The New Orleans Saints suffered another tough loss, falling to the Tennessee Titans 23-21 on the road. Once again, the Saints found themselves conducting a furious fourth quarter rally to try and overcome a deficit that built up over the previous three quarters. And they almost pulled it off.
“The game was there for the taking,” said a frustrated Bobby Hebert. “[It was] a disappointing loss.”
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With a little more than a minute left and trailing 23-15, New Orleans scored a touchdown and just needed a two point conversion to tie it up. Rookie tight end Adam Trautman, oft the target of criticism from fans, committed a false start and bumped the two point attempt back five yards. The Saints did not convert, did not recover the onside kick, and lost.
Of course, the Saints would not have needed a two point conversion if kicker Brian Johnson had not missed both of his PATs. Johnson is just 5-8 (62.5%) on PATs in his four games this season.
Those weren't the only disappointing parts for Hebert.
“We still had the drops,” Hebert said. “I counted, for sure, five or six drops. If you're an NFL receiver [and] it hits your hands, make a play if you want to last. Kevin White had two targets, no catches. It would've been two tough catches; but if you want to last in the NFL, you have to make them. That was not the case.”
The Cajun Cannon did have some praise for the defense, which limited the Titans to just 264 yards overall and held them to 3-12 on third down. On the other side of the ball, he singled out a record-breaking running back.
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“I thought Mark Ingram, overall, his effort was outstanding,” Hebert said. “He had 61 yards receiving; he has 47 yards rushing. You can't expect more than that from him.”
Ingram passed Deuce McAllister to become the Saints' all-time leading rusher. He now has 6,124 career rushing yards with the Saints.
It was a great moment, but it offers little comfort as New Orleans now has a two game losing streak and sits at 5-4 on the year. Next up is another road game, this time against the Philadelphia Eagles.