The Six Words of Doom

“Are they leading on the road?”

The Six Words of Doom. Fox color analyst Tim Ryan (alongside Sam Rosen) said them right after Randy McMichael’s touchdown pass from Steven Jackson (yes, Steven Jackson and his FIRST pass in the NFL) and those six words summed up the game today, and hopefully not the season. You can always feel confident your team's losing if you hear those words.

Of course it would happen against the Saints. Who else? Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Even in Bizzaro world, the Saints still coughed up a winnable game. Even with the fourth quarter rally, The Saints Guy is not pleased. You don’t score on the opening drive, give up 34 unanswered points and call yourself a good team. Of course, I’m a little angry right now because a 1-8 team kept New Orleans out of a share of the NFC South lead. But I digress.

Besides the two crucial interceptions thrown by Drew Brees, three key factors did the Saints in and ruined the winning streak:

1.) The Saints had no semblance of a rushing game. Only 43 yards on only 11 attempts. You’re not going to beat anyone, much less an 0-8 team if you don’t can’t rush for more than 50 yards.

2.) The Rams controlled the ball efficiently. Up until the fourth quarter, the Rams kept the best part of the Saints away from the field -- the offense. St. Louis lead in time-of-possession by nearly twice the amount New Orleans had (39:42-20:18).

3.) New Orleans could not stop the Rams on third down. I’ll leave you with the best example because it felt like it was going on all afternoon: Brian Simmons fires through untouched to sack Marc Bulger for a loss of 9 on 1st-and-10 at the St. Louis 44. After a two-yard run for 3rd-and-17, Bulger found a way to connect with Torry Holt to keep the drive alive. If you can’t make your opponent punt, you can’t win.

So with all that said, it’s thankfully still the NFC South, and the Saints are now only a full game out of the lead because Tampa Bay is on a bye. Atlanta did beat Carolina 20-13, so it’s still a wide open divisional race.

But just remember this for the future: if the Saints are favored by +11.5 points over an 0-8 team, I’m losing sleep. Like Detroit in 2002, it was a team the Saints should have throttled that did the throttling. And if you ever hear one of the television talent ask The Six Words of Doom again, you can feel confident that team will win.

Let’s see how we’re feeling next week.