“There are a number of things we have to clean up and do better as we move forward. This tape will provides us an opportunity to look closely at areas we can improve on. You have to start by crediting Washington,” Saints head coach Sean Payton said Monday morning. “They did a good job coming in with a good plan. There are some things we can be better at and we will have to be better at. We got the win and in a tough spot with a short week, but we were able to manage that and find a chance there at the end of the game to win it. We were fortunate to win it. The focus shifts now this week to Atlanta.”
Fans and media alike are still abuzz on how the Saints managed to pull out a victory in a game in which the Redskins controlled throughout. Three plays took place that had heads shaking and mouths open. First, a shanked punt hits a redskins player, allowing the Saints to pick 29 yards and eventually score. Then receiver Robert Meachem strips a Redskins cornerback during a run back off a Drew Brees interception, that strip turns into a 44 yard fumble return for a touchdown. Finally, Washington misses a chip shot field goal to ice the game with under two minutes left, instead a miss leads to a game tying touchdown pass and catch from Brees to Meachem.
“We got to find a way to win and that’s what we did. We found a way to win whether he stripped the ball and took it back for a touchdown, or fumble recovery, we just find a way to win, and that’s what good teams do,” Saints running back Mike Bell says energetically. “I think that’s what we do, that’s what we’re coached to do every day at practice.”
The win locked up a post season berth by winning the NFC South Division Title, the franchise’s fourth division title.
“It’s a great feeling. I’ve never been there. This is my fourth in the NFL and I’ve never been there,” Bell said of his chance to play in the playoffs. “It’s definitely a great opportunity, a great blessing, I’m just happy to be here, and I’m on a great team.”
Bell had 14 yards on the ground in the Saints overtime possession, coming inches from scoring a game winning touchdown. “I had never been in a situation where a coach had enough trust in me to play in an overtime, so it was big for me and I was shocked.”
What’s shocking to many fans is that this in fact are the Saints. The same franchise that so many times before has broken the hearts of the Who Dat Nation, yet now have their fan base day dreaming of the mother of all parades.
Destiny. Fate. Voodoo. Gris Gris. All words being used to describe the incredible 12 game winning streak. Payton understands why many would feel that divine intervention has a hand in the success of the Black and Gold, yet he feels it’s his team’s own effort that has them in the position they are in.
“There are a handful of players and coaches here that were on that ’06 team and obviously there are a lot of new faces, so this team is different. Much has been talked about in regards to fate, destiny, luck and all that and I had a lot of questions yesterday about it, but when you look at Robert Meachem’s play, I don’t want to discredit his hustle and the effort a guy makes on a play like that. Obviously we can’t control if a kicker makes or misses a field goal, and yet when you’re on the short end of some tough games like that, I never hear fate, luck or destiny brought up, I hear how we have to finish better or we didn’t do this or that. I don’t want to take away from the effort and the plays that guys made,” Payton expressed. “The play that Jonathan Vilma made after we scored to really secure a spot in overtime or the play that Meachem makes to get behind Landry for a second time and a touchdown, or the play (Chris) McAlister makes with the fumble in overtime. If you’re in this league long enough, you’re going to play in some games where you feel like you’re fortunate to win the game and then you’re going to play in some games where you feel like you shouldn’t have lost that game and you just hope that they balance out. But I don’t want to short-sight the effort of what some of the guys have been doing and how they’ve been working and preparing. Otherwise, we’d just wait until Saturday and get on the bus and go to the airport and fly and play Atlanta.
With four games left talk of the an undefeated regular season has picked up. According to one report, Payton wants to go for the 16-0 mark, “We’re trying to put ourselves in the best position possible in the postseason. The only thing I would say to that is that we’re going to focus on the Atlanta Falcons. This is a place where we struggled a year ago and didn’t play well. I think this is a very good team we’re playing,” Payton says. “Our focus is going to be on winning this game and doing everything we can to play well in this game. Past that, I’m really not looking ahead. We have a number of things we have to do better. There were a lot of mistakes we made yesterday; too many penalties, we made some mistakes and key errors on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game, that are going to cost us. We’ll sit here after one these losses and talk about why we did this and that. Our job right now is to hopefully eliminate those mistakes.”
FUJITA UPDATE
LB Scott Fujita stayed back in New Orleans Sunday in a area hospital recovering from surgery to heal a staph infection. “It was Friday and he was still having some soreness. He had practiced all week and they decided to drain the knee and when they went through that process is when they discovered the infection. He was in the hospital and they went ahead – it was a bursar area that they cleaned out and put him on antibiotics,” says Payton. “Friday night I got a call from Scottie (Patton) that Scott was admitted to the hospital and he had an infection in his knee. I talked with him Saturday morning and I know Joe Vitt went over and had a chance to see him. It wasn’t until Friday night and with the plane leaving the next day, we were going to be minus one of our linebackers. The other guys had to step in and play. That’s really the timeframe in which it happened. He’s still in the hospital and we think he’ll be out here sometime soon and we’re still treating with antibiotics. We’ll talk about his status more as the week goes on. Fortunately we were able to catch it and get him the medicine necessary.
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