Advanesser Adams
January 5, 2010Drake Touchet
January 7, 2010
The outcome of Sunday’s game meant very little to the Saints.
With the Minnesota Vikings’ loss last Monday, the Black and Gold had already clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. As a result, the team rested most of its starters to make sure they enter the playoffs as healthy as possible.
But for the Carolina Panthers, Sunday’s game meant a chance to evaluate young quarterback Matt Moore and an opportunity to avoid a losing season and finish the year 8-8.
The two differences in attitudes showed up early and often on Sunday, as the hungry Panthers battered the seemingly uninspired Saints and earned a 23-10 victory.
“Would I have loved it if we came out here and scored 41 today? I mean, yeah,” said one of the Saints’ rested starters, quarterback Drew Brees. “But is it worth the risk?”
Not being willing to take “the risk” resulted in a game where the Panthers limited the Saints’ offense to just 217 total yards.
Reserve quarterback Mark Brunell, who will turn 40 in September, showed his age and struggled to just 15-of-29 completions and 102 yards with an interception.
But there was both good and bad on Sunday for the Saints.
The good was that like planned, the team left Carolina with little-to-no injuries and should be as close to possible to 100 percent when the team returns to action following their bye week.
The Saints’ defense and special teams also improved on Sunday after plaguing the team the past weekend against Tampa Bay.
New Orleans’ defense allowed just 327 yards – their lowest total since Nov. 22 and seven of punter Thomas Morstead’s nine punts were downed inside the 20-yard-line.
“I thought Morstead was outstanding and the defense really held its own,” said Saints coach Sean Payton.
But the bad is that with the loss, the Saints have now lost three-straight games entering the postseason. No team that has entered the playoffs having lost three-consecutive games has ever advanced to the Super Bowl.
The Saints’ philosophy to rest their starters came on the same day NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced he’d consider giving teams draft picks who played their starters in Week 17 of the NFL season.
But whether having incentive or not, Payton said he supports the plan his team took.
“The idea of getting a draft pick and having your quarterback not healthy for a divisional playoff game doesn’t sound real appealing to me,” he said.
Payton’s team will instead move onto the playoffs where they will play the lowest-seeded team remaining following next weekend’s divisional round.
One matchup will pit the No. 3 seeded Dallas Cowboys with the No. 6 seeded Philadelphia Eagles, while the other matchup showcases the No. 4 seeded Arizona Cardinals against the No. 4 seeded Green Bay Packers.
Who the team plays will be determined in Dallas.
If the Cowboys beat the Eagles, the Saints will play the winner of the Cardinals/Packers game. If the Eagles beat the Cowboys, the Saints will play the Eagles.
The Saints have a 1-1 record against NFC playoff teams, having won a 48-22 early-season win against the Eagles and having lost 24-17 three weeks ago against the Cowboys.
Carolina Panthers’ Jonathan Stewart (28) runs for a touchdown as New Orleans Saints’ Tracy Porter (22) chases in the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday. * Photo by CHUCK BURTON / Associated Press
