The New Orleans Saints are still stuck with just a win after four games in the 2022 NFL regular season. They nearly had their second win of the season Sunday in London, but kicker Wil Lutz just failed to muster enough accuracy to prevent the Saints from experiencing the agony that the dreaded double-doink brings, as they lost to the Minnesota Vikings, 28-25.
Lutz had a chance of sending the game to overtime when he lined up for a 61-yard field gal try. The Saints had all the confidence in him since he had already earlier drilled a 60-yarder to tie the game. But Lutz couldn't do it two times in a row to save the Saints.
It would not have likely come down to that long field goal attempt by Lutz if only the Vikings played well enough defensively to prevent the Vikings from taking the lead back with a Minnesota kicker Greg Joseph kick from 48 yards out as a response to Lutz's earlier field goal.
After the game, Lutz painted a picture of what he was thinking when the ball left his foot.
Via John DeShazier of NewOrleansSaints.com:
“Honestly, they were the same two kicks,” Lutz said. “Unfortunately, the second one had one more yard to move than the first one. I thought they were both in. I hit them both on the screws, played them right-third, knowing the ball was going to move a little left. The second one just moved a little more left. Kind of shocked it didn't bounce in. It's frustrating.”
For a moment after Lutz kicked the ball, many felt that the ball was also going through the uprights and help the Saints stay in the game, including Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell.
Via Ken Maguire of the Associated Press:
“When it left his foot I thought it was going in,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It felt like that thing had a real good chance to go through and obviously a couple of bounces later we’re able to walk off as the winning team.”
It's back to the drawing board — again — for the Saints, who have now lost three games in a row after winning their season opener against the Atlanta Falcons on the road. Up next for the Saints is a matchup at home against the Seattle Seahawks
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