The New Orleans Saints have nothing to play for in their final few games of the 2024 season and it showed on Monday night. The Saints were blanked by the Green Bay Packers, losing 34-0, marking the first time this season that a team has failed to score.
Very little went right for the Saints in their shutout loss but one of the worst moments of the night for them was when they allowed for roughly 30 seconds to tick off the clock right before halftime. The Saints were down 21-0 at the time and desperately needed points.
After Kevin Austin Jr. fumbled the ball out of bounds, interim head coach Darren Rizzi believed that the clock had been stopped, but it turns out, that wasn't the case. It was pretty easy to be mad at Rizzi in this moment because how do you let 30 seconds run off the clock in a must-score situation?
That being said, Rizzi offered a reasonable explanation for why the clock management disaster happened the way it did.
“Both covering officials ruled the clock stopped,” Rizzi said. “I asked the official, the covering official, if the clock was going to remain stopped. I got a yes, and I turned back to talk to the offensive coaches and talk about our plan there and what we were going to do there at the end of the half, and then they decided that he fumbled the ball forward and it just wasn’t communicated to me that the clock had re-started so we lost some precious valuable time there. So that’s what happened.”
Darren Rizzi offers reasonable explanation on clock management drama
Even with the clock management explanation, getting shut out 34-0 probably isn't going to help Rizzi's case for winning the Saints head coaching job. Before the game even kicked off, Adam Schefter had reported that the Saints were interested in Aaron Glenn, a former Saints defensive backs coach and current Lions defensive coordinator, and Mike Vrabel to be their next head coach.
If Rizzi wanted to try and put his name above both of those guys', his team did him no favors on Monday night. The clock management situation was frustrating but it's just been that kind of season for the New Orleans Saints.