The New Orleans Saints suffered a devastating overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game last Sunday, and by now, you know the deal.
Toward the end of regulation, the Saints had a third down in the red zone in a 20-20 game. On the ensuing play, Drew Brees lofted a pass to Tommylee Lewis, but Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman got to Lewis well before the ball did and drilled him.
No pass interference was called, and the Saints had to settle for a field goal. The Rams then came back down and scored a field goal of their own, sending the game into overtime. Los Angeles then won on a 57-yard boot by Greg Zuerlein.
Saints defensive end Cam Jordan said that head coach Sean Payton's message to the team after the game was to not let the blown call hold them back in the future:
“I mean, right after the game, (Payton’s message to the team) was just, ‘You realize how close you are and you can’t take that for granted. But at the same time, you can’t let it hold you back, it can’t be a hindrance. So you have to release this burden. You have to be able to find the will to make yourself better,’” Jordan told SiriusXM NFL Radio, via James Parks of 247 Sports.
This marks the second straight year the Saints have lost a playoff game in horrible fashion. Remember: last season, New Orleans lost a Divisional Round game to the Minnesota Vikings on a last-second catch-and-run touchdown by Stefon Diggs.
“It’s easy to to get in your feelings about it, it’s easy to take the easy route and say, ‘Hey, it takes a miracle beat the Saints,’” Jordan said. “You have a miracle catch (in last year’s NFC Divisional Round Game loss against the Minnesota Vikings), then you have a miracle no flag. But at the end of the day, you have to look inside, you have to look at what could we have done to not even put ourselves in that position.”
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