The Saints got their third straight win with a 20-10 victory over the NFL-leading Eagles behind a dominant defensive performance. The hot streak comes too little too late for a New Orleans team that has struggled with mistakes and inconsistency all season. A Tampa Bay win over Carolina secured an NFC South Title for the Buccaneers and the Saints have been eliminated from playoff contention. Head Coach Dennis Allen said it’s easy to look back at moments that could have gone differently.
”There’s nothing that can be done about that now, so how do we learn that lesson so that as we progress and go in the future that we don’t put ourselves in those situations again? A lot of times you can learn a lot from your failures as much as you can from your successes.”
Despite the sour outcome of the day, the Black and Gold have much to celebrate. With a three-sack day, Defensive End Cameron Jordan set a new franchise record for career sacks with the Saints. His 115.5 sacks put him half a sack ahead of Saints legend and Prof Football Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson. Allen, who has coached Jordan for seven of his twelve seasons with the Saints, said it was a proud moment.
“We as coaches take great pride in the success of our players. I’ve been fortunate enough to be around Cam for a number of years now. Especially guys that really embody what you want in a player, we talk about being tough, we talk about being smart, we talk about being competitive. He’s got all of those characteristics.”
The Saints will prepare to host Carolina in their final matchup of the season. Although both teams are eliminated from the playoffs, Allen insisted that no game is meaningless. New Orleans will look to end their season on a positive note, and Allen said he expects every player who is healthy to play will.
“I think guys that are healthy enough to play, my anticipation is that they’ll play in this game. Certainly, we don’t want to put anybody in any sort of jeopardy if they’re not capable of performing their job at the appropriate level, but we get paid to show up on Sundays. That’s what we do.”
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