METAIRIE, La. -- When asked what he hopes New Orleans Saints fans will see this Sunday, Drew Brees said:
“For us to play well and for us to win. Pretty simple, right? Keep it simple.”
It was an awkward question. But then again, it’s an awkward week for the 6-9 Saints, who were eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday.
They’ve missed the playoffs before -- including just two years ago in 2012. But as outside linebacker Junior Galette pointed out, they saw that elimination coming for weeks. This year, they genuinely believed they had a good shot at winning the NFC South until their 30-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16.
So in one sense, the feeling is similar to a playoff loss. But this time, the Saints have to muster up whatever desire or competitiveness or just plain professionalism is required to go back out and give it their all for one more week.
Coach Sean Payton and players insisted that’s possible due to the competitive nature of players, in general -- especially the ones who know they’re putting weekly auditions on tape for next year.
“I have that desire,” Galette said. “And I feel like guys came out here and practiced their tails off [Wednesday]. They didn’t just show up.”
“I see guys handling it well,” said Brees, who also said it wasn’t hard to come back to work from an emotional standpoint. “I know for me, you can’t change anything about the past. The more that you dwell on it, the more negativity you allow to kind of hang around. And that’s certainly not gonna do anything for us this week.
“So I think this is an opportunity for us to go out with a bang, and that’s what we plan on doing.”
The Buccaneers (2-13) have had to dig even deeper for that motivation this season. They were eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago and have lost five straight games.
Coach Lovie Smith and veteran quarterback Josh McCown insisted that guys are taking the right approach, though -- and McCown acknowledged that hasn’t always been the case everywhere he’s been in a journeyman 12-year career.
“I think we’ve been awesome with the ways guys work at practice, and it’s a reflection of our leadership, Lovie and the coaches and the way that their approach is. We’re getting after it,” McCown said. “It’s hard, because you know at the end of the day, regardless of what you do on Sunday, you’re not going to be rewarded. … But at the same time, I think when you look back at the times like this in your life, you’ll be glad that even when there was nothing to play for, so to speak as far as playoffs, you’ll be glad that you gave back some of that and you worked hard and you tried hard. Because I think that’s a true testament of a guy’s character is how they work and prepare right now.”
Winning can actually be counter-productive for teams like the Buccaneers -- who would secure the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft with a loss on Sunday. But NFL teams have never traditionally “tanked” for better draft picks. And Smith insisted that won’t be the case with his team.
“To me there’s no balance involved,” Smith said. “If you’re a competitor, you go out there to win. I can’t think of anybody that goes into a game not wanting to win. …
“We do a lot of ones versus ones [in practice], and it’s as competitive as you would see it could get. There’s nothing on the line. We aren’t going to get a prize or anything like that. But I think when you have one team in one color and the other in another, they’ll do anything they can to win each individual play. I know a lot of people are talking about that, but I don’t quite get that part. We’ll end up with a good pick.”