The New Orleans Saints had every opportunity to fold after going down 21-0 early in the game against the Lions, instead they battled back.
The team didn't quit, and as Saints GM Mickey Loomis explained on WWL this week, that should be clear to anyone who watched what was ultimately a 33-28 defeat in Week 13.
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Saints GM Mickey Loomis in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Claiming the team has quit on the season "is just unsophisticated and lazy journalism," Loomis told WWL's Mike Hoss.
"That’s someone that either didn’t watch the game or doesn’t understand the game," he continued, "and probably a lot of both."
It was a game, though, that featured a host of frustrating turns in a season that's featured more than its share of negative results as the team fell to 5-7. The Saints had only run one offensive play, a Derek Carr pass that tipped off TE Juwan Johnson's hands for an interception, before they faced down a 14-0 deficit. The Saints trailed 24-7 at halftime, but engineered a pair of long touchdown drives to begin the third quarter, both finished off with short touchdown runs in a game that featured four red zone touchdowns on as many opportunities.
The Saints' final scoring drive of the day was finished off by backup Jameis Winston after Derek Carr left the game with a concussion. The Saints got the ball to the Lions' 40 with a chance for a go-ahead touchdown late in the 4th quarter, but turned the ball over on downs. It all adds up to a familiar feeling, becoming the 5th one-score loss of the year, and the third finished by the backup QB after an injury to Carr.
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"It was an odd game in that regard because the first 7 minutes, as you said, everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and we’re down 21-0 against a really good team," Loomis said. "And so, man, that’s a tough row to hoe, and yet we gave ourselves a chance to win the game in the 4th quarter, so I was proud of our team for that, proud of the way we fought back and fought through adversity."
One other element of frustration that arose from the game came from the stands. An unusually large number of road fans got their hands on tickets in the lower bowl, primarily behind the Lions bench, and the result was a diminished home-field advantage for a team that prides itself in that department. There were also loud boos coming from Saints fans in the first half that followed Carr onto the field, though they dissipated as the team made its rally.
"One of the things that we have here is a very, very passionate fanbase. I appreciate that. Our fans care. They want to win. We’ve set a high standard for that and when we don’t win it can become emotional," Loomis said. "Look, our team is fighting. They’re fighting and giving everything they can to win the game, every player is, and the booing doesn’t help us. It certainly doesn’t help us, and I know as a fan, myself, of teams, I understand that yea, I can be angry and boo. But I’m not helping my team doing that. ... They have the right to express themselves. They’re paying lots of money to come watch our team and they can certainly boo, but I don’t have to like it.”
The Saints (5-7) are back in action on Sunday when they host the Panthers (1-11) at the Caesars Superdome.
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MORE FROM MICKEY LOOMIS
What were the positives from this game?
“There was a number of really good individual performances in the game and Alvin certainly was one of them. He ran the ball really hard. He was one of the guys leading the charge in fighting back, really proud of him, proud that he’s got the touchdown records that he’s getting, and look, it feels like every week that he plays he adds another record to his resume.
"Nephi Sewell stepped in for Pete Werner and man, he had 8 tackles and some tackles for loss … I was encouraged by his play. Zack Baun had a sack against maybe the best, one of the best tackles in football in Penei Sewell. That was encouraging.
"I thought Derek after the first couple series, put together a spectacular game. I think he had 14 or 15 consecutive passes. He led those two scores in the third quarter to get back in the game. I thought he played really well, and obviously discouraged by the fact that he got injured, you know, took a pretty good blow on the roughing the passer penalty that was definitely a penalty on their player. So that was disappointing that he wasn’t able to finish the game and yet, I thought he played really well and so, Chris Olave, another guy that quietly, just week to week plays his butt off and gives us everything he can. ... so there was a lot of good individual performances that happened, and yet, again, the end result is it’s a loss and so we’ve got to have these good individual performances. It’s a lot more fun to talk about them when you win.”
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On Tyrann Mathieu becoming Walter Payton nominee
“Tyrann is, man, he means so much to our team but also to the community and he’s, you know, the fact that he’s an LSU guy and a New Orleans guy and St. Aug and all the connections that he has here. For him to be able to come back home and play for us and continue that legacy that he has in our community is, it just speaks volumes to the kind of person that he is. He’s well deserving of NFL man of the year, not just for our team, but you know, I’m hopeful that he wins it for the whole league, because he certainly deserves it.”
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What's the outlook over final five games?
“Yea, look, there’s still — there’s a lot to play for. We’ve got all of our goals and dreams are still available to reach, and so, you know, I think Dennis said this after the game was that we have to just keep chopping, keep fighting, because there’s good things that can happen. We’ve seen flashes of it and we just need more of it. That’s the honest truth, and I believe we can do that. I do, with all my heart.”