Darren Rizzi was the Saints’ special teams coordinator before being named their interim head coach last month, so he had plenty of reason to smile at the end of Sunday’s game against the Giants.
Saints defensive lineman Bryan Bresee blocked Graham Gano’s game-tying field goal attempt to hand the Saints a 14-11 win, but it wasn’t the only thing that Rizzi was celebrating after the game. The win moved the Saints to 5-8 and kept open a path to the playoffs with the Bucs two games ahead of them in the NFC South.
“Huge. I know another one of the teams at the top of our division lost again today,” Rizzi said, via a transcript from the team. “So, it keeps us in the mix. Listen, we’re down here to the end of the year. It’s the middle of December already. When you’re playing games that still matter and still count and still have a chance to affect the final outcome, that’s a big deal. So here we are with four to go and as I just said to the guys, that’s why we practice with a purpose. We go through the week with a purpose because we’re still playing. We’re still in contention. Trying not to be a big-picture guy, but, it’s always nice to have that out there so you can focus on the now and not worry about that there’s still that opportunity for us.”
The odds are very much against the Saints, but they are now 3-1 since Rizzi replaced Dennis Allen and that may lead to some thoughts about what might have been if the team had pulled the trigger on a move a bit earlier in the season. There’s no way to go back in time, so the Saints will just have to try to keep winning and hope that things fall their way.
