For those around then, how heartbreaking was the final game of the 1983 season? (1 Viewer)

[Buhbooh]

I am a pessimistic adult now because of that game.

 

[draftfreak]

In the last game of the 1983 season the Saints had a do or die game at home against the Rams.

For the first time in their 17 year existence the Saints were on the doorstep of making the playoffs for the first time ever.



With 2 seconds left in the game the Rams kicker made the game winning field goal. The kick itself barely snuck through the uprights by mere inches.

I wonder where this game ranks in regular season heartbreaks.

I was 8 years old. The snake was terrible. We threw the game away. I cried.

 

[SaintsFanInLA]

I was a boy and it was my first real introduction into the perennial disappointment being a Saints fan brings. Year in and year out constant soul-crushing disappointment. I have been SO conditioned to expect this from the Saints that even when rewatching the 2009 NFCCG, I KEEP expecting us to find a way to lose it. The Tracy Porter pick elates me and then I am right back to worrying about it on the PT 4th down attempt in OT that the refs ruled in our favor. And then the final elation as Garrett Hartley nails the game-winning FG in OT. Us winning the Super Bowl that season is still surreal to me.

Even with 10 seconds left in Minny in the playoffs, I KNEW we would find a way to mess it up and we did. and the 2018 NFCCG No call, while soul-crushing and maddening is STILL the way the Saints operate. It's hard not to take some of this stuff personally but man, this is the curse of loving the Saints. It comes with the territory. It's not just that we lose, it's the ways in which we find to lose that makes it more egregious.

I guess, that's why I am forever grateful for the 2009 season. It was like all of the built up Karma of years of getting the shaft, tipped in our direction for one season. I could rewatch those first 13 games and the subsequent playoff games and never NOT have joy in my heart for them.

 

[St.Dan]

I still remember it well. Was just eight years old at the time, but it’s fresh enough. Watched it at my paternal grandparents’ house in Marrero. Also remember it being rainy outside.

All the other posters of a certain age got it pretty much spot-on. The ‘83 Saints featured the young Dome Patrol when they were just starting out. It wasn’t four dominant linebackers just yet, as Rickey Jackson was joined by some mostly-forgotten solid vets like Dirt Winston and Whitney Paul. They were indeed the No. 2 overall rated defense in the league, behind only the eventual champion Raiders (yes, kids, the Raiders were once elite, ha). First time in Saints history up to that point the defense was that stellar.

The offense, on the other hand, was the real reason they went 8-8 and fell short of the playoffs. Not so much a total lack of scoring, but a QB who was a used-up version of his Raiders days and a backup in Dave Wilson who never got the proper coaching-up he would’ve gotten with another team. And the turnover ratio was terrible. Can’t remember the exact figure, but it was fairly deep into negative numbers.

The Saints’ official NFL Films doc lives on, on YouTube. (Click on “watch on YouTube to get past the silly NFL). The kids out there should view it as historical homework as Saints fans. The sound of the great John Facenda saying the names of our own local heroes like Rickey Jackson, Hokie Gajan and the recently-deceased Wayne Wilson make your head tingle. But be sure to have Kleenex ready for the end. It’ll have you weeping right along with the players shown doing the same.