, but it didn’t. As I said, our guys were resilient, they kept fighting and fighting and fighting. It’s a good tribute to those guys in the locker room: that they played for themselves and they played for each other.
(on DeAngelo Williams) “It was awesome. I know this much: we found some really good things in terms of what we did today. I thought (Rob Chudzinski) made great adjustments. We hit a couple of runs early and we stayed with it. We were able to pound it, and pound it, and pound it. Probably the best thing is that DeAngelo was able to use his abilities and he made some plays for us.”
(on what team has done better in recent weeks) “Handling adversity. Like I said we got a couple of breaks, you go and look at a couple of the games we have played. The Atlanta game, we had a couple of breaks. We’ve made some plays, that’s also the big thing too. When you get into these crunch times you’ve got to make plays and we did. That’s probably the biggest thing is that we made plays. We are learning how to make plays. The big interception by (Charles) Godfrey, we went out and scored. We took advantage of those things, and that’s probably the most important thing.”
(on the Jonathan Vilma interception return for a touchdown) “Great call by Steve Spagnuolo. He played us for screens, so he played man coverage. Jonathan Vilma made a great read and when Cam came off of the fake, he turned and expected DeAngelo (Williams) to be there and Jonathan stepped in front of it for the interception and the touchdown. The biggest thing and the best thing is that we came back. We didn’t let that crumble us.”
(on his message to the team afterwards) “Thank you.”
#58 LB Thomas Davis
“This was a hard fought divisional game that was really important to us because of what they (Saints) did to us last year. I mean they tried to run the score up on us both games last season, and as a player and as a team you look at that stuff and it’s in the back of your mind. We didn’t talk about this during the week leading up to the game today but it was something that definitely motivated us.”
“The bottom line was we came down here to win a football game. We owed them one and we got the victory.”
(on the Interception in the third quarter against Drew Brees) “One of the things I pride myself on is watching film and knowing what’s going on out there. By watching him (Brees) over and over again I knew it was coming. It was nothing spectacular as I just made a play on the ball and got the pick.”
#34 RB DeAngelo Williams
“I have to give all the credit to the offensive line. They opening the holes and I ran through them. We had a lot of success against them (Saints) the first game this season on the ground and we committed to the run all day today.”
“This was a very emotional win for us. Coach (Rivera) hugged all of us as we left the field after the game and told us here in the locker room how proud he was of all of us for fighting and finishing the season like we did. It’s not how you start but how you finish. And with us winning the last four games against some really good teams shows the type of players and team we have.”
#2 QB Cam Newton
“This victory was real big for us for a lot of reasons. There’s a lot out there that’s evident that shouldn’t be said, but you have to tip your hat to everyone out there: the coach, us as players – everybody. It’s been a real tough month for us, as a lot of people could say we aren’t playing for anything. But there’s a lot of things we can do; to get back on that winning rhythm and that’s what we did today to end the season.”
(on getting hit and getting hurt) “The first time I got hit – I don’t know by who; and I injured my ribs. The second one I was in shock by the way my ankle bent. I was in shock and I didn’t know what was happening. But thank God everything was functioning well and I was able to come back in the game.”
“Looking back at the first game, we had a lot of success running the football against them. And we came out here today being balanced, by running the football when we had to. And we were running it even though people knew we were going to run it. And then we passed it well too. DeAngelo (Williams) did a great job running today by breaking tackles and so did Mike Tolbert. And it’s because of those two guys that we got the big win today.”
Same ol’ story | The Advocate Sheldon Mickles – Pardon the New Orleans Saints and their fans if they saw Sunday what they’ve seen so many times this frustrating season.
“It was totally unacceptable what happened today. We talk about keys to victory and what we have to do to win. We are outrushed by almost 200 yards and they converted almost twice as much as we did on third down, and as catastrophic as that is, you still have a chance, potentially, to get back in the game with two onside kicks, even though they recovered them. But you have two penalties at the end that put them in field goal range, it’s not acceptable and we are going to get it fixed. It’s not what this team is about. Very disappointing, very disappointing. There is no way to sugarcoat this. Very disappointing.”
(worse because it’s the last game?) “A loss is a loss. I don’t care when you play one. You play sixteen of these and to lose this the way we lost this, I don’t care if this is the opener, it’s not good.”
(what explanation did you get on the review?) “Yeah, the referee didn’t get the same angle as we did on the Jumbotron in his review and couldn’t see it so it is what it is. Every call is not going to go your way. When it comes to third-and-17, you can’t get beat over the top of your head on third-and-17. It’s unacceptable, but it is what it is.”
(did the life get drained after that call?) “It’s not an excuse. Well, if it did, it’s our fault. If it did, it’s our fault. You have to play the game out. Every call is not going to go your way. It’s not a perfect game played by perfect people. It’s not a perfect game officiated by perfect officials. It didn’t go our way, either you rebound or you don’t, and we didn’t.”
(did you think that Johnny Patrick’s foot was in bounds?) “It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the call was made. It doesn’t matter what I think. The fact of the matter is the call didn’t go our way and the game is going to go on. We either overcome that or you don’t and we didn’t. It is what it is.”
(can inconsistency be corrected pretty easily in the offseason?) “I don’t think anything is easy in the offseason. I think what happens and what you do in the offseason is going to dictate what you do during the season. So you can do as hard as you can to work as hard as you can to get the right group of players that are going to work hard and play together and be accountable to one another, put them in a position to make plays, then you go from there. That is what we are going to start doing tomorrow.”
(on allowing more than 7,000 yards) “Listen, I haven’t digested that yet. I don’t have a comment on it. It is what it is and we have to get it fixed.”
#9 QB Drew Brees
(On the momentum in today’s game) “I would say there were momentum shifts in this game. Early on, they had the momentum. I thought the touchdown to Marques (Colston) down 10-0 after we went for it on fourth down and got it was a huge momentum swing for us. We basically went on a 24-3 run. We got the interception for a touchdown from (Jonathan) Vilma on the very next series. We had the opportunity to kick a long field goal in the two-minute drive. Then, we scored on the first possession of the second half. There we were down 10-0 and all of a sudden its 24-13 and we are rolling. Then, we get them backed up on third and long. They hit the big pass play after the fumble that wasn’t given to us. From that point (on), they took the momentum. They get that touchdown, then a turnover and another touchdown. They get the big kick return in the fourth quarter. It just seemed like something over and over again. They just kept a drive alive or were getting great field position. For us offensively, we felt like we needed something to take us back. We weren’t able to complete some third down conversions late in the third quarter, which allowed things to get out of hand. I look at that as we have to do our part to sustain drives to keep their defense on the field for a while and score some points and to continue to narrow the gap a bit.”
(On what it will mean to get Sean Payton back) “He’s our head coach. I will say this. I think our coaches this year did a phenomenal job. I think Sean would have been so proud of the role that a lot of guys took on that might have been a little bit different than they would have otherwise had to in his absence. They had us ready to play every week. Offensively, the game plan had us extremely confident going into every game. Down the stretch we put together some solid performances. At times, they were not good enough to win, but our coaches did a phenomenal job.”
“It was very disappointing to lose the way we lost today. I’m disappointed in my team, the way we lost composure in the end. That’s uncharacteristic of us. That starts with the leadership, that starts with the captains. I should have found a way to get my team under control. Unfortunately, that cost us. That cost us big.”
(on inconsistency on defense) “Exactly how you said it – (we played) inconsistent. Some games we play lights out. Other games, we’ll give up 44 points, (and) who knows how many yards. You can’t win like in that in the league and it shows.”
(on allowing most yards in NFL history) “You get what you deserve. You don’t play good defense, that’s what’s going to happen. Be a man and suck it up.”
(on if defense impacted by off-field issues?) “Personally, of course. It’s draining, but it’s not an excuse. You’ve got a job to do on Sundays and we have to prepare during the week. Speaking for myself, that’s not an excuse. It was draining, having to fly right after a game just to go up to (Washington) D.C. and sit in for hours on hearings and things like that. As far as the rest of the defense, I would hope that it didn’t affect the rest of the guys. I really tried to make it a point not to make it their issue. It was my issue, mine and Will (Smith)’s, so I really hope it didn’t affect them on Sundays.”
(on Sean Payton’s return and starting the offseason fresh) “I think it’s great. I’m not a part of the management side, but I think it’s great that we have a foundation now to start with the offseason. We don’t know where everyone else is going to end up, but we know that Sean’s going to be here. I assume the rest of the (coaching) staff will be here; that depends on what Sean does when he gets back. We have some continuity now going into the offseason.”
(on looking forward to a normal season) “Yes, very much so. I can’t wait to finally take my mind off everything and get back to our winning ways.”
(on the issues that required him to be in court and at hearings) “The major issue was getting back on the field. I’m on the field, that’s over and done with. The rest of that stuff, I’m not going to worry myself over it. I have a day job to do. I’m not going to worry about what happens with that. Whatever the judge decides, she decides. If we move forward, we move forward. Outside of that, I have no control, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”
(on his future with the Saints) “It’s going to be whatever Mickey (Loomis) and Sean (Payton) decide. That’s management stuff. I don’t get into that. I never look at it. My job is football on Sundays. Hopefully I did a good enough job. Hopefully I’ll be here next year. If not, hopefully I’ll be somewhere. I don’t know how it’s going to work out. I never work about the management business side of it. For me, I just worry about Sundays.”
#91 DE Will Smith
(on today’s performance after playing well in previous weeks) “It’s tough. We played well. We were able not to shoot ourselves in the foot the past few weeks. Today, we started out well. We knew they had a big play offense and had to go the distance down the field to have a chance at winning. We gave them too many big plays. They had two or three big runs and two or three good pass plays.”
(on if the non-fumble call took a lot out of the defense) “No, not really. Guys were still fighting. We tried to make a run late, but we had some penalties. We just keep making the same mistakes week after week.”
#32 CB Johnny Patrick
(on how deflating the failed coaches challenge play he was involved in to the team) “It was devastating. Even on the field, some of the players didn’t know what the referee said. We didn’t know until we came to the sidelines. They have great players over there. They made some great plays. We should have stepped up and stopped them.”
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Head Coach Ron Rivera
(opening statement) “Very emotional. It was a great win for our team. Our players played hard and that’s all you can ask for. Offensively we did so many good things and gave ourselves the opportunity to win the football game. We stayed steady; we did things the way we’re supposed to. Hat’s off to Cam (Newton) and how courageous he was. Hat’s off to the offensive line, patchwork as they were. The job that John Matsko and Ray Brown has done is tremendous. It was outstanding. I thought our running backs ran their butts off; kudos to them. It shows just what we can become as we go forward, and I was very proud of that. Very proud of what we did defensively. We held a very good offense in check early. They’re going to make their plays. Drew Brees is one of the all-time greats in this league and you know he was going to get his, it was just a matter of time. The thing we had to do is make sure that we controlled it, which I thought our guys did a heck of a job doing. That last screen pass to Darren Sproles, that’s who Darren Sproles is. But again, we stayed with it, we were resilient, and good things happened.”
(on the bond shared with his team) “I’m proud of the fact that those guys showed up every day to work and do the things that we asked, and did them very well. It’s a good group of men; it really is. They deserve this. They deserve the opportunity to win four in a row like they did. They came to work every day, they did what we asked of them, they practiced hard, and they played hard. It’s who they are. It’s a good group of men. I’m very proud of them.”
(on what happens next) “I will sit down eventually with Mr. Richardson and we will evaluate this season. The process is going to begin when we get back to Charlotte. Like I said, Mr. Richardson has been fair and I appreciate the opportunity that he’s given me and we’ll see how things unfold.”
(on why this win was so emotional) “Because they showed up and played. They’ve done that all year, and that’s all I’ve asked.”
(on whether or not he believes he will be back next season) “Well, I want to be back. We’ll see.”
(on the momentum shift following the Greg Olsen play) “You need something good to happen once in a while, and something good did happen at that point. We took advantage of it and we made a play, and then we made another play, and we kept going and that was the best thing. It could’ve gone the other way, but it didn’t. As I said, our guys were resilient, they kept fighting and fighting and fighting. It’s a good tribute to those guys in the locker room: that they played for themselves and they played for each other.
(on DeAngelo Williams) “It was awesome. I know this much: we found some really good things in terms of what we did today. I thought (Rob Chudzinski) made great adjustments. We hit a couple of runs early and we stayed with it. We were able to pound it, and pound it, and pound it. Probably the best thing is that DeAngelo was able to use his abilities and he made some plays for us.”
(on what team has done better in recent weeks) “Handling adversity. Like I said we got a couple of breaks, you go and look at a couple of the games we have played. The Atlanta game, we had a couple of breaks. We’ve made some plays, that’s also the big thing too. When you get into these crunch times you’ve got to make plays and we did. That’s probably the biggest thing is that we made plays. We are learning how to make plays. The big interception by (Charles) Godfrey, we went out and scored. We took advantage of those things, and that’s probably the most important thing.”
(on the Jonathan Vilma interception return for a touchdown) “Great call by Steve Spagnuolo. He played us for screens, so he played man coverage. Jonathan Vilma made a great read and when Cam came off of the fake, he turned and expected DeAngelo (Williams) to be there and Jonathan stepped in front of it for the interception and the touchdown. The biggest thing and the best thing is that we came back. We didn’t let that crumble us.”
(on his message to the team afterwards) “Thank you.”
#58 LB Thomas Davis
“This was a hard fought divisional game that was really important to us because of what they (Saints) did to us last year. I mean they tried to run the score up on us both games last season, and as a player and as a team you look at that stuff and it’s in the back of your mind. We didn’t talk about this during the week leading up to the game today but it was something that definitely motivated us.”
“The bottom line was we came down here to win a football game. We owed them one and we got the victory.”
(on the Interception in the third quarter against Drew Brees) “One of the things I pride myself on is watching film and knowing what’s going on out there. By watching him (Brees) over and over again I knew it was coming. It was nothing spectacular as I just made a play on the ball and got the pick.”
#34 RB DeAngelo Williams
“I have to give all the credit to the offensive line. They opening the holes and I ran through them. We had a lot of success against them (Saints) the first game this season on the ground and we committed to the run all day today.”
“This was a very emotional win for us. Coach (Rivera) hugged all of us as we left the field after the game and told us here in the locker room how proud he was of all of us for fighting and finishing the season like we did. It’s not how you start but how you finish. And with us winning the last four games against some really good teams shows the type of players and team we have.”
#2 QB Cam Newton
“This victory was real big for us for a lot of reasons. There’s a lot out there that’s evident that shouldn’t be said, but you have to tip your hat to everyone out there: the coach, us as players – everybody. It’s been a real tough month for us, as a lot of people could say we aren’t playing for anything. But there’s a lot of things we can do; to get back on that winning rhythm and that’s what we did today to end the season.”
(on getting hit and getting hurt) “The first time I got hit – I don’t know by who; and I injured my ribs. The second one I was in shock by the way my ankle bent. I was in shock and I didn’t know what was happening. But thank God everything was functioning well and I was able to come back in the game.”
“Looking back at the first game, we had a lot of success running the football against them. And we came out here today being balanced, by running the football when we had to. And we were running it even though people knew we were going to run it. And then we passed it well too. DeAngelo (Williams) did a great job running today by breaking tackles and so did Mike Tolbert. And it’s because of those two guys that we got the big win today.”
As the 2012 season and year mercifully draw to a close, the New Orleans Saints, with an assist from a travesty of a replay review from the refs in the third quarter, somehow turned a 24-13 game into a 41-24 laugher (or slaughter, if you’re violently-inclined), and the Carolina Panthers finished strong to win, 44-38.
Some records were set and tied along the way, both good and bad, but I’ll let someone else write about that.
It was a very crappy way to end the year, and I’ll just do my best to get out of the way and let our comments on this pitiful end to a pitiful season pave the way for a better and brighter 2013 for us all.
Thanks to everyone here @ CSC for a sometimes fun year, and always for bringing your “A” game. Time to retool for Payton’s return.
As the 2012 season and year mercifully draw to a close, the New Orleans Saints, with an assist from a travesty of a replay review from the refs in the third quarter, somehow turned a 24-13 game into a 41-24 laugher (or slaughter, if you’re violently-inclined), and the Carolina Panthers finished strong to win, 44-38.
Some records were set and tied along the way, both good and bad, but I’ll let someone else write about that.
It was a very crappy way to end the year, and I’ll just do my best to get out of the way and let our comments on this pitiful end to a pitiful season pave the way for a better and brighter 2013 for us all.
Thanks to everyone here @ CSC for a sometimes fun year, and always for bringing your “A” game. Time to retool for Payton’s return.
With not much to play for in this final game of the season, the Saints and Panthers have treated us to both a boring and exciting game so far, and the Saints took a 17-13 lead into halftime.
After sleepwalking for much of the first half while the Panthers slow-rolled to a 10-0 lead, the Saints offense and defense scored two touchdowns just 43 seconds apart late to shock the Panthers and the dozing Superdome crowd.
Drew Brees hooked up with Marques Colston for 7-yard TD on 4th down to open this scoring blast, and place them tied for 8th in league history with 57 TD connections. This was followed by a Pick-6 of Cam Newton by linebacker Jonathan Vilma.
The Panthers countered with a long drive that stalled in the red zone, leading to a short FG and leaving enough time on the clock for the Saints to add a 53-yard FG of their own as the clock zeroed out.
In other record-setting news, the Saints defense ended all the suspense by going ahead and allowing 287 yards in the first half, setting a new NFL record for yards given up in a season, surpassing the 1981 Baltimore Colts. Glad they put that one to bed so we don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Check out the stats below and then join us for lively chat as the second half of the game unfolds. And hey! The Saints get the KO to start the second half, so that’s something!!
Running back Pierre Thomas, who was placed on injured reserve this week, has been replaced on the roster by cornerback AJ Davis, who will be active for the game.
