OFF THE WALL
Saints set mark with 8 turnovers What was sports editor thinking?
We just couldn’t let this stuff go …
The New Orleans Saints’ offense has been known for some gaudy numbers throughout the Sean Payton-drew Brees era.
But the Saints secured one of their most impressive NFL records yet with a minuscule number, writes Mike Triplett of ESPN.
The Saints (13-3) committed just eight turnovers all season — the fewest in league history. The previous NFL record of 10 was set by the 2010 New England Patriots and matched by the 2011 San Francisco 49ers.
“I would say that’s probably the thing we’re most proud of,” Brees said after New Orleans put an exclamation point on its season with a 42-10 rout over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. “When you talk about this offense, I think you talk about it being explosive, you talk about these weapons, the pace at which we play. So I think for us to be able to say that, in addition to that we also take very, very good care of the football ... that number alone equates to a lot of winning football.”
Payton said that was a huge reason why the Saints held their season together so effectively even when Brees missed five games because of thumb surgery earlier this year. They went 5-0 with efficient backup quarterback
Teddy Bridgewater while winning some low-scoring games.
“Honestly, I think it’s a big part of why we’re sitting (here) right now,” Payton said before the game. “I think the players buy into it, they understand the significance of it, and it gives you a chance to win every game.”
The good news for the Saints is that no matter where they land in the playoffs, the offense has been surging at the right time. They lead the NFL with 40 points per game over the past four weeks; Brees has thrown 15 touchdown passes with zero interceptions over that stretch.
Brees nearly broke the NFL record for completion percentage in a single season for the fifth time in his career. He finished at 74.3 percent — just behind his own record of 74.4 percent, which he set last season. He now owns four of the top five completion percentage seasons in NFL history. Not bad for a quarterback who turns 41 in January.
Trivia question
Which pro football team holds the record for most takeaways in a season?
A sports editor for a New Mexico newspaper apologized this week after using “scalps” in a tweet to describe a high school basketball team defeating a team with Native American studentathletes.
Hobbs News-sun Sports Editor Jason Farmer said Friday the tweet was “very inappropriate and completely insensitive.”
The world “scalp” has a racist history as white settlers regularly cut off pieces of Native Americans’ heads after killing them. The body parts were later publicly displayed as trophies and as scare tactics to other tribes to subject themselves to white supremacy.
Farmer acknowledged that using the word was not within the standard of journalism or “common decency.”
Navajo Nation President Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer criticized Farmer’s social media post describing the outcome of a game between the Hobbs High School Eagles and the Shiprock Chieftains.
Harden falls short of Wilt’s mark
The Rockets’ James Harden joined an exclusive NBA club by totaling 100 points in back-toback games.
Leaving him just one game shy of tying Wilt Chamberlain, who once scored 100 in one consecutive game.
They said it
Jaguars QB Gardner Minshew, to reporters, after ruining the Raiders’ last game in Oakland for Black Hole fans: “An awesome experience ... I saw more middle fingers today than I have my whole life.”
Ex-vikings coach Bud Grant, 92, in his new limited-edition biography “I’ve Been Lucky,” on the secrets to being a good coach: “A patient wife, a loyal dog and a great quarterback. Not necessarily in that order.”
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Trivia answer
The 1961 San Diego Chargers had 66 takeaways.