The New Orleans Saints struggled offensively on Sunday, losing to the Bucs 26-20. After the Sean Payton tore his MCL in the first quarter, the team really seemed a step behind on offense. Drew Brees had a gutsy performance, but he wasn’t his normal self.

There are two big plays that really stood out.

1. Losing Payton (who thought this would be written?) really seemed to slow down the normally thunderous offense for just about the entirety of the game. especially in the red zone. In the fourth quarter the team lost two timeouts for no particular reason.

2. The failed fourth and one from inside the five late in the fourth quarter stopped what could have been the last score the Saints needed to win. They trailed 26-20 and instead of settling for a field goal, they chose to go for it. Brees rolled right and couldn’t find an open man, and as a result he just threw it up for an easy Tampa Bay pick in the endzone. Meachem was wide open on the left side, far from where Brees was looking.

MVP: Jimmy Graham had 124 yards on seven catches. Did you know he used to be a basketball player? At Miami? Did I mention that he played basketball? Basketball.

LVP: Pierre Thomas and Ingram. Ingram scored on a 12 yarder, but other than that the two backs combined for 15 rushes and 21 yards. Even with the inclusion of the big(?) play, the duo averaged just over two yards a carry on a night that Drew Brees and company needed more.