The New Orleans Saints certainly put a scare into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they pushed for a 4th straight division title, but otherwise things looked very familiar.
It was a dud offensively in the second half, with that pair of quarters littered with poor play and a loss that felt hopeless down the stretch. It's a picture that the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert would sure like to see change int the 2025 season.
"It was the same song and dance," Hebert said. "You’ve got to play four quarters."
Listen to the full post-game rant from Bobby Hebert in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
It was another week of hot and cold Spencer Rattler, with the rookie dealing in the first half and leading the Saints to a 10-point lead at the break. But the only scoring drive in the second half came off a tipped ball and interception. The Saints didn't log a first down on that drive but did kick a field goal.
Rattler went 21-28 (75%) in that first half for 181 yards and a touchdown. The second half? 5-14 (35.7%) for 59 yards.
"He’s kind of like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, he was really, the past two games if you look at against the Raiders and Tampa Bay, outstanding in the first half," Hebert continued. "You know, teams are going to make adjustments. I thought a couple of times just a little inaccurate with his passing. You take for granted just how accurate Drew Brees was. If a receiver is a lot open you’ve got to hit him in stride. You can’t throw it behind and you can’t throw it too high."
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On Mike Evans record-setting catch
“Yea, they definitely were kind of cheap at the end, trying to get Mike Evans to tie with Jerry Rice, to get 1,000 yards, and when you look at it, it was cheap. ... You know what it reminds me of? If I can recollect and kind of when Michael Strahan got the last sack on Brett Favre, OK, we’re just gonna give it to him so he’s gonna have a record, or even Pokemon, how about we give him a touchdown when we’re supposed to kneel down on the ball. You know, I look at that, to me, it’s not gamesmanship, I don’t know, how you’re supposed to fight. ... In the end we might give up another touchdown, but Mike Evans ain’t gonna catch that ball. Instead of bracketing him or playing him short of the line, we’re gonna put four guys on him and we might tackle him and get a penalty, but he ain’t catching another ball.”
What's next?
“Overall there’s gonna be a lot of different players on the team next year. It just is, and we’re gonna do shows coming up in the offseason, OK, where do the Saints go from here? Again, we could break down even on this show, the Point After, OK, who is going to the Pro Bowl for us? Nobody. Now, there might be an alternate, whatever, but right now and now last time this happened, I think 2016, we all know how the magical draft of 2017 was, so maybe that might be a good omen."