Saints end 13-Three however miss out on first-round bye

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
It seems 13 wins weren’t sufficient to earn the New Orleans Saints a first-round bye within the NFC playoffs.

The runaway winners of the NFC South must win an additional recreation in the event that they hope to achieve the Tremendous Bowl. They’re going to be the No. Three seed within the playoffs and host the Vikings subsequent weekend within the wild-card spherical whereas the Inexperienced Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers get per week to relaxation.

The Saints had been hoping they could get a first-round bye — or presumably even home-field benefit all through the playoffs — after throttling the reeling Carolina Panthers 42-10 on Sunday. As a substitute, Saints proprietor Gayle Benson watched the Packers rally to beat the Lions on a set of TVs within the press field at Financial institution of America Stadium. Then, after the Saints returned dwelling to Louisiana, they watched the 49ers outlast the Seahawks with a last-second goal-line stand. The Packers, 49ers and Saints all completed 13-3, however the Saints misplaced out on tiebreakers.

Saints coach Sean Payton stated earlier Sunday he was glad along with his staff’s aggressive method in opposition to Carolina despite the fact that he did not know the way the playoff seedings would shake out.

“It is onerous to play this recreation should you’re not emotionally and bodily prepared,” stated Payton, who performed his starters till late within the third quarter. “There are occasions when seeding has been established, and we have sat gamers. That is a special image. From the minute we obtained right here, we dealt with it proper. Our pregame was on level.”

Drew Brees threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns, Alvin Kamara ran for 2 scores and A.J. Klein returned an interception for a landing because the Saints handed the Panthers their eighth straight loss.

“You at all times need to be ready the place you management your individual future,” Brees stated. However he later added, “If not, we’re getting ready for wherever we will play.”

Brees stated an important factor is that the Saints are clicking as they enter the postseason.

“Whenever you take a look at the stretch of the previous 5 or 6 weeks, the emphasis is how will we get higher? How will we enhance? How will we get ourselves in the perfect kind going into the playoffs?” Brees stated.

The one factor that went proper for the Panthers (5-11) was Christian McCaffrey becoming a member of Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk because the third participant in NFL historical past to document 1,000 yards speeding and 1,000 yards receiving in the identical season. McCaffrey wanted 67 yards receiving coming in and obtained there with a 17-yard reception late within the third quarter, incomes some bear hugs from teammates on the sideline and a standing ovation from the scattered followers remaining within the seats.

“Yearly I write down little targets and it’s cool if you accomplish one in every of them,” McCaffrey stated. “However as soon as once more, and I can not reiterate this sufficient, that an important statistic is successful.”

McCaffrey completed the season with 2,392 yards from scrimmage, third most in NFL historical past. He left the sport late within the third quarter following his 19th landing of the season.

Any suspense concerning the consequence of the sport ended a lot earlier.

The Saints took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards on eight performs to take a 7-Zero lead on Kamara’s 15-yard landing run. Kamara added a second TD run later within the quarter, and Klein made it a three-touchdown lead when he picked off rookie quarterback Will Grier and returned it 14 yards for a TD early within the second quarter.

Brees added TD passes of 1 yard to Tre’Quan Smith and 21 yards to Jared Cook dinner to make it 35-Zero within the second quarter, prompting Panthers interim coach Perry Fewell to take away perennial Professional Bowl linebacker Luke Kuechly from the sport to stop harm.

“There are 4 quarters in a season and we didn’t end the final eight video games very robust, which is disappointing for the gamers, for the coaches, for the followers, for the group,” stated Fewell, who went 0-Four as Carolina’s interim coach.

GRIER INJURED

Grier left the sport within the second quarter with a foot harm, ending his second NFL begin with a 0.Zero quarterback ranking on 1 of eight passing for Four yards. He was changed by Kyle Allen. The Panthers offered no replace on the extent of the harm after the sport.

OLSEN’S FINAL GAME?

This might need been the ultimate recreation for Panthers tight finish Greg Olsen, who has one 12 months left on his contract however may very well be a casualty of a rebuilding effort.

FIXING DEFENSE

One space the Panthers might want to handle within the offseason is their run protection.

Carolina surrendered 31 touchdowns speeding this season, which tied for essentially the most for the reason that NFL-AFL merger. Carolina got here into the sport ranked 31st within the league in speeding protection, partially due to accidents to defensive tackles Kawann Quick and Dontari Poe.

“It is about shedding blocks, getting off blocks, whipping the man in entrance of you and tackling,” Fewell stated. “And we did not do this very properly.”

IN MEMORIAM

The Panthers held a second of silence earlier than the sport to honor the reminiscence of Carly McCord, who died in a aircraft crash on Saturday in Lafayette, Louisiana. McCord had served as an in-game reporter for the Saints.

She was on a small aircraft en path to Atlanta for the School Soccer Playoff recreation between LSU and Oklahoma. Her father-in-law is Steve Ensminger, LSU’s offensive coordinator.

INJURIES

Saints: Performed with out three starters within the secondary — cornerback Eli Apple (ankle) and safeties Vonn Bell (knee) and Marcus Williams (groin).

Panthers: Performed with out 1,000-yard receiver D.J. Moore (concussion) and linebacker Shaq Thompson (shoulder/foot).

UP NEXT

Panthers: Will decide on their subsequent head coach within the coming weeks. Ron Rivera was fired with 4 video games left within the season. Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy and Baylor coach Matt Rhule are candidates together with Fewell, however the Panthers are anticipated to interview a number of assistant coaches nonetheless within the playoff hunt.

Saints: Will host Minnesota subsequent weekend.

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