“This one really stings. It’s really tough for us to swallow this one,” said linebacker Jonathan Vilma Monday in the locker room before team meetings. “Especially when we were playing well in the first half, had things rolling, and for whatever reason the second half, where we’re usually strong at, we just didn’t do a good job.”
The Saints defense gave up 439 yards to a Bucs offense that entered the game ranked 29th offensively in the NFL. The Saints offense scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter, but didn’t find the end zone the rest of the game, and managed to put up no points in the second half.
“As you go into the playoffs we want to get ready and go in hitting on all cylinders and we haven’t been able to do that the last couple of weeks. It’s little things. It’s the details. It’s about cleaning up our assignments and executing the way we know we can,” said right tackle Jon Stinchcomb. “It’s an important week for us. An important week of practice, and then against a very quality opponent whose playing some of the best football across the league right now in Carolina.”
Carolina is coming off of back to back impressive wins against the Vikings(26-7), and Giants (41-9). Fans via message boards and sports talk radio shows sound like passengers on the Titanic. Monday in the Saints locker, players stressed that there is no panic inside the locker room following a pair of ugly losses, but there is concern.
“I think we have a smart team and they understand the challenges and they understand that we’re going to have to play better to have success when the second season begins. Ultimately they also realize that this team will be measured on how we play in the postseason,” Saints head coach Sean Payton said Monday morning. “I think what’s most important is for all of us to closely look at some things that we have to get back to doing that we’ve done earlier in the year or in any of our wins.
“This is a crucial point. It would have felt great to get it this past weekend but it didn’t fall in our favor,” said running back Pierre Thomas who added that he suffered bruised ribs in the game. “This week is going to be very crucial for us. We’re really going to have focus down, and I mean everybody is going to have to come together and get ready to play a tough game because Carolina has been doing very well, very well.”
The loss Sunday hurt in that the Saints failed to lock up home field throughout the playoffs, however a loss by the Vikings who are at the Bears on Monday Night Football would clinch it for New Orleans. Monday morning however, players didn’t want to talk about watching the game in hopes of accomplishing Saints history. “I don’t even want to worry about what Minnesota is doing. I don’t even want to answer that question because maybe the last couple of weeks, every time they lose a game maybe you breathe a sigh of relief and you feel like you have another week, I’m so sick of worrying about what Minnesota does we got to worry about ourselves right now.” No Saints team has ever had the top seed in the NFC Playoffs.
“I mean a lot of guys say they treated yesterday’s game like a playoff game, I’m treating this game like the Super Bowl. It’s important like that,” says left guard Carl Nicks. “We have to win. We have to.”
To win Sunday, the Saints simply have to play better football and the focus all week will be on a hemorrhaging Saint run defense that watched Tampa Bay not attempt a pass on an 11-play game winning drive in overtime.
“You just want to play well. All the things that have been holding us back, we got to clean those things up,” Fujita says. “Looking at it from our stand point defensively you have to stop the run. No more lip service, that has to get done.”
“It’s upsetting when you’re not getting off the field on third down. I mean despite the turnovers that we force if you’re not getting off the field I mean what good are those turnovers,” said cornerback Tracy Porter who had an interception Sunday against Tampa Bay. “Teams are sustaining drive, forcing us to go three and out, and once you have that combination of the defense not getting off the field and our offense not sustaining drives on third downs that just a miscue that we have and they’ll likely come out with a win.”
It’s clear that the locker feels the pressure to turn what has been about a month and a half of not very good football, into play they can carry into the post season in three weeks. It’s now time for guys to step up and get the Saints to wake up and play better football.
“I mean it’s easy to be a leader when you’re winning and everything is going good you’re 13-0, and you know these are the tough times right now where we have to get everybody back together, get everybody focused in, and make sure that everyone understands what the main objective is.”
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