Saints seek final push:
New Orleans sees choppy play on final push toward playoffs
New Orleans’ resurgent season hits a choppy point amid the rugged NFC South scrum. Fantasy rankings, Page 7 Week 16 previews, predictions, Pages 8-23
Box scores, Pages 36-39
NEW ORLEANS – The Saints have tried and will keep trying not to watch, but it’s hard.
With two weeks left in the regular season, New Orleans and the Carolina Panthers are tied for the NFC South lead at 10-4 after 31-19 and 31-24 wins against the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers, respectively, last weekend. The Atlanta Falcons are just behind them at 9-5 after beating Tampa Bay. The Saints close the season at home against Atlanta on Christmas Eve and at Tampa Bay on New Year’s Eve, while Carolina — which has two losses to New Orleans — closes against Tampa Bay and Atlanta.
“It’s human nature to want to (scoreboard watch),” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said after completing 26 of 36 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns with an interception against the Jets. “But you’ve got to fight human nature.”
If New Orleans wins out, it will finish at 12-4 for its best regular season since 2011, which was the last time it won the NFC South.
“Our message is to focus on playing our best game,” coach Sean Payton said. “Of course, there was one other game (Carolina and Green Bay), but it was not like we were looking at three scenarios. We are in a roundrobin tournament here. Everyone’s playing everyone. Whether it is Atlanta and Carolina, Carolina and New Orleans, New Orleans and Tampa Bay, we just have to focus on the game we’re playing.”
And that South round-robin could continue in the NFC wildcard round of the playoffs in three weeks.
“I wasn’t thinking about or looking at what was going on with another game,” Payton said. “Certainly, that might be an issue.”
The Saints appeared to have their minds elsewhere at times against the Jets. Brees threw an interception late in the first half deep in his territory that helped the Jets stay in the game at 17-10 at the half. Then New Orleans had two three-and-outs to start the third quarter before backto-back lost fumbles by wide receiver Brandon Coleman deep in Jets’ territory. The Saints, who outgained the Jets by 416 to 294, finally put the game away with two fourth-quarter touchdowns — a 4-yard pass from Brees to wide receiver Michael Thomas and a 50-yard run by running back Mark Ingram, who totaled 151 yards on 17 touches.
Running back Alvin Kamara returned from a concussion suffered in the 20-17 loss to Atlanta Dec. 7 to rush 12 times for 44 yards and catch six passes for 45 yards with a 10-yard touchdown for a 17-7 lead in the sec- ond quarter.
“It felt good to be back in there. I felt good,” he said.
“They broke out late,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “They are a talented group. It’s hard to pin them down for four quarters.”
In the end, the Saints played poorly in spots, but had two touchdowns reversed. They also allowed a 70-yard touchdown drive in six plays in the fourth quarter to let the Jets get within 24-19 before the Ingram touchdown run.
“I didn’t feel like this was one of our better games,” Payton said. “Nonetheless, we were able to win the game. It is what it is. We’ve got to improve.”
Ingram’s 74 rushing yards on 12 carries put him at 1,045 yards on the season, making him just the third back in Saints history to have back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons behind Deuce McAllister, who had three from 2002-04, and Ricky Williams, who had two in 2000 and ’01.
“It truly is a blessing,” said Ingram, a late blooming, sevenyear veteran. “God is good. I need to thank my teammates, my coaches and anyone who’s ever blocked for me. There’s a lot of hands that go into having two seasons like that.”
As far as this year, Ingram sees room for improvement.
“We were a little sloppy,” he said. “We had some turnovers. There is room to build. We will get better from it.”