The Final Minute Against Atlanta (2 Viewers)

[DSnfla]

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.

I disagree, the kickoff was inconsequential. Had we kicked it inbounds yes it was possible we could have stopped them inside the 20. It's also possible they could have gotten off a better run back and had better field position than the 30. Let's say they ran it out to the 25 or so and 10 more sec run off the clock and everything still transpired exactly the same way Koo's FG would have been good from 65, same outcome. After the DPI all the following plays were just to run clock and if a sideline throw was wide open pick up a few more yrds. Game was over after the DPI because Koo does not miss against us or hardly ever in general.
As far as defensive strategy, having to defend against a FG to win M2M with 2 high was right. What the issue was just like last week STUPID PLAYER ERROR. Last week we had not 2 but THREE players run into each other. This week we had a player that had 2 DPI's called on him in this game panic and grab the WR early. None of those are defensive strategy issues

 

[Broad St. Saint]

the only real hope was that Turner or someone would get a finger on the low-trajectory kick as happened two years ago when Koo, while trailing, lined up for a 62 yard game winner in Atlanta.

Koo is too good otherwise.

New Orleans Saints defensive end Payton Turner came up with key rejection to help preserve victory over Atlanta

 

[nolaswede]

Great post, unfortunately. I don’t know DAs exact record when we cant allow the opponents to score in the last 2 minutes, but I can’t imagine another coach having a worse record.

 

[NWSaint]

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.

GREAT breakdown.. I love analysis like this.. that's exactly how it went down.. good work!


NW.

 

[Will Survive]

That Taysom stat about 9.5 quarters & 1 punt is rather mind boggling

 

[raumin]

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.

Everyone saw it was a PI. Flags came from two officials. You're way off on that. There wasn't even any controversy after the call from the Saint's sideline. The reason why the ball bounced off Mooney's chest is because Adebo pulled him off balance before the ball arrived. The ball was deliberately underthrown so Mooney could stop, catch, then turn out of bounds, but Adebo had too much momentum, and while running past Mooney he grabbed him from behind and spun him before the ball arrived. That's why it bounced off Mooney's chest. Adebo actually did the right thing because if he didn't cause the PI and kept running past Mooney, Mooney would have made the catch and could have ran 5 more yards at a minimum. Remember, Mooney had 2 steps ahead of Adebo in the rout, and Adebo had outside leverage which screwed him. If Adebo had inside leverage it would be harder to call the PI, because Adebo would be between the ball and Mooney. This is how man coverage can bite you, because once you let the WR get ahead of the rout all the CB can do is react if they have no leverage. If you played prevent, or zone Adebo could see where he needs to be once the ball gets in the air. You still give up the catch but you don't stop the clock OR let the WR get YAC. If you still want to play man in this situation you can't let the WR get ahead because the QB is going release it every time and Adebo has to get inside to break it up. So, this was a PI call all the way. Only KC doesn't get that call.

 

[DaveXA]

Everyone saw it was a PI. Flags came from two officials. You're way off on that. There wasn't even any controversy after the call from the Saint's sideline. The reason why the ball bounced off Mooney's chest is because Adebo pulled him off balance before the ball arrived. The ball was deliberately underthrown so Mooney could stop, catch, then turn out of bounds, but Adebo had too much momentum, and while running past Mooney he grabbed him from behind and spun him before the ball arrived. That's why it bounced off Mooney's chest. Adebo actually did the right thing because if he didn't cause the PI and kept running past Mooney, Mooney would have made the catch and could have ran 5 more yards at a minimum. Remember, Mooney had 2 steps ahead of Adebo in the rout, and Adebo had outside leverage which screwed him. If Adebo had inside leverage it would be harder to call the PI, because Adebo would be between the ball and Mooney. This is how man coverage can bite you, because once you let the WR get ahead of the rout all the CB can do is react if they have no leverage. If you played prevent, or zone Adebo could see where he needs to be once the ball gets in the air. You still give up the catch but you don't stop the clock OR let the WR get YAC. If you still want to play man in this situation you can't let the WR get ahead because the QB is going release it every time and Adebo has to get inside to break it up. So, this was a PI call all the way. Only KC doesn't get that call.

Eh, I see that not called just about every week. They'll call that PI every now and then, but more like 50/50. I mean, the no call was far, far more obvious and that wasn't called. So, it's pretty subjective in terms of the officiating.

 

[syracuse saint]

Everyone saw it was a PI. Flags came from two officials. You're way off on that. There wasn't even any controversy after the call from the Saint's sideline. The reason why the ball bounced off Mooney's chest is because Adebo pulled him off balance before the ball arrived. The ball was deliberately underthrown so Mooney could stop, catch, then turn out of bounds, but Adebo had too much momentum, and while running past Mooney he grabbed him from behind and spun him before the ball arrived. That's why it bounced off Mooney's chest. Adebo actually did the right thing because if he didn't cause the PI and kept running past Mooney, Mooney would have made the catch and could have ran 5 more yards at a minimum. Remember, Mooney had 2 steps ahead of Adebo in the rout, and Adebo had outside leverage which screwed him. If Adebo had inside leverage it would be harder to call the PI, because Adebo would be between the ball and Mooney. This is how man coverage can bite you, because once you let the WR get ahead of the rout all the CB can do is react if they have no leverage. If you played prevent, or zone Adebo could see where he needs to be once the ball gets in the air. You still give up the catch but you don't stop the clock OR let the WR get YAC. If you still want to play man in this situation you can't let the WR get ahead because the QB is going release it every time and Adebo has to get inside to break it up. So, this was a PI call all the way. Only KC doesn't get that call.

What do you think of my take? I believe that the correct call on that play should have been defensive holding when the WR was 15 yards into his route and Adebo grabbed him. 5 yard penalty and automatic first down.

 

[VPCajun]

...the Clowns pulled off a miracle leaving the [Saints] to wonder why and how....

Seems to be a very bad habit the Saints have!

 

[VPCajun]

The lateral was dumb. Could be Saints at the 30 and throw a long ball (not Hail Mary type).

Get a 30 yard penalty of our own and it’s our turn at a 57 yarder.

Yeah, but... the SAINTS receivers have no clue on how TO DRAW a penalty, much less SELL the PI!

smh

 

[VPCajun]

I know. Two franchises that no how to lose in epic fashion.

Other team does something epically stupid.

Saints: Hold our beer...

 

[raumin]

What do you think of my take? I believe that the correct call on that play should have been defensive holding when the WR was 15 yards into his route and Adebo grabbed him. 5 yard penalty and automatic first down.

Defensive holding is anything to slow the route down pre catch (Jersey pulling, hip hugging) and it has to be well before the ball is close to being cached. This is why you always see it when the ball hits the ground and there isn't a WR in the frame. With routs there are three phases. Within 5 yards, the route, the catch. This penalty happened post rout when the ball was already in flight and the WR was extending his arm for the catch (The ball was within the catch radius). At this 3rd phase of the play any contact that isn't a true play on the ball (DB's head turned and trying to INT) is going to get PI called. Like I said, the ONLY thing that would have negated the PI was if the corner had better inside leverage and used his contact trying to make an interception. The refs can say at that point the DB is trying for the ball not disrupting the catch. If you can't go for the INT (like in this case) let the ball go into the WRs hands and THEN break up the catch. Refs will also consider that legal. But, what you can't do is target the WR from behind from making the catch. The picture I showed earlier clearly shows Mooney was prohibited prior to the ball arriving.

 

[raumin]

Eh, I see that not called just about every week. They'll call that PI every now and then, but more like 50/50. I mean, the no call was far, far more obvious and that wasn't called. So, it's pretty subjective in terms of the officiating.

I disagree, the only thing the refs could have done was pulled the "let the players play", but Adebo made a panic move because he was trailing from behind and the whole stadium saw it. If Adebo was bumping stride for stride the refs could have made it subjective, but he was caught flat footed. Even Adebo didn't contest. It was what it was.

 

[BBarnes]

Man watching that, I don't know how Adebo did not intercept the ball he dove for. It would have been a great play but a play an NFL defender should make.

Also, on the ball he got the PI call on during that drive. Atlanta was throwing that pass with the hopes that he would get grabby like he normally does. That was even more evident watching it a second time.

 

[ilvdsnts]

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.

I also question, why score on 3rd down, why not push the pile one more time and run another 40 seconds off before sending AK in for the score on 4th down. Yeah, you take a chance that you may not score on 4th down. But whats more likely, you don't score on 4th down from the 1 inch line or your D that sucks in final drives gives up a FG anyway?