The Saints had one brutal sequence in the fourth quarter of their “Monday Night Football” game against the Buccaneers – and it may have cost them their season.
With New Orleans holding the ball with a 16-3 lead late in the fourth quarter, Andy Dalton swung a pass to veteran running back Mark Ingram, who had just re-entered after suffering an injury earlier in the game. Ingram, still hobbled, decided to run out of bounds one yard short of the first-down line, despite having plenty of space to stretch for the extra yard.
With more than five minutes left in the game, the clock still ran with Ingram going out of bounds, but the Saints had to run another play to pick up the first down – and opted for a passing play. The pass fell incomplete, stopping the clock, and New Orleans opted to punt from the opposing 44-yard line instead of going for it.
“Im sick about this one,” Ingram tweeted after the game. “Regardless of circumstances or how I feel I have to get that fresh set of downs for the squad. I apologize to my teammates my coaches and my city for a crucial mistake. We work way too hard and sacrifice blood sweat and tears. I will be better.”
Had Ingram not stepped out of bounds early, or if the Saints called a run play on third down, or fourth down, they probably would have won the game and gotten to 5-8 on the season – which would have only been a half-game out of the NFC South lead. However, they gave Tom Brady a window to get back in the game, and he promptly threw two touchdown passes in the final three minutes to give Tampa Bay an improbable 17-16 victory.
“Hindsight is 20/20, I wish we would’ve run it (on third down),” Saints coach Dennis Allen said after the game. “Mark hurt his knee on the previous play, so it came up a yard short. That’s frustrating.”
The Bucs had failed to move the ball on pretty much every drive until the final two, having kicked a field goal on their opening drive and gone scoreless in the next eight. However, Brady threw touchdown passes to tight end Cade Otton and running back Rachaad White to secure the victory.
Tampa Bay now has a 1.5-game lead in the division and is in the driver’s seat for the division, with games remaining against the 49ers, Bengals, Cardinals, Panthers, and Falcons. Perhaps the late scores can generate momentum for Brady and an offense that currently ranks 27th in points per game.
