Déjà Vu? Saints Come Up Short and Face Familiar Spot

The Saints are back into a familiar spot and now have to prove they can overcome adversity in the early season.

Sep 22, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu (32) tackles Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert (88) during the first half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

NEW ORLEANS -- Talk about Déjà vu. The 2-0 Saints marched in to their Week 3 meeting with high hopes, similar to last year, and were unable to close out an opponent. That loss to the Packers proved to be costly at the end of it all, and hopefully that's not the case after losing a heartbreaker to the Eagles on Sunday.

It wasn't a pretty outing for the Saints. They had some good moments, got some big stops and turnovers, but losing Erik McCoy early proved to be an omen of sorts. There were plenty of pressure issues, and they couldn't get a single yard to help close out the game. Even through all of the tough stuff, New Orleans was in a position to win the game after getting the go-ahead score late. However, the defense gave up a big 3rd-and-16 to Dallas Goedert after some major miscommunication that led to Philly getting back in front late. The explosive plays hurt all day, and the 460 yards of offense by the Eagles was evidence of it.

There's plenty of blame to go around for the loss, and is any of it relevant? Probably not. I don't think it's fair to just say that the offense didn't have it or that the defense couldn't do what they needed to. The bottom line is that New Orleans put themselves in a spot late to win the game after all of it was said and done and they couldn't get it closed out. If they had won the game, then it'd be a different conversation. No one cares how you win if it's a win, and now the Saints need to show they're really different this time around.

“Adversity is like a builder of life," Tyrann Mathieu said following the game. "You cannot go through life and expect great things without hiccups, without setbacks, without adversity. So, it sucks. We pour our heart into the game. We sacrifice a lot to get to Sunday, and we want to be able to win, not just for us but for everybody. It doesn't always go your way, but the positive is that there's a lot of great times and great people who wouldn't be great without hard times."

Mathieu said that the team can't sulk from the outcome for too long. He added that that players and coaches will learn from it and that it's still early, but the confidence is still there. New Orleans knows what's ahead of them in Week 4, and that's a division game against the Falcons.

"We know we're still a good football team," Derek Carr said following the loss. He said that adversity was going to happen at some point, and that this is a great opportunity for everyone to come into the building tomorrow and see if everyone brings the same energy that they have been bringing, but bring it some more corrections.

Carr said that it’s a race to see who can improve the most toward the end and there's no discouragement right now, but being pissed because they lost. He said that the belief is so strong in the room. We've seen it, but actions always speak louder than words.

At the end of the day, we're here again with the 2-1 Saints and wonder what Week 4 will bring us when they play the Falcons. The film will hurt, but it'll be a necessary lesson to learn from and hopefully overcome. Let's just hope it doesn't come back to bite them in January.