2018 New Orleans Saints

• QBDrew Brees
• RBAlvin Kamara
• WRMichael Thomas
• WRTre'Quan Smith
• TEBen Watson

You remember when New Orleans thought it was getting one more Super Bowl run with Drew Brees. The Saints had come painfully close the year before, only for the Minneapolis Miracle to end everything in one impossible play. In 2018, they came back even better. Brees was 39, the window felt smaller, and the roster around him looked ready to finish what the previous season had started. This wasn’t just another good Saints team. It felt like one more real chance before the Brees era started running out of time.

Everything started with Drew Brees. Brees was still operating the offense with complete control, but now Alvin Kamara made every touch feel dangerous and Michael Thomas had become almost impossible to cover. Thomas caught everything, Kamara could line up anywhere, and Mark Ingram gave the backfield its familiar balance after returning from suspension. Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk protected Brees, while Cameron Jordan, Demario Davis, and Marshon Lattimore gave Sean Payton a defense good enough to win games when the offense slowed down. This was no longer Brees carrying New Orleans by himself.

The Saints finished 13-3 and earned the NFC’s top seed. Brees threw 32 touchdowns with only five interceptions, completed an NFL-record 74.4 percent of his passes, and became the league’s all-time passing yardage leader on a Monday night in the Superdome. Thomas caught a franchise-record 125 passes. Kamara scored 18 touchdowns. New Orleans won 10 straight after losing the opener, beat Baltimore on the road, and handed the undefeated Rams their first loss as Thomas celebrated a 72-yard touchdown by pulling a cell phone from the goalpost. By December, another Super Bowl run felt less like hope than expectation.

The playoffs immediately reminded everyone how fragile that chance was. Philadelphia jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the Superdome before Marshon Lattimore intercepted Nick Foles and changed the game. New Orleans answered, slowly took control, and never let the Eagles score again. Then, with Philadelphia driving for one final chance, an Alshon Jeffery drop bounced into Lattimore’s hands. Twenty to fourteen. The Saints had survived. One more win at home would send Brees back to the Super Bowl.

Then came the play everyone still remembers. The Rams erased a 13-0 deficit, and with the game tied 20-20, Brees hit Ted Ginn Jr. to move New Orleans deep into Los Angeles territory. On third-and-10, he threw toward Tommylee Lewis near the sideline. Nickell Robey-Coleman arrived before the ball and hit him anyway. Everyone in the Superdome waited for the flag.

It never came. New Orleans kicked the field goal, but Los Angeles still had enough time to tie the game. In overtime, Brees threw an interception under pressure. Greg Zuerlein drilled a 57-yard field goal. Twenty-six to twenty-three. The Saints had come back from the Minneapolis Miracle, earned the NFC’s top seed, and reached the doorstep again—only for the season to turn on a call even the league later admitted was missed.

That’s how people remember the 2018 Saints. They remember Brees breaking the passing record, Thomas pulling out the cell phone, Kamara gliding through defenses, and a 10-game winning streak that made New Orleans feel like the best team in football. They remember surviving Philadelphia and getting one more NFC Championship Game in the Superdome. Most of all, they remember the last great Brees-era run reaching the doorstep of another Super Bowl—and the flag that never came.