Saints Report #16 - January 3, 2021

I’ll take Ty.
I’ll take Tommy.
I’ll take Austin,
I’ll take Clay,
I’ll take Grant,
I’ll take Aaron,
I’ll take Chase,
And I’ll take TommyLee again, I’ll take Lil Jordan again, I’ll take Tony, I’ll take Garrett, I’ll take Juwon

And thus Sean Payton put together his team for the week, much the way you would pick sides on the sandlot, except this time it wasn’t Drew Brees drawing up plays in the dirt.  It was Payton plugging in parts that he has had hanging around for a couple of years, such that they know their roles and they don’t miss a beat, and they run the same offense they’ve been running for years.  They trotted out this iteration, we’ll call it the Saints 2020.16 and dominated the Panthers 33-7.  This clinched the 2^nd NFC seed for the Saints as well as the first ever sweep of the NFC South.  The Saints finish the season 12-4 after 2 straight 13-3 seasons.  I had predicted a 11-5 regular season, so they exceeded my expectations.  The one stinker-of-the-year game, the Eagles loss, proved costly to the Saints in terms of playoff seedings. 

Let’s take a hat off to this team depth, especially on a defense that picked off 5 interceptions on this day.  Even if the offense sputtered at times, the Panthers’ few scoring threats ended in end zone interceptions. 

Let’s take a closer look at the offensive depth:  The Saints #1 receiver Michael Thomas, and #3’Quan Smith were sidelined.  The Saints went with #2 Emmanuel Sanders, and #4 rookie Marquez Callaway, while guys that bounce on and off the practice squad named TommyLee Lewis, Lil Jordan Humphrey, Juwan Johnson, and Austin Carr all ran up and down the field for the Saints, with Carr even catching a TD pass. 

Here’s all you need to know about the Panthers.  They finally got their man Tommy Stevens into the game.  He’s the guy the Saints drafted as a Tight End in the 7^th round, hoping to find another Taysom Hill.  They had to release him, and the Panthers, whom he was originally going to sign with, finally had their man.  Except, so what?  Did they make a pass at any of those guys just mentioned above on the Saints practice squad?  No!  Probably could have had any of them.  Happy New Year, Panthers. 

So, the Saints easily won this game with no-name receivers, and oh yea, all the running backs sidelined due to covid.  They played without 5 of their top 7 backs by rushing yards, and same with receivers.  Amazing.  All Ty Montgomery did was rush for over 100 yards, when the Saints only other running back, rookie Tony Jones Jr, called up from practice squad for the game, got hurt early.  Can you imagine any other team calling up half their practice squad for one game, and cruising through it, no beat missed?

This is easily the deepest and most versatile team the Saints have ever had.  Ever. They can beat you several different ways.

Now the playoffs start, and we know this:
All the above accolades mean nothing.
Nothing.
The records mean nothing.
Nothing.
The Saints for the last few years have been terrific in October/November.  Now it is time to prove themselves in December/January.  The Chicago Bears will start things off with a rare trip to the Superdome.  The last three post-seasons have followed terrific seasons with fluke, heartbreaking losses. 

The Saints are good enough to win it all.  So are some other teams.  Here’s hoping we win 4 more games like it’s mid-November, or if we lose, just lose to a better team, not because of a zebra, or a hail mary, or a miracle.  Saints fans just want a post-season where we win or lose because we deserve it.  We all know the Brees window is closing, and we want to crawl through it, just one more time.   Once more.  This time, we got the beat.