Why Do The Saints Suffer So Much Playoff Heartbreak
Last year when Marcus Williams went low I made a note on how 3 of the biggest playoff moments of the past decade have come at the expense of the Saints. Well…make it 4 moments of extreme heartbreak. The Saints bargained with the devil to get a Super Bowl and have paid the iron price.
Most playoff losses are harsh and you could probably stick the Packers up here too in terms of playoff heartbreaks. But outside the Brandon Bostick flub, none of those games have really entered NFL Lore like these Saints games. Beastquake is a miracle, the best run in playoff history. The Catch 3 was a capstone to an already instant classic (Though I think Alex Smith’s run sticks with people more). The Minneapolis Miracle is the only thing Vikings fans have in playoff history to smile about. Now, against all odds, we have what I assume will be called “The No-Call Game” or something similar. The missed call has even overshadowed the goddamn 57 yard bomb of a kick that won it.
People are gonna argue about this one for a long time. Rams fans are happy to point out that they too suffered a lot of missed calls (they did, to be fair) but that won’t make the egregious miss here feel better or end up being the moment that keeps this game in popular consciousness.
I doubt Vikings fans or Falcons fans feel too bad about it though.
Plus they were the only one to have beaten the Buccaneers curse (losing a game to them and not winning the SB the same year) so there may have been a devil’s due involved it seems. No other team have been able to do it, I mean look at the last team that came close…
By “deal woth the devil” do you mean “hiring Greg Williams and retiring Kurt Warner and probably Favre too”?
To be fair Bobby McCray and Anthony Hargrove retired them, and they were dirty… *intense Matthew McConaughey smolder*… before they paid them to be dirty.
Also look at that Tracy Porter pick 6 against Payton Manning. Not sure, but the Saints DT clipped the shit out of Manning, and while he’s never publicly stated it, I’ve always wondered if that play was the one that re-injured his neck.
It probably didn’t help, but the original injury IIRC was from another Greg Williams coached defence. In other words, Brady best retire after this season.
they ran an illegal scheme to help them win their first super bowl, they deserve everything that has happened to them since
Lol – the Patriots cheated so bad they had to burn evidence so that 3 years of NFL history weren’t destroyed. Proof that Belicheck is the dark one.
The fans who had no knowledge, do they deserve it to?
Gonna take this a step further and possibly a dark twist… The members of the 2009 team are possibly cursed…
– Darren Sharper went from being a positive influence on community and possible HoF, and decided to become a scumbag rapist despite being mildly wealthy and a good looking dude
– Will Smith got out of his car in a road rage incident and was shot and killed
– Anthony Hargrove despite playing at a probowl level was suspended and never played again. Some people think he turned back to drugs.
– Carl Nick’s contracted MRSA and could never play another down in the NFL after his Saints stint
– Heath Evans also turned into a scumbag
The leaders of the defense who weren’t affected all did something to offset any bad karma:
-Jonathan Vilma (a Hatian immigrant) was a major contributed during the Earthquake in Haiti
-Scott Fujita basically carries Steve Gleason up Manchu Pichu like Chewbacca and C3PO in Empire
Drew Brees might not be cursed but more football related. He has had 13 game winning drives lost in the last 5 minutes of games since the 2009 season including those 3 in the playoffs (Tom Brady has had 4 and Aaron Rodgers has had 9 in the same time period).
I doubt Vikings fans or Falcons fans feel too bad about it though.
lol nah
The Falcons doing well is the only football related thing I prefer over disaster for the Saints. Them losing like that made our mediocre season feel ok.
Although I will say it seems the NFC South is cursed in general in the playoffs for the last 11-12 years. other examples include 28-3, Falcons receiver falling near goaline 2012 nfccg after blowing 17 point lead, refs forgetting what roughing the passer is against Panthers vs Denver, Keanu Neal losing an interception against Eagles last year that bounced off his knee into the receivers arms we also lost that game because we couldn’t score from the 2 yard line even with extra plays, Every playoff season for the Falcons since 2007 the team we lost to went to the SuperBowl, the Buccaneers… nevermind.
Yea – thats why i almost feel like the Vikings should just swap spots with the Bucs so this type of stink stays in the NFC South. The only thing I will say tho – the primary difference between what happened to the Falcons and Saints and what happens to Bills/Vikings fans is that when the Falcons Saints lose a crushing playoff defeat, we know we are only a month away from great weather and summer fun (hell New Orleans is throwing an Anti-Super Bowl parade/party next week now because New Orleans, then will have to turn around and do Mardi Gras and Atlanta is beginning festival season in a few weeks). When you are a Vikings/Bills fan and you lose, shits still frozen outside.
Can confirm. We don’t feel bad for Saints.
seriously saints can rot for all i care
also their fan base is second only to yankees fans and on par with pats fans imho
I feel even less bad when Saints fans try to deny that Bountygate ever happened.
Also Sean Payton is a complete asshat and deserves everything that’s happened to the Saint’s since 2010.
I do feel for them to have lost so often, but I dont feel particularly sorry when they always seem to have some player behaving like a complete asshat before or after a game trash talking and mocking their opponents.
As much as I hate the Patriots at least their players know if they spend the pre match or post match talking smack, they’ll get hauled over the coals for it. Regardless of who is coaching, the Saints always just seem to lack that little bit of discipline that separates good teams from great ones. All they ever achieve is to motivate opponents
As a life-long Viking fan, there is a definite amount of schadenfreude observing a Saints player get demolished without a penalty (that obviously should have been called) after watching it occur for 60 long minutes in 2009 to Favre. Superbowl XLIV is the one Super Bowl in 40 years I didn’t watch, because it hurt too much. The Minneapolis Miracle did a lot to put that to rest though, but I still smile when I watch the current replay.
In response to the Saints attempting to “replay” the game, I will quote them from 2009: Get over it. Get a life. It was one play. Boo Hoo. Excuses, excuses, and then add that karma is a B.
In a group chat with some friends who are fans of various teams, it was brought up that Viking fans hold grudges against teams that they have lost to in the playoffs; Eagles, Packers, Falcons, Giants, etc. My response to them was that I and other Viking fans recognize that those losses were failures on our team’s part and superior play by those teams. The Saints loss was due to a system plan of hurting a specific player to get him out of the game with money changing hands, and we almost overcame it, until we did a classic Viking move of 12 men on the field (SMH). Believe me, we get it.
I will always hate the Saints. Big bag of dicks.
You’re sure right us Vikings fans don’t feel bad about it. We’re still salty about the loss back in 2010. At least we didn’t buy billboards whining about how we were robbed. I know, I know, these fans don’t represent the majority, but still the schadenfreude made me smile at least a little.
My Falcons buddy keeps trying to call me when im not near my phone so i always return to a missed call :-(.
Brilliant.
WOW! That is funny and very well played.
Salty Vikings Fans?
Noooooooooo. Cant be. Is there any team youre not salty about losing to, because despite our lack of history, I recall some serious saltiness before and after last seasons game with the Eagles.
I mean – I’m not even sure how they can be salty about the saints-vikes game. Brett Favre was hurt for one or two plays but that isn’t what cost them the game, it was 6 fumbles, some timely penalties and a pick. Sure the Saints tried to beat on Favre, but Favres played awesome despite getting hit, and Favre didn’t get hit nearly as hard as the Pats hit McNab in 04 (which IMO was equally as dirty). Yeah there might have been a bounty program, but considering the Saints had it for 3 years and from the evidence we have no other major injuries are brought up, it seams far fetched to say monetarily incentivizing “knock-outs” and “cart offs” was very effective.
While I can’t justify the way some Saints fans are behaving after this loss, I can say that the difference in any other heartbreaking game Ive been apart of is that the penalty was blatant and robbed a team that had played well up to that point, and clearly changed the result of the game. Had a player decided the game, then that is that, but when officiating decides a game it provides a feeling of heplessness that likens to getting passed over for a promotion at work because your coworker bribed someone but your boss turns a blind eye. Yeah you might still be bitter if someone gets a promotion for another reason, but getting beat out by someone who only beat you in my example would for most people be enough to make them quit. Sadly being a sports fan isn’t like a job. A true fan never quits, and would be a disservice to the players who play for our team.
To be fair to some of them, there is actually some historical precidence. Everone remember the 2004 elections and the hanging chads? Everyone remember Al Gore, a usually rational and composed individual losing his shit over the election? He felt in his heart he’d been cheated (no political statement here, just a great parallel).
Yes – it’s just a game. Yes – many of my fellow Saints fans are acting like complete jack asses. No – I can’t justify their behavior. I’m just saying: I understand.
I agree with you Breesus. It’s not that we’re all bitter about LOSING. It’s just the non-call. That was borderline dirty because you can’t know if the receiver saw the DB or not. He could have been injured on the play. A no call on a play with an injury after the league has said player safety, player safety, player safety all year long is a black eye for the league. This isn’t really about the Saints to me. It’s about an obvious call that wasn’t made. I’d complain about it if it happened to the Patriots. You just can’t convince me it wasn’t an intentional non call.
Yeah I’m 99.8% certain it’s unintentional. Conspiracy theories rely on too many inept people collaborating together without having anyone leak anything, and we are talking about the NFL league office. Additionally I think the Saints provided the most sure-fire ratings in the SB, since Saints-KC or Saints-Pats were the both intriguing. SB tickets dropped 20% after the Saints lost.
What I think happened was that the refs were like “don’t screw this up let them play”. And if had come down to a hard fought scrum on a 50/50 ball I wouldn’t have been mad even if it was PI. But then someone just blatantly tackled a receiver mid route and the refs werent ready for it.
Wil Brinson called it the “Nightmare in New Orleans” and I think that’s it, Chief
I mean at least they have a ring, RIP Rivers
They took away the 9ers home field advantage with a bullshit roughing the passer call and purposely tried to injure 49er players, so choke on it.
I’m not even a fan and i’m still bitter about that.
YES!!! Two comics in a row! Suck on that Rams! Wait……Dammit! They’re in two in a row too! They beat us again! Dave, are you wearing a striped shirt too? I’m totally kidding, just trying to have some fun with it (I’m on the upswing right now, I’ll crash later I’m sure)
On a more serious note, there is an awful late of hate directed at the Saints. I understand Bountygate was bad. I would never argue that. It was deplorable. But who in the world knows what goes on behind closed doors of any teams. I totally accepted last year as a karma thing. I get karma. But the general rule of karma is that when you do something bad, something bad happens to you. To continue to say it’s karma seems….unoriginal? Lazy? Wrong? I’m not sure.
No football team deserves what happened to the Saints. Ask Raiders fans. If you’re a Falcons fan and you enjoyed it, that’s fine. You’re team choked a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl so you can have something to feel good about. Your team provides you very little positive hope anyways. If you’re a Vikings fan, get over it. You got us back last year (not the same I know, not comparing the two).
Ultimately, if it’s cool what happened to us for the bounty thing and we can receive an endless supply of bad karma, what about the Patriots? Where’s their bad karma? We were legimately screwed out of an OPPORTUNITY to make it to the Super Bowl. There was no guarantee we still couldn’t screw it up.
Lastly, not all of this post is dead serious. Remember boys and girls, this is the internet and sarcasm and reality often blend together to a point where no one knows the difference.
Yes I know I made grammar mistakes. No, I don’t hate the Vikings. Yes, I do “hate” the Falcons. It’s a rivalry hate. Nothing beyond that. We were punished for Bountygate, and we have reaped the effects since. In fact, I think every one of these events happened after the fact. When will we have received enough punishment? Keep in mind, the fans are suffering the hate directed at the team despite the fact that they knew nothing of the scandal. They merely rooted for their team. If there was a single fan that supported that tactic, SHAME ON THEM. That probably hurts because it’s in all caps, amirite?
Last comment because I’ve already overdone it… funniest thing I saw is some media outlets calling that one Chief/Pats play “The Muff That Wasn’t”. Best porno title I’ve heard in years.
I second this
We hate the Saints too ya know
from a comment on Reddit.
Imagine having a HOF QB at home up 13-0 and winning the coin toss in OT and not having to spend a second explaining how you choked.
In the beginning, we were choking all on our own. But those dastardly referees just couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. They had to try and shove more down our throat. Defiantly and confidently we push them back, saying “We can handle this ourselves, thank you very much sir!” And thus, history was made. We thank you for watching and we hope you were pleasantly entertained. *All involved parties take a bow*
If these panels were done in tighter squares, with the coloring like it is, if you pieced them together into one 4 panel square photo, it would be quite the painting. Borrow from the Smashing Pumpkins and call it “Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness”. That would be in my living room. Also, my wife would hate it. It would still be there.
As a fan of a division rival, this comic made my day.
Can’t wait for some Patriot fan to be like “What about the David Tyree catch? We’re so much cursed than anyone else!” I know they’d do this because I saw them doing it literally minutes after they had beaten my team in the Super Bowl.
What about the David Tyree catch? We’re so much cursed than anyone else!
Jesus Christ it’s so weird that Sean Payton is back after nearly 500 comics
Packers also have 4th and 26 in 2003, the TO non-catch in ’98, the non-called facemask in 2009, Larry Fitzgerald’s OT romp in 2015. 4 of Rodgers’ playoff losses have been the last play of the game, ’09 and ’13-’15, 3 of which were in OT. So, the Packers fans feel pretty snakebit, too.
You gonna do the puppy bowl?
You do know the Saints helmets are gold, not black, right?
This is for Brett Favre. Cry some more. Maybe the tears will flood New Orlea-ohwait
I was hoping for one of two matchups for the SB: two of the best QBs to ever play the game and two of the most promising young QBs. Thanks to a no-call on a blatant pass interference penalty we get Brady v Goff, which no one wanted to see and will probably result in the Rams getting trucked.
A Brady/Brees showdown would have been a classic matchup.