Mickles: Saints one play short

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Sep 16, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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LANDOVER, Md. — In the aftermath of a tough loss, most NFL coaches tend to refrain from pinpointing one play as the reason for the setback.

But Sean Payton didn’t have to invoke that unwritten rule Sunday.

The way he saw it, his New Orleans Saints were close to being 2-0 with a victory over the Washington Redskins. With 4 1/2 minutes left in a game played in stifling heat, further testing his injury-depleted team, the Saints offense was oh-so-close to keeping its defense off the field for perhaps another two minutes or so.

How close? One yard. Three feet. Thirty-six inches. That was all the Saints needed to move the chains to protect a 24-22 lead. But everything they did to that point went up in smoke when running back Pierre Thomas was stopped cold. After a punt, the Redskins had the ball and a 67-yard touchdown pass on the next play gave them a 29-24 win.

Payton later called the failed third-and-1 running play by the Saints a “pivotal one” in the game, which let the Redskins off the hook.

“We have to line up and get a yard running the ball,” he said, “and if we can’t, then we’re going to struggle.”

Thomas took a handoff and tried to follow his blockers through a hole, but couldn’t find one. He kept his legs churning before crumbling under the Redskins’ push from the other side of the line. Payton said the play was blown up when strong safety Chris Horton, who was coming from the back side, was able to get penetration and assist defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin in making the stop.

Right tackle Jon Stinchcomb said the running play is a staple of the Saints offense, a play designed to pick up a first down in short-yardage situations.

“It’s a staple, something we work on every day,” he said. “It just takes execution. You just have to run through the linebacker.

“That’s the one that hurt most,” Stinchcomb said looking back on the foiled play. “We made a number of mistakes in the game, but that one hurt. We have to get that corrected. It’s frustrating not getting that first down.”

“There’s really not much to say,” said left tackle Jammal Brown. “We should have gotten it. That’s just a bad deal, I guess.”

Payton and Stinchcomb also talked about a third-and-5 the Saints failed on when they held a 24-15 lead with just fewer than 11 minutes remaining. On that one, Drew Brees couldn’t connect with wide receiver David Patten.

“It’s about finishing,” Stinchcomb said. “When you have third-and-1 with four minutes left and we call a play, we have to convert. It’s all about finishing.”