"letdown mode"
Nah. Shame on them if they were. This was THE biggest game of the year to that point. Rams were 8-0. Saints had won 6 straight after losing their opener.
Everyone should have been playing their balls off for superiority.
No, this was letdown time.
Rams on the road, happy as can be, Saints at home, slightly more motivated.
You are a good capper but you need to look at this again, these teams cannot go all out all year, especially when they feel comfortable that they have the playoffs wrapped up and know they only need to win a few games and can lose some.
AGAIN, everybody was saying KC, Rams, Saints, NE, were not playing well late in the year, then all 4 just dominated last week when they played all out, yes Saints did not cover, got down 14-0 but then dominated the rest of the game.
I guarantee you that a lot of these millionaire players, especially veterans, especially on defense, do not go all out every play in these spots mid and late season. Yes, sometimes they barely win by a FG, but then lose a game, then come back and play well.
My favorite example is Suh, making (I think) about $14M this year, probably has $ 60-75M in the bank, you think he is going to play all out mid season when the Rams only needed to win a few more? They do not think "bye" that early.
Then the announcers vs Dallas said something like "Suh is finally having a good game!"... like his timing was better or his fundamentals were back. IT IS BECAUSE GUYS LIKE THIS DO NOT RISK as much after the team is established, until the playoffs.
GL!