What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

I had mentioned this when the season ended how any one loss this year that we could have pulled out would have meant a division title and playoff game and got to wondering how many times it had happened in the past that a single game cost the Saints so dearly (it seemed like I remembered a lot). Did a little research and found this:




1979: Rams 35 Saints 17 (Week 6 - Superdome). Had the Saints been able to beat the Rams in the Dome they would have finished 9-7, winning the NFC West for the first time and also having a winning season for the first time.


1982: Bucs 13 Saints 10 (Week 12 - Superdome). Had the Saints won the 5th game of the strike shortened season against the Bucs in the Dome they would have been the #8 seed and made the playoffs as a wildcard (due to the strike, the top 8 teams in each conference qualified that year).


1983: Rams 26 Saints 24 (Week 16 - Superdome). Saints lost to the Rams on a late FG. Had they held on, the Saints would have been a wildcard team instead of the Rams.


1987: 49ers 24 Saints 22 (Week 6 - Superdome). Had the Saints been able to win this game against the 49ers, their records would have flipped and the 49ers would have been the 12-3 wildcard and the Saints would have had HFA with a 13-2 record.


1988: 49ers 34 Saints 33 (Week 1 - Superdome). If the Saints could have won this game (or the game at SF - aka not get swept by SF) then they would have had an 11-5 record and been NFC West champs. Instead they finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs on tiebreakers to the 10-6 Rams.


1993: Packers 19 Saints 17 (Week 10 - Superdome). If the Saints had been able to close out the Packers they would have eliminated the Packers and passed the Vikings via head-head win for the #5 seed in the playoffs.


2000: Seahawks 20 Saints 10 (Week 3 - Seattle). The lowly 6-10 Seahawks hung a loss on the Saints that prevented them from being tied with the Vikings at 11-5. Had that happened, the Saints would have got the #2 seed over the Vikings via conference record and would have had a bye week. Would that have helped with injuries that plagued the team that year??? Maybe...


2002: Panthers 10 Saints 6 (Week 17 - Superdome). The one-armed Aaron Brooks Bowl. Haslett screwed the team with his loyalty to an injured Brooks by not playing Jake D. Saints win this one and they are 10-6 and the wildcard team. Instead that went to the Falcons at 9-6-1 when the Saints ended up at 9-7.


2004: Bucs 20 Saints 17 (Week 5 - Superdome). Saints blow game at home to the 5-11 Bucs. Thanks to tiebreakers and a missed FG attempt by Jets (and recently former Saints) kicker Doug Brien, the Saints miss out on the playoffs after winning their last 4 games.


2010: Falcons 27 Saints 24 OT (Week 3 - Superdome). Win this game at home for a sweep of the Falcons and the Saints have the head-head tiebreaker as both teams finish 12-4. That results in the defending Super Bowl Champion Saints having HFA in the playoffs. TwoDat opportunity #1 failed.


2011: Rams 31 Saints 21 (Week 8 - St Louis). Losing to the Rams, who finished a pathetic 2-14, cost the Saints the #2 seed and a bye. It also meant that the Saints traveled to San Fran in the divisional round. No way the 49ers (or the Giants the next week) beat the Saints in the Dome. And no way the Patriots beat us in the big dance. TwoDat opportunity #2 failed.


2012: Saints 31 Vikings 28 OT (2009 NFCCG - Superdome). Apparently this game did not sit well with the league - aka Emperor Goodell. It caused rule changes on OT and bountygate since Farve didn't get his ring. This game cost us the playoffs in 2012 since we had less picks and no head coach.


2013: Panthers 17 Saints 13 (Week 16 - Charlotte). Saints D blows a late lead that cost the team the game. Win this one and you win the division and the #2 seed and a bye in the playoffs.


2014: 49ers 27 Saints 24 OT (Week 10 - Superdome) Where to start in this disaster of a season? Any one win in our 9 losses and we are NFC South champs at 8-8. I picked this game for 3 reasons: 1) That completion on 4&10 - you just can't allow that. 2) This was the start of the end of Domination 3) I HATE THE 49ers

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

Good read but some truely bad memories. Out of all of those years I thought 2011 we were unstopable.

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

That was the most heartbreaking loss and i think it still affects this team to this day in some ways. If we stop vernon davis on that drive we'd have another super bowl trophy...

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

Or if we didn't turn the ball over an astounding 5 times, Vernon Davis could have scored two more TD's and we still would have won.

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

Perhaps each team could claim a similar fate but it sure seems we are a franchise of missed opportunities. Thank goodness we put it all together for 2009.

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

And most shocking to me is that most of these have happened in the Dome...

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

OR If we went undefeated for 5 years and ........IF you're going to "What If, WHAT IF!!!!!

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

That game turned when Whitner layed out Thomas,how anyone can say he was not head hunting is beyond me

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/333...s-thomas-o.gif

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

oh goodie a game of hand grenades or horse shoes. you pick

an ugly win is win non the less
an ugly loss is loss non the less

there is hope and all is not lost.

can we adjust on the fly is my biggest concern.

Re: What a difference a game makes (aka coulda woulda shoulda)
 

Next year we are back to being lucky again.