UNLIKELY CONTENDERS MEET IN LATE SHOWDOWN
NEW ORLEANS
Perseverance has paid dividends for the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints, placing them on a collision course for a highstakes game in late December.
The outlook for the Dolphins (7-7) and Saints (7-7) looked bleak while they were mired in extended losing streaks. Now both are on the fringe of their respective conference playoff races when they meet in the Superdome tonight.
But the challenges keep coming — on and off the field.
Saints starting quarterback Taysom Hill and backup Trevor Siemian
were among at least 15 New Orleans players testing positive for COVID-19 this week, leaving their availability in doubt while the Saints prepared rookie Ian Book for a maiden start.
“It’s been a wild week,” said Book, a fourth-round draft choice out of Notre Dame. “I didn’t expect things to happen like this, but with COVID, you never know.”
It’s just the latest hurdle for the Saints, who began their first season since Drew Brees’ retirement displaced from New Orleans for nearly a month after Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana in late August.
The Saints’ home opener was moved to Jacksonville, Fla., where Jameis Winston won his first game as Brees’ successor over Green Bay. New Orleans started 5-2, only to lose Winston to a season-ending knee injury during a Week 8 win.
The Saints then started Siemian for four games — all loses — before giving Hill the nod.
The losing streak grew to five before Hill won his past two starts, including last week at Tampa Bay with both of his starting offensive tackles out with injuries and with coach Sean Payton not making the trip because of COVID-19 protocols.
“The identity of a team kind of forms as a season goes on,” said Saints offensive lineman James Hurst, who has been thrust into a starting role because of injuries. “You might play a tough stretch of games where it’s one-score loss after one-score loss, having dumb mistakes that you know you can’t make, but then realizing what you are and how you’re going to win games.
“Getting that formula down pat and finding ways to win games is all that matters.”
Miami was 1-7 and seemingly going nowhere under third-year coach Brian Flores after losing seven straight. Now the Dolphins are trying to become the first NFL team to win seven straight after losing that many in a row.
For Miami linebacker Jerome Baker, the turnaround stemmed from the team’s growing trust in Flores.
“We trust ‘Flo’ with everything,” Baker said. “We believe what he is talking about. I think we just had to truly see it. I think once we believed in us and him, things started to turn around. It’s a credit to him and our coaching staff and it’s a credit to all of us.”