Wow. That Monday night game. That was a tough pill to swallow. I knew it would be a tough game, but I never thought that the Saints would be completely dominated like they were. I know many of you felt the same way.
But I'm over it. I just learned that the Clink is a terrible place to be and that the Seahawks are really, really good. But you know who else is good at home? The New Orleans Saints.
The stats that I am about to post are with Sean Payton as head coach, because what was 2012 is clearly not the same team as a Sean Payton coached team. Call it stat picking if you want, but not too many teams are the same without the head coach on the sidelines, especially one that means as much to his team as Sean Payton does.
With Payton on the sidelines, the Saints have won 14 straight at home. The "Domefield" advantage makes me feel good about the game this Sunday, but this is a Carolina Panthers team that is probably the second best defensive unit in this league and they are on an 8 game winning streak. However, the Saints will add a little extra fuel to the fire when they take the field Sunday night.
Since 2011, Sean Payton's Saints are 22-6 in the regular season. Since the last loss came this past Sunday, we can only look at the games following the previous five losses. While none of the opponents were as good as the Panthers are now, the Saints seem to come out strong following a loss under Coach Payton.
2011
Saints lose 42-34 @Green Bay, then beat Chicago 30-13 at home.
Saints lose 26-20 @ Tampa Bay, crush a terrible Colts team 62-7 at home.
Saints lose 31-21 @ St. Louis, beat Tampa Bay 27-16 at home.
2013
Saints lose 30-27 @ New England, beat Buffalo 35-17 at home.
Saints lose 26-20 @ NY Jets, crush Dallas 49-17 at home.
Saints lose 34-7 @ Seattle, ????? Carolina at home.
So following a loss since 2011 with Payton on the sideline, the Saints have followed up with a home game, averaged 40.6 points per game, and won all of them.
It's also interesting to note that in all five of those games following a loss, the Saints did not give up more than 17 points and won every game by double digits. Again, I understand that this is a very good Carolina team that the Saints are facing on Sunday night, but Seattle faced a very good Saints team at home on Monday night. Look what happened.
While I throw these stats out there, I am not saying that the Saints will score 40 on Carolina. I am not saying they will win by double digits. I actually think that it will be a very close game. But Payton doesn't like to lose and his team is usually ready to come out strong following a loss. So I could be wrong.
As a matter of fact, the last time Coach Payton lost two or more games in a row was 2009, when the Saints started 13-0 and followed with 3 straight losses. All they did was bring the Lombardi home that year.
Yep, Coach doesn't like to lose.