As losses pile up, Saints’ playoff goals endure

(AP) — New Orleans Saints cornerback Corey White still likes his team’s chances to emerge as a legitimate playoff contender — not just a team lucky to have a shot because it plays in a weak division.
“We’re not your ordinary 4-5 team,” White said Monday as the Saints gathered to review their 27-24 overtime loss to San Francisco a day earlier. “We could easily be 7-2 right now.”
Or 8-1, by White’s logic.
The Saints have lost four games by a field goal or less after having the led in the last two minutes of all those games. Two losses came in overtime after the Saints turned over the ball deep enough in their territory to set up deciding field goals by Atlanta in Week 1 and San Francisco on Sunday.
“We’re going to find a way to win close games like that,” White asserted. “And when we do that, we’re going to be better — way better.”
The good news for the Saints is that they emerged from their latest loss still in control of their playoff fate. The entire NFC South has struggled and New Orleans still has a home game against Carolina, its main divisional competition.
“There’s still a belief in this locker room that we’ve got a lot to play for,” right tackle Zach Strief said. “We’re going to have bigger games come up. But it’s a mad scramble every week at this point.”
The Saints were done in by turnovers in Sunday’s loss, which overshadowed promising performances on both sides of the ball.
After yielding 14 points in the first quarter, New Orleans’ defense allowed only 10 more during the final three quarters of regulation. It didn’t allow any second-half points until the Niners’ tying field goal with 44 seconds left in regulation.
New Orleans also had four sacks of Colin Kaepernick, forcing a fumble on one.
On offense, Mark Ingram got his third straight 100-yard game.