Well that’s disappointing. The New Orleans Saints took care of their business against the Atlanta Falcons, beating their little-brother rivals by a couple of scores (a 30-20 victory, to be clear), but they didn’t get any help from the drama queens out west.
It wasn’t enough to crush the Falcons. The Saints needed a Los Angeles Rams win over the San Francisco 49ers to qualify for the playoffs. And L.A. responded by blowing a 17-point lead and allowing the 49ers to take them to overtime. Matthew Stafford sealed it with an interception in their 27-24 loss.
You know, it was kind of on-brand for the Saints this year. They did enough to win and still lost due to factors outside their control — injuries, COVID-19 outbreaks, and another team’s shortcomings in tiebreaking procedures.
We don’t know for sure yet where the Saints will pick in the 2022 NFL draft (it could be as high as 16th, depending on which teams qualify for the AFC bracket). But that’s obviously not as pressing a concern. The fact that the Saints were able to end their season with a winning record and a comfortable victory over their oldest rival is impressive in its own right. Let’s see where they go next.
