It's a story Saints fans are well familiar with over the past few years: Scuffling offense and late rallies that come up juuuuust short. Rinse. Repeat.
It's a new coaching era. But will this time be a learning experience? Can this Saints team learn how to win? There's reason for optimism even after a game that featured 13 accepted penalties against the Saints and a close-but-no-cigar leaping attempt in the endzone by Juwan Johnson for a grab that would've knotted the score at 20 in the final seconds.
"I knew I had the ball in my hands and when I hit the ground it wasn’t there anymore," Johnson said. "So it is what it is."
Johnson will notice a bit more to it than that when he goes back and watched. The Saints TE was fully extended when he got his hands on the ball, just as safeties Jalen Thompson and Budda Baker were flying in. Thompson looked to get a hand on the ball, while Baker laid a hit that seemed to dislodge it from Johnson's grasp. It was by no means an easy catch, but one that Johnson would expect to come down with.
"It’s just a little bump in the road. I’m not going to make one moment determine who I am," Johnson continued. "The biggest thing I wanted it for, was I wanted it for the city of New Orleans. I mean, I do love this city a lot, so I really want to make plays for this team, make plays for them and make that happen that way, but you know, it didn’t happen, so it’s just move on to the next one."
It was also a ball his quarterback let him know was coming before the play, the end of a 2-minute drive that was well executed to set the Saints up with shots at the end zone from the 18-yard line.
"I told Juwan before that play, hey, I’m coming at you so be ready," Spencer Rattler said, "and you know, I’ll throw that to him 100 times out of 100, you know, so very close, very close, got to someway finish that out.”
In the end it'll go down as another disappointing result, but not without some positives. Rattler himself avoided turnovers and moved the ball well throughout the game, though a lack of efficiency in red zone situations could be a problem if it persists.
What he's also shown is a confidence in throwing to Johnson, a player the Saints signed to a somewhat eyebrow-raising 3 year, $30 million contract this offseason. It was the type of deal typically reserved for a player with more production, but it signaled an uptick in opportunities. That's what we saw in this game, with Johnson hauling in 8 of his 11 targets for a game-high 76 yards. Four of those catches went for first downs, while another two set up 3rd and 1 situations. If Johnson ends up anywhere near those totals as per-game averages, the contract will be a bargain.
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Rattler seems intent on keeping it that way.
“Just like last year, he’s a guy we want to go to. ... he’s a great player, made a lot of big-time catches today, on third down as well and he’s just such a safe target to throw to," Rattler said, "big frame and just a competitor, so in that situation we want to go at him. He’s a mismatch on that field."
The targets will keep coming. If Johnson can deliver with spectacular catches in critical moments, that'd be great, too. Next up is the 49ers.