Saints Lose to Lions: The Good, Bad, and UNFORGIVABLE
By Bob Rose
Dec 4, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints tight end Coby Fleener (82) drops a touchdown pass as Detroit Lions free safety Glover Quin (27) defends during the second quarter of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
The New Orleans Saints chose the worst possible time to play what was by far their worst performance of the 2016 regular season, by essentially “sleepwalking” their way through a 28-13 loss to the Detroit Lions.
It was a baffling performance from a team that, if nothing else, had shown heart and fight during every circumstance up to this point of the season.
Even Coach Sean Payton admitted in his post-game press conference that his team looked “sluggish”, and behaved as if they were playing the game on a short week of rest.
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New Orleans chose to wear “throwback” style uniforms in yesterday’s game to commemorate their 50th anniversary.
That actually was very fitting perhaps, because for any Saints fan older than the age of 40, this game resembled one that fans would often see from some really bad and talent-less Saints squads throughout most of the 1970’s or for the entire 2nd half of the 1990’s (The Mike Ditka Era).
That wasn’t Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson, and Tony Dorsett that suddenly appeared in Detroit uniforms, but rather it was Matthew Stafford, Golden Tate, and Zach Zenner.
Wait — who in the hell is Zach Zenner???
That wasn’t the “Steel Curtain” or the “Purple People Eaters” defenses of the 1970’s, or even the 1985 Chicago Bears (considered the best defense EVER in NFL history) obliterating the Saints passing game — but it was a Lions squad missing its two best linebackers, and with it’s top pass rusher (Ziggy Ansah) hobbled by injury.
Anyway, you get the point if you’re older than age 30, give or take.
So without any further adieu, let’s take a look at some the good (good?!?), the bad, and the absolutely UNFORGIVABLE things that happened in this game yesterday.
And we start with the only thing that could be considered “good” from all of this…..