With no Drew Brees, the Saints stumbled in the regular season finale, falling to the Carolina Panthers 33-14. The loss doesn’t hurt the Black and Gold as they already have the number one seed in the NFC. But Coach Sean Payton didn’t like what he saw on Sunday.
“We can spin it anyway we want to, we didn’t play well,” said Payton. “So we can put our own little stamp on this and say well…listen it starts with me and we’ll get the corrections made. Credit Carolina they came ready to play.”
Carolina led 23-0 at halftime. First time in the Payton era, the Saints were shutout in the first half at home.
Undrafted rookie quarterback Kyle Allen threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns, before leaving in the fourth quarter with an injury. Payton was disappointed with his defense.
“We didn’t get any pressure on the quarterback, we didn’t tackle well, holding the receivers, pick something, run fits were not good, so disappointing,” said Payton.
One bright spot, in the fourth quarter wide receiver Michael Thomas caught a six-yard pass to break Joe Horn’s single-season franchise record for receiving yards. He finished with 1,405 yards for the season.
The franchise can now focus on hosting a playoff game on January 13th against either Philadelphia, Seattle or Dallas. New Orleans will play who ever is the lowest seed remaining after the wild card round.
