This time of year, the teams that are cooked often play that way. It seemed like the Saints did last night.
Interim coach Darren Rizzi believes otherwise.
“We didn’t have a very good performance,” Rizzi told reporters after the 34-0 loss, via ESPN.com. “I never felt like our guys are looking down the road and not giving effort because of our playoff status. I never felt like that one time during this time I’ve taken over. I didn’t feel like that tonight. I feel like we got outcoached and outexecuted. That’s the way it is.”
Rizzi said that, from the moment he took over for Dennis Allen, the Saints didn’t check out.
“The day I took over we were on a seven-game losing streak,” Rizzi said. “It would’ve been easier, easy for a lot of players and veteran guys especially, to kind of check out and I’ve never ever felt that. I didn’t feel that today. I thought, to be honest with you, I thought we had a great prep week, we had a great walk-through last night. I felt like we were locked in. We didn’t perform. Sometimes in this league, it’s going to happen.”
A shutout hadn’t happened all year. Through 16 full weeks. In the 240th game of the year, one team didn’t score a single point.
Whatever the reason, it weakens Rizzi’s case for serious consideration to be the head coach in 2025.
