winmill1

5. Saints go marching out of the playoffs: All you had to do is watch the New Orleans Saints in the final minutes of their loss to the Green Bay Packers to see why they are 0-4 and positioning themselves for a high draft choice in 2013 instead of making a playoff run. Trailing by one with 2:58 left in the fourth quarter, Garrett Hartley made a 43-yard field goal for the lead, but it was nullified by an offensive holding penalty by Dave Thomas. That pushed Hartley back for a 53-yarder, but an encroachment penalty gave him another chance for a 48-yarder. He missed it.

Face it, the Saints aren't as sharp without their coach, Sean Payton. Their involvement with pay-for-performance and possible bounties has killed their season. Their defense is a sieve. They gave up 319 passing yards to Aaron Rodgers and Rodgers spent a portion of the second half on the sidelines with an injury. They switched to a Steve Spagnoulo scheme in which the Saints can't get to the quarterback. They registered no sacks and had only one hit.

Give Drew Brees credit for trying to rally the team in desperation. He passed for 446 yards and completed 35 passes. There isn't enough time in the 12 remaining games to catch the Falcons, who are 4-0. They are blowing all their tie-breakers in wild card. Effectively, their season is over.