Saints will miss the playoffs for fourth consecutive season
Under a slab of adversity that helped crush a promising start and buckle a season, the New Orleans Saints enter Sunday's season finale against the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., with more positives in mind than their record might suggest.
The Saints (5-11) will miss the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and have experienced a seven-game losing streak, a head coaching change and injuries that were season-ending or led to several missed games to their starting quarterback (Derek Carr), top two receivers (Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed), top two running backs (Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill), starting three interior offensive linemen (left guard Lucas Patrick, right guard Cesar Ruiz, center Erik McCoy), and starting cornerbacks (Paulson Adebo, Marshon Lattimore, who later was traded), among others.
But, tight end Juwan Johnson said, the silver lining isn't hard to locate.
"You've just got to cherish this year, even if the losses happen, coaching changes," he said. "I guess people say it's one for the books, but you've just got to be appreciative of it.
"There's one last week and honestly, you never know how it looks next year. People go different places. I may go a different place – it's a business, that's just what it is. Just enjoying the guys for the one last week that we have because this team will be different next year."
The new look for this season began with the avalanche of injuries and included special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi being named interim head coach Nov. 4, the day after New Orleans lost its seventh straight game. The Saints are 3-4 under Rizzi.
"It's been a different feeling in the building, especially after D.A. got fired and Coach Rizz took over," safety Tyrann Mathieu said. "It was a lot of positive things that happened, like locker room energy, effort.
"We're not playing for the playoffs, but even going back and watching the game from yesterday (a 25-10 loss to the Raiders on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome), you see guys giving great effort. It's just been a tough season overall, but there's a lot of good things that have happened.
"For us now, we just want to go to Tampa Bay – we know those guys have to win that game – so we know it's not one of those games where we can just kind of check it off. We know it's going to be like a prime-time game. Those guys need to win that game. I think we need to show up with that intensity knowing that."
Rizzi said the team has proven it will do just that.
"I had such a fond respect for our players before I took over as interim head coach, and my respect level has doubled because of the way they've handled this situation," he said. "The character, the leadership – the guys in our locker room that have been the best are our leaders and our veteran players.
"They've handled this situation tremendously. They have been the glue to keep that locker room together, so I've learned a lot about those guys. And the effort level that our players have shown in the last seven games has been outstanding. Not good, outstanding.
"I've learned that it's difficult at times to lead, and in times when things aren't going great, but to be the same person every day is really important. And I've learned that the players respect that even more. They respect me being real, the appreciate the honesty and I feel appreciated more than I was even when I took over."
Mathieu, too, said he has seen the locker room leaders – he's a defensive captain – step up during the tumult.
"Any time you go on a seven-game losing streak, slowly but surely it kind of starts to pull away from you," Mathieu said. "But I've been mostly proud of the guys in the locker room. Everybody in the locker room loves each other, we respect our coaches. That's the positive.
"Any time you're going through a struggling season, it's just like the morale of the team, the mood of the team (can plummet), (but) we've got some good leaders. And when Rizz took over it was like that extra juice, that extra spark that we needed."
Johnson said it may sound cliché, but the season has been a character builder.
"When you go through things like this it kind of builds a lot of character, it builds a lot of faith, and I wouldn't rather go to war with anybody else but them," he said. "I just love playing with them, I love being in the locker room with them, I love being on the field with them."
CARR, A.K. UPDATE: Carr went through a game simulation last week, but his injured left hand was not deemed functional enough to play. He'll have another simulation this week. Running back Alvin Kamara (groin) continues to rehab; Rizzi said Kamara desperately wants to play, but doctors will determine whether he can.
