Artifactual said

Saints score to take the lead 24-23. Exactly 1 minute remains in the game. Atlanta has no timeouts left. New Orleans has 1.

Saints choose to kickoff deep into the endzone. This was a head scratcher. Grupe has been one of the best at placing the ball landing between the 2 yard line and the goal line forcing the returner to bring the ball out. The Saints kickoff team has held their opponents to an average return starting on their own 26 yard line. By kicking deep the Saints avoided a possible long return. On the other hand, had they forced a return, about 10 seconds would have ran off the clock. It's also possible that the Saints would have stopped the returner short of the 20, instead of getting the ball at the 30 due to the touchback. And then there's the possibility of a penalty that could have backed ATL up between the 10 and 15 yard line. I fully expected the Saints to instruct Grupe to kick a line drive kickoff that would hit inside the 10 yard line then dribble into the endzone, either forcing Atlanta to attempt a return or begin their drive on the 20.

Atlanta 1st down at the 30. 60 seconds remain. Cousins receives snap from shotgun, drops back and completes a short WR screen to the right side of the field. McCloud scoots up field for 5 yards. Tackle by Granderson. Clock running.

Atlanta 2nd down and 5 at their own 35 yard line. Clock running. At the snap there's 41 seconds remaining. Cousins in shotgun. False start. Play blown dead. League rules state when under 2 minutes with running clock an offensive penalty halting play requires a 10 second clock runoff. Atlanta backed up to their own 30 yard line. Replay down.

Atlanta 2nd down and 10 at their own 30 yard line. 31 seconds remaining. Clock starts on referee's command. Cousins in shotgun. Receives snap and drops back. Granderson applies pressure and gets within inches of Cousins before he gets the pass off, targeting Mooney down the right sideline. Adebo in man to man coverage gets called for pass interference on a bang bang play (Colic CowTurds take this morning). Results in a 30 yard penalty with the ball placed at the Saints 40 yard line. Clock stopped.

Atlanta 1st and 10, ball on the Saints 40 yard line with 23 seconds remaining. Cousins drops back and targets Drake London who is running towards the right sideline, bracketed by 2 Saints defenders, Will Harris and J.T. Gray. Pass thrown wide to the right and was uncatchable. Incomplete pass.

Atlanta 2nd and 10, ball on the Saints 40 yard line with 18 seconds remaining. Cousins from the shotgun takes snap and drops back. Granderson again a half step away. Cousins throws deep down right-side targeting Mooney. Adebo in coverage trailing but slightly beat. Ball overthrown. Mooney has no chance at it. Safety help over the top by Jordan Howden. Howden takes a hesitating false step. Recovers enough to get within inches of an interception. Ball just off his fingertips. Incomplete pass.

Atlanta 3rd and 10, ball on the Saints 40 yard line with 13 seconds remaining. Cousins takes snap from the shotgun and drops back. Plenty of time with no pressure. Targets Mooney on the right side of the field running towards the sideline near the 20 yard line. Adebo in tight coverage breaks up the pass near the sideline. Jordan Howden with help in coverage over the top. Incomplete pass.

Atlanta 4th and 10, ball on the Saints 40 yard line with 7 seconds remaining. Younghoe Koo enters the game for Atlanta to attempt a 58 yard field goal. His career long make to this point was 54 yards, having hit from that mark 7 times before. Koo to this point had been perfect on the season and on this day he had already made FGs from 42, 44, and 53 yards out. The longest successful FG in MBS to this point was 57 yards. Koo nails it with room to spare.

2 seconds remain in game. Desperation time. Saints again make a head scratching decision on the kickoff. The ball came down right at the goal line. The Saints planned on trying the ole lateral it a half dozen times to score a touchdown. A play that has the lowest of odds for success. Of course it failed. Had they taken the ball at the 30 yard line they would have had a chance to throw the ball deep, hoping to draw a pass interference call or a miracle to the house catch and run by either Shaheed or Olave, either one possessing the speed to do so. They could have taken the same play out of the Atlanta playbook, you know, the one that worked less than a minute earlier. But NO.


My observations of the last 60 seconds of play:

Special Teams:

IMO, the Saints goofed on the kickoff and the kickoff return. They could have force ATL to run some clock and possibly held them short of the 30 yard line. A mere few yards could have made the FG attempt beyond a distance the ATL coaching staff would have tried.

The Saints trying the old college lateral play that takes several miracles to work, instead of taking the ball at the 30 and needing only one miracle to work.

Both decisions were the wrong ones, IMO


Officiating:

The Saints were in man-to-man coverage with Safeties over the top on the last drive. A recipe for disaster. For the 1st 30 yards Adebo was on an island all alone going down the sidelines with Mooney. Though Vilma exclaimed there was no doubt it was pass interference; I differ. The first camera angle from behind the players it's had to tell if Adebo was early with contact. What you see is his hand come across the side of Mooneys head. From the other angle, which is clearer, it shows Mooney having the ball bounce off his chest about the same time Adebo makes the contact to his head. Questionable call that gave Atlanta a chance to win the game. It's cray to think that all it takes is one questionable pass interference penalty to catapult a team from one end of the field to being in range to win the game with a FG.


Defensive Strategy:

The Saints (D.A.) chose to play a hybrid zone, man to man coverage with help over the top. No blitzing. After losing the week before to the Eagles on a 3rd and 16 play where the Saints were in man to man and had 3 players crash into each other, you would think D.A. might consider a different end of the game strategy. Instead, he took the "Keep On Doing What You're Doing" approach. He struck out 2 weeks in a row. Worse, he defended that position Monday by saying why go away from what worked for 58 minutes. We're going to play the way we play that works. Had D.A. sent a least one blitzer in either game on those critical plays and played soft zone coverage the Saints may have gotten pressure to force an errant throw, a throwaway pass, and interception, or a sack, any of which would have changed the trajectory of the game. Instead, the Saints put themselves in a position to allow a single play to change the course of the game.

Someone in the media should have asked D.A. these two follow up questions: Don't you think you should consider going away from what hasn't worked in the last 2 minutes? How many times must you lose by not trying something different before you do so?


Atlanta Offense:

Atlanta had 8 offensive snaps in the final minute. One resulted in a 5 yard penalty against them. Another resulted in a 30 yard penalty in their favor. One resulted in a 5 yard gain by reception. 4 plays resulted in incomplete passes. The remaining play resulted in a successful 58 yard FG attempt, a game winner that left a mere 2 seconds on the clock. Efficiency or luck? Cousins was 1 out of 5 for 5 yards in the stat book on the last drive. The offense gained just 5 total yards on the last drive, with a net being zero gained. And somehow, with just one 30 yard pass interference penalty and a career long 58 yard FG by Koo, the Clowns pulled off a miracle leaving the Aints to wonder why and how.


The YouTube Video below begins with the Kamara touchdown and continues with the remaining minute of play. Keep in mind, the Saints held Atlanta to 5 yards of Offense on their last possession but still found a way to lose.

Click to expand...