Saints can’t close deal in loss to Bucs

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NEW ORLEANS (MCT) — Sedrick Ellis sat in the New Orleans Saints’ reflective locker room, thinking about what just went down in the Louisiana Superdome.

In a word, the Saints.

The Saints couldn’t stop Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and Tampa Bay when it counted, and as a result, they went down for the count on Sunday afternoon.

Buccaneers 20, Saints 17.

In overtime.

And Ellis, the Saints 6-foot-1, 307-pound defensive tackle, was keeping it real. Even if reality was a fleeting concept in this disaster.

“The most important thing to remember is we’re 13-2 and the world is not over,” Ellis said. “Tampa Bay’s been running the ball all year. You can ask all the questions that you want, and the bottom line is we didn’t get it done today.

“In a nutshell, we’ve got to get it together.”

The Saints, who could have wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a victory, seemed to have it together, at least for a half. The Superdome crowd of 70,021 came to life in the first quarter, when the Saints were building a 14-0 lead and threatening to render Sunday’s regular-season finale as a meaningless affair.

But the Bucs showed a definite resolve in the second half, and the Saints managed just 170 yards total offense after halftime.

“Listen, I’ve said this before. In our league, it’s crisis or carnival,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “The stuff in the middle doesn’t sell. Our players understand that. Now, you hit some adversity. We’ve got to get ready to play a team that’s playing well in Carolina.”

True dat, as they say in the French Quarter.

The Panthers beat the holiday stuffing out of the New York Giants in their final game at Giants Stadium, crushing Eli Manning and Co. to the tune of 41-9. That means the Saints will be paying attention to Monday night’s game between Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings (12-3) against the listless Chicago Bears (5-9) at Soldier Field. Then they’ll turn their attention to the Panthers.

“The Vikings, whether they win or not, we’ve got to take care of ourselves,” Saints wide receiver Robert Meachem said.

Therein lies the rub.

The Saints haven’t played that well since crushing Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, 38-7, on Nov. 30, when they went on “Monday Night Football” and served notice they were serious about making the first Super Bowl appearance in the 43-year history of the franchise in the Superdome.

Since then, the Saints have squeaked past the dreadful Washington Redskins, winning, 33-30, in overtime, before holding off an Atlanta squad without Matt Ryan in the Georgia Dome. The Saints won that nailbiter, 26-23. Then, last week, the Dallas Cowboys brought plenty of heat on Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and the Saints fell behind by three touchdowns before Dallas survived with a 24-17 victory.

This time, the Bucs came to life with Williams’ 23-yard touchdown run in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, and they put the Saints on their heels when former Ole Miss quarterback Michael Spurlock scored on a 77-yard punt return with 2:25 left in regulation.

The Saints had a chance to win it down the stretch, as Brees took them 55 yards in eight plays before second-year placekicker Garrett Hartley shanked a shot at a game-winning field goal from 37 yards out.

“I knew I missed it the minute I hit it . . . my head just yanked up,” Hartley said. “Looking up, I knew it was going left.”

The Bucs exulted as the game was sent into overtime and won the coin flip to get the ball. They drove their Cadillac on nine of the next 10 plays, using Williams’ strong legs to get into Connor Barth’s range, before the Bucs’ second-year kicker from North Carolina drilled a 47-yard field goal to win it.

“It wasn’t a learning process for me today,” Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. “It may have been for you guys. This team is starting to get there. They like winning.”
The opposite certainly held true in the Saints’ locker room.