First off: I hope everyone had a safe and festive holiday season.
But with that said, I would like to get something off my chest. It’s a personal opinion and if you disagree, we’re all good.
I’ve had conversations over the last 2 weeks and seen Tweets intimating the Saints should not even bother trying to make the playoffs. The argument boils down to, “What’s the point?” All that will happen is the Saints earn a trip to the No. 2 seed’s house, where they’ll lose by somewhere in the range of 30 points.
Some seem to believe that tanking the final two games for a 7-10 finish is the best way for this team to ultimately improve by landing the highest draft pick possible.
I’ll have to respectfully disagree. While losing big to a top seed could very well happen, it’s not the only possible outcome. If the Saints can win out and somehow get enough help to make the postseason, I would consider that a Herculean effort in itself. Should that happen, I would feel better about this team than several of the recent squads where the Saints entered the postseason in much better position and with better odds at a second Super Bowl title.
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Frankly, it’s hard to even believe this team is still in the hunt given the challenges it’s had to overcome. This column won’t be long enough to go through all of them, but lest we forget this team evacuated for Hurricane Ida and lived in Texas from Aug. 28 until they returned nearly a month later, four games into the 2021 season. The Saints played Week 2 in Carolina with eight coaches out with COVID. It lost starting quarterback Jameis Winston in Week 8 and after a 5-2 start. Trevor Siemian played the next four games with zero weapons. Alvin Kamara missed four games. Taysom Hill missed multiple games with a concussion and watched from the sidelines as the emergency backup QB for two more while nursing a foot injury.
How would you like to play the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving night without Kamara, Hill, Mark Ingram, Ryan Ramczyk, Marcus Davenport, and Tanoh Kpassagnon? And how about playing what felt like a winnable game against the Dolphins last week without 20-plus players and multiple coaches missing due to the NFL’s constantly changing COVID protocols? As bad as the result felt last week, you’d be forgiven for feeling like that was the final blow in a lost season. The Saints called up three players to sign on Sunday, and flew them to New Orleans to suit up and play the next day. But one of the three tested positive for COVID. That’s just the type of luck this team had in the 2021 season.
With all that said, let’s get back to the idea of tanking. I’ll admit, the concept has at least some merit, but it’s just not one that’s in this organization’s DNA. There have been opportunities to tank and move up the draft board, but the team did the opposite.
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Have we forgotten those four 7-9 seasons? In 2012 the Saints were 5-8 and won two of their three to finish 7-9. This team did the exact thing again in 2014. In 2015, for those with the tanking mentality, it was worse. The Saints were 4-8, only to win three of the final four games to, you guessed it, finish 7-9. And finally in 2016, Groundhog Day again: 5-8 with three games to play, you can guess how it ended.
Tanking might be on the table, but it’s clearly not an option — at least not one being considered. The Saints simply can’t and won’t do it, and I’m completely fine with that.
If there was ever a season to call things early and look to the offseason, it would be this one.
But that’s also why I feel like this would be one of the more inspiring postseason runs you could find, and that’s why I’m all in on the Saints pushing all the way through the finish, regardless of how the rest of the chips fall.
Is it likely? That’s up for a debate. But even still being in the debate, as we’ve established, is pretty impressive on its own. After working this hard and overcoming so much, that’s not a chance you quit on.
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