They Aren’t the Saints; They’re the Armadillos

Old joke:

Why are the Saints like the Armadillos?

Because they both get killed on the road.

The perils of the New Orleans Saints continuously remind me of that old joke, which in turn, reminds me of the Atchafalaya song from the mid '80's. It was a parody of Falco's "Rock Me, Amadeus." Chris Foreman, David Varisco, Charlie Reese, Larry Menard and Cal Arnold (now deceased) were incredibly popular in this area back then. And, their song "Watch out Armadillos" was really funny. (Check out the You Tube link for the song.)

But these armadillos aren't funny. At all.

Sean Payton's Armadillos continued to get killed on the road Sunday, falling to the Detroit Lions 24-23. And, this one hurt. A lot.

The Saints had a 13 point lead with just over 5:00 to go after a Shayne Graham field goal. And, it looked like that might be enough. After all, the Saints defense had held Detroit to just 240 yards of offense.

But the Lions hit a big play on a touchdown pass to Golden Tate to cut the lead to six. Yet the Saints were still in good shape. Until Drew Brees threw an interception. And, even then it looked like the defense would get it done, until Rafael Bush was called for hitting Reggie Bush a split second before a pass got to him on fourth down. Given a second chance, Detroit scored the winning points.

This one isn't on Rob Ryan. (I read that on my Facebook page and had to ask if that person even watched the game.) No. The defense was good enough to win. This one came down to a Brees interception and a whopping 134 yards in penalties.

The Armadillos have now lost seven regular season games in a row on the road and fourteen of their last twenty. During that streak, the Saints have found just about every way imaginable to lose. But one thing has been consistent:..and that's Brees' inconsistency.

New Orleans returns to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome next Sunday against Green Bay, starting a stretch of four out of five at their friendly confines. That will give New Orleans a chance to get back in the NFC South race.

But this team isn't going anywhere until they figure out how to win on the road. Until then, they'll be u-u-u-u-up-side down.