Cam Jordan had a love/hate relationship with the 2023 season, maybe skewing a little more toward the hate side of things.
While his teammates dumped the contents of their lockers into black plastic trash bags Monday upon the conclusion of a third straight season without a playoff berth, Jordan took a seat and considered what had transpired over the past several months.
“I hate that we lost to the Packers,” Jordan said. “I hate that we lost to the Texans. I hate that we lost to Atlanta in Atlanta and I frickin’ love that we beat Atlanta the way we did this last time. I loved the way that we finished the last two games, offensively and defensively. I hate that we played the way we did the last two games and didn’t play that way the whole season.
“There are ups and downs in every season, and I love each and every moment of fighting with your teammates knowing that we’re all trying to get better. I hate that I finished the year with two sacks, it’s terrible in terms of stats. … I hate that, again, we were in the position that we needed more at the end of the year.”
By the time his team had wrapped up a 9-8 season by thumping the rival Falcons in the Caesars Superdome, Jordan and the Saints knew they would have no shot at winning the NFC South because the Buccaneers had already beaten the Panthers to claim the title.
So Jordan went to a local bar with his family to catch the afternoon games, hoping that the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals would provide the boost into the postseason.
He hated that, too.
“It sucks not controlling your destiny, but we’ve been in that situation the last three years; we’ve gone into the locker room knowing we needed somebody else to help us win,” Jordan said. “That s*** sucks.”
The Saints went into the season with aspirations to claim a division title and get back into the playoffs, much in the same way they have for the last several years. And, as has been the case in those seasons, New Orleans wasn’t able to realize its preseason visions.
Disappointing may be the obvious word for it, but it’s what Erik McCoy chose to describe the season that just unfolded. He used the word three times in the span of two sentences. The team was too talented to do that, he said, something he felt confident saying because of the way the team finished.
“This is a feeling I hate, truthfully,” McCoy said. “Other teams are getting ready for the playoffs; I haven’t seen the playoffs in three years, which, that’s crazy to me. Especially with the guys we had in the locker room this year. It’s fuel to the fire for me.”
It’s a feeling the organization feels a sense of urgency to eliminate.
New Orleans won four of its last five games, enough to give the team some optimism about what it can be. And yet, the finish was not enough to get them a shot at competing for a Super Bowl. The finish can’t mask what happened early in the season.
Change, in some way, shape, or form, is on the horizon. Offensive lineman James Hurst was the one to dust off the well-worn phrase about insanity and doing the same thing.
"Yes, there has to be changes," Hurst said. "I can’t tell you what those changes are, I’m glad I’m not a general manager. But yes, ... you have to look everywhere, and there does have to be changes. Because if not we’ll probably have 9-8, 8-9, whatever our record has been the last three years. That should be what you would expect if we do everything the same way."
Coach Dennis Allen went to the same well as Jordan when he addressed his team Monday: He loved the way they fought and finished the season, but he hated that they put themselves in the position where it didn’t matter.
The fact of the matter, Allen said, is that the Saints simply haven't been good enough, and not good enough means that something has got to give.
"And everyone in the building is part of the culpability of that,” Allen said. “All of us — coaches, players, everybody. So we have to look at what we need to change. … There’s things that have to be different.
“It’s part of what we have to do this offseason as an organization — players, coaches, front office, everybody. We have to look at what are we going to do differently. Because we’re all part of the problem, now how are we going to figure out how we can all be part of the solution. That’s really what this offseason is going to be about.”