Walking into the Saints locker room after their 26-23 OT loss to the Rams was a bit awkward. The scene was dead quiet and players were sitting at their lockers stunned, demoralized, and dejected with their heads down. Here's what some of the guys had to say after coming up one game short of advancing to the Super Bowl.
WR Ted Ginn Jr.
On how the game ended - "It didn't’t end how we liked it. I felt like we were the better team, but we came up short. Words can’t explain how we feel right now. The guys and I in the locker room will go back to the drawing board.”
On the controversy surrounding the third-and-ten play on final drive in regulation - “It’s not going to change what happened right now. They should have come down and overturned it like they do everything else. It is what it is. We have to take this one on the chin.”
RB Mark Ingram
How are you feeling? - "I can’t say any words."
Being so close to going to the Super Bowl - “We deserved it, but we didn't’t finish it.”
WR Tommylee Lewis
The third-and-ten play where no flag was thrown - “I saw the defender coming. He got up under me. I got up looking for a flag and didn't’t see one. It was a bad call.”
Did he think he would see a flag? - “There was no question in my mind. I got up and popped up and looking for a little yellow flag on the flag. I didn't’t see one.”
DE Cameron Jordan
Losing the game in that fashion - "Without going into bashing the referee because I don’t know what he saw, maybe he doesn't’t know what he saw. Maybe the lights were too bright for him to see. You have to put it on the defense. We had a chance to get out there and we had an opportunity to get them out of field goal range in overtime.”
Is it hard to accept this defeat? - “We had control for all 60 minutes and we ended up losing in the final overtime. Words can’t describe it. We were defeated at the end of the day, so we don’t have the right to complain about the what ifs, the couldas, the shouldas. At the end of the day, we needed to take the field and create a big turnover.”
Having the loss being out of their control - “Was it out of our control? We let them get close to us. We ended up having a 13-point lead at one point in time. You can’t ever let your foot off the gas. To their credit, they fought the entire game and ended up winning.”
LB Demario Davis
The third-and-ten play where no flag was thrown - "It was pass interference, but we didn't’t get the call.”
Why the Rams were the better team in the end - “They won. We lost. They were the better team today.”
On not stopping Jared Goff at the end of the game and in regulation - “You have to give him credit. He made the plays.”
