Untitled

Everything changed after the fight.

It’s not the only reason the Saints lost Sunday. Jameis Winston’s three interceptions and Mark Ingram’s lost fumble and a barrage of fourth-quarter penalties (some more infuriating than others) also had plenty to do with the Buccaneers’ 20-10 victory in the Superdome.

So this is not a “Saints deserved to win, and the officials took it away” recap.

WE HAVE A BRAWL IN NEW ORLEANS! pic.twitter.com/usCEvVPPxd— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 18, 2022

But this game is going to be remembered for the midfield melee between the two guys who have defined this fiery rivalry dating back to 2017: Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore and Bucs receiver Mike Evans. And looking back on the result, it’s impossible to ignore how much the tide shifted after that point, when both players were ejected while the score was still tied 3-3 with 12:49 remaining in the fourth quarter.

First of all, it was the worst call of the game by the officials. It’s hard to fathom how Lattimore could have received the same level of punishment as Evans, while Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette wasn’t ejected after throwing the first shove, especially since the entire sequence was reviewed on replay by the NFL's New York offices. It also resulted in offsetting penalties on the field instead of a 15-yard bonus for the Saints.

.@TomBrady ➡️ @B_Perriman11📺: #TBvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/QiXCmpkCRo— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) September 18, 2022

More importantly, it was no coincidence that five minutes later, the Buccaneers finally scored their first touchdown against the Saints in a span of eight quarters. Tom Brady directly attacked Lattimore's replacement, third-string cornerback P.J. Williams, when he threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to receiver Breshad Perriman. Before that, Brady had zero success against Lattimore.

The defensive players in the Saints’ postgame locker room were as flabbergasted as you were watching at home as they tried to dissect how things unraveled so badly. Up until that point, they were doing the same thing to Brady all day Sunday that they had done in their previous four regular-season meetings. They even had Brady so frustrated that he was smashing another tablet on the sideline.

Tom Brady throws his tablet in frustration. pic.twitter.com/d6QTX8dRyV— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 18, 2022

Even with the TD pass, Brady finished 18-of-34 for just 190 yards with a lost fumble on a botched snap. Tampa Bay’s run game was even less successful, with Fournette gaining just 65 yards on 24 carries (2.7 average).

But then came a pair of questionable calls against the Saints defense and a slew of turnovers by the Saints offense. And just like that, their spell was broken.

“You can’t lose to a divisional opponent, especially when you have a chokehold on them for three quarters,” Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan lamented. “Honestly, for three quarters and change, we felt like we were untouchable. And that’s not how you finish a game.

“Fourth quarter, you have to put ‘em to sleep.”

Instead, chaos erupted. And to be fair, it started four plays before the fight, when the Saints were flagged for an inexcusable penalty for having 12 men on the field while the Buccaneers lined up to punt.

Nevertheless, the Saints came up with another big-time stop on the next third down when Brady threw incomplete. It started with Brady walking past Lattimore while campaigning for a pass interference penalty. Lattimore said something to Brady that made the Bucs QB whip his head around and start jawing back to him. Then Fournette ran over and shoved Lattimore.

Lattimore shoved Fournette back. But neither shove seemed bad enough to warrant an ejection. Then Evans came flying in from the sideline and delivered a big hit on Lattimore that will likely draw the most severe repercussions — possibly even another one-game suspension like the one Evans received when he came off the sideline to level Lattimore in 2017.

Then several players from both teams got in on the action. Perhaps the officials gave Lattimore extra credit for continuing to wrestle with Evans after that, but they didn’t punish anyone else who came flying into the fight.

NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Walt Anderson didn’t make the ruling clear in his postgame interview with the pool reporter.

“They were involved in the altercation. … We just felt they were flagrant and rose to the level of disqualification,” said Anderson, who also noted that Fournette’s actions were reviewed and, “We just did not feel like those actions rose to the level of disqualification.”

Needless to say, the Saints strongly disagreed:

Jordan: “It hurts to lose your best corner. At the same time, guys gun at him, because they know he’s one of the best corners in the league. … But to be honest, in my mind, when I saw the replay, he didn’t go after anybody. Somebody came after him. What do you want him to do in that situation?”

Ingram: “I don’t understand how Marshon got ejected when somebody comes and sneak hits him. … I don’t see how that’s fair. I don’t see how any man could look at that, see some guy just cheap shot blindside you when they were really just talking, you know what I mean? … That was the second time (Evans) did that to Marshon. And nobody respects that, man. It just sucks.”

Saints coach Dennis Allen: “You see those things happen all the time, and what I’d like to see is Marshon not retaliate. I believe it was Leonard Fournette … who was the first one to kind of push and shove Lattimore. But I’ve been around this league long enough to know that usually they don’t get the instigator; they usually get the responder. I think what happened after that was a little bit excessive, so we’ll see how that goes.”

For his part, Evans told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington that Lattimore got “too emotional” and told reporters that, “I was just trying to have my teammates' back. I seen (Lattimore) punch someone in the face. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

In other words, the NFL’s most heated WR-CB rivalry isn’t going to lighten up anytime soon, with the next round scheduled for Week 13 on Monday Night Football in Tampa.

Allen and Saints players also took issue with a personal foul penalty against cornerback Bradley Roby during Tampa Bay’s touchdown drive with 10:07 remaining. The Buccaneers would have been facing a fourth-and-1. Instead, Roby was flagged 15 yards for making helmet-to-helmet contact against tight end Cameron Brate.

The Saints (and FOX officiating expert Mike Pereira) argued that the contact appeared to be inadvertent, while Brate lowered his head to brace for the contact. But we’ve seen similar flags countless times. In fact, the Saints were aided by two unnecessary roughness penalties against Tampa Bay in the first half.

“Actually, when (Roby) hit him, I thought he kind of missed him in a sense,” Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu said before making the greater point that will stick with the Saints. “But you can’t leave the game in the refs’ hands. They’re human, too.”

In the end, the Saints’ defensive effort was superb enough to win most NFL games. But it was not quite perfect enough to overcome everything that unraveled down the stretch Sunday.