of New Orleans Saints Fourth quarter performance It was a parade of mistakes. Monday night, turning a 16-3 lead into a crushing 17-16 loss Tampa Bay Buccaneers This destroyed their narrow chances of division.
Running back Mark Ingram He was one of the players in the mess during that fall and apologized for the critical mistake on social media after the game.
Ingram’s fumble was one of the Saints’ first mistakes in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter.
Facing a second-down-and-eight situation, Ingram caught a short pass and looked like he had a chance for a key first down that would move the sticks and possibly help the Saints eat at least two minutes off the clock. That was certainly enough to seal the win and prevent Tom Brady’s two touchdown drives in the closing minutes.
Instead, Ingram went one yard out of bounds and the Saints trailed on third-and-short without picking up the first down. They gave the ball back to Brady, who promptly capped a 91-yard touchdown drive (the Buccaneers’ longest scoring drive of the season) to pull within six points.
While Ingram’s mistake was costly, the Saints still had plenty of opportunities to make up for it and still win.
It was their next offensive possession, going for a three-and-out, seven-yard loss and just 34 seconds left on the clock, and Tysom Hill took just 34 seconds off the clock when quarterback Andy Dalton took a second-down sack and Tysom Hill couldn’t. On the next play, pull off what would become a huge third-and-17 conversion.
Former management took responsibility for Ingram and apologized, but he wasn’t the only one who messed up that stretch on the New Orleans sideline. Even after the miscue, the team had plenty of chances to take a two-touchdown lead in the final six minutes.
