Darren Rizzi’s undefeated two-game run as the New Orleans Saints’ interim head coach has officially come to an end after Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
And even after all of the praise Rizzi has received, there were a lot of questions surrounding some of the decisions he made. One of those had to do with the offense’s late-game strategy.
Rizzi said after the game that he would have gone for the two-point conversion if the team would have scored a touchdown late in the game. He said in the postgame press conference that the team was going for the victory and that they recognized they were “reeling on defense” after several Los Angeles possessions drained the clock in the second half.
Nevertheless, that did not come to pass at all because the Saints never did get that late-game touchdown. Derek Carr was under pressure on the final play and no receivers got open against the Rams’ coverage before the pass rush got to him.
Trailing 21-14, they needed a bit more with seven more points there toward the end to tie, and eight, which would have derived from a touchdown and a two-point conversion, to get a victory. Rizzi planned to go out on his terms rather than ask his gassed defense to win the day in overtime, but it never got to that point.
The Saints will look to get back on the right track when they hit the road to face the New York Giants next Sunday.
