The New Orleans Saints have had a case of the same sickness all season long. Mistakes in crunch time, defensive lapses, an inability to adjust from the coaching staff.
Add all three of those factors into a big pot. You've got a recipe for last place finish in the lowly NFC South. Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler basically put that into words after New Orleans fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the season finale.
Rattler gets frustrated
“We could’ve, we should’ve won that game if we controlled a few things. … There’s a lot of good to come from this game, at the same time there’s a lot to learn from.” -- Rattler
Rattler is completely correct. The Saints were in control at halftime, leading 16-6. The offense was nearly flawless. The defense was getting third down stops against a fiery Bucs offense.
Then, as the script had it written in multiple other weeks this year, New Orleans was flat in the second half on both sides of the football. The offense could not push the ball downfield effectively, and the run game was nonexistent.
Klint Kubiak's Achilles heel for much of the year was a lack of second half adjustments against the opposing staff. That issue was on film once again in the Week 18 loss to put a giant, ugly bow on the awful season for the Saints.
Meanwhile on defense, their lack of attention to detail was clear. They had multiple costly penalties on that side of the ball, gifting first downs to Tampa.
Not to mention, they forgot that Baker Mayfield could run the football when a play broke down. In every notable moment, they were outplayed by their division rival. It ultimately landed the Bucs their fourth NFC South crown.
Meanwhile for New Orleans, they played another good half of football and followed it by falling flat on their face. That's on the players and staff as a whole.
Now, the offseason looms, with a coaching search included, for the Saints.
