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NEW ORLEANS — In the moments after the New Orleans Saints defense looked like the Steel Curtain, Doomsday Defense and Monsters of the Midway wrapped into one neat package Sunday, there was one big question on Curtis Lofton’s mind.

It wasn’t where the stunning performance by his team in an out-of-the-blue 41-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Bucs came from.

The question, Lofton said, was why it took 14 games to see it.

“The frustrating thing is playing the way we did today,” Lofton said before pausing, “and the question you have to ask is, ‘Why couldn’t we play like that all year?’ I don’t know the answer to that.”

At this point, you can file it under the heading of “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Indeed, Sunday’s blanking of the Bucs caused as much head-scratching as the 10 consecutive 400-yard games the Saints defense gave up to start the season and the 45 points they allowed a week earlier in a 52-27 loss to the New York Giants. (One of the touchdowns was on a kickoff return.)

In other words, a shutout was about as unexpected and unforeseen as the beatdown the Giants gave them, considering the Bucs ranked fifth in the NFL at 27.2 points per game.

But, Lofton noted, you can always hope — especially in the down-one-week, up-the-next-week nature of the NFL.

“To get that goose egg, that was a lot of fun,” he said. “As a defense, that’s what you strive for every single game.”

Read more: Mickles: Saints defense flashes its potential | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

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Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

All little common sense goes a long way.